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WIRED MAGAZINE | JANUARY 1997 | ELECTRIC WORD X-Ray Some anxious Americans may willingly shed their privacy for the sake of safety. But the latest airport security technology should cause even the least discreet traveler to draw the line. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's holographic imaging radar bounces millimeter waves off the body. These emissions pass completely through clothing but not metal, plastic, or skin. The result: an embarrassingly vivid image of your birthday suit. The FAA plans to use the technology to scan passengers for concealed weapons, with testing in a US airport to begin early this year. The system is already raising eyebrows. “There might be special situations where such a device could be useful,” writes Lauren Weinstein of the Web-based Privacy Forum (www.vortex.com). “But broadscale deployment of such systems in airports seems unlikely to be acceptable to most of the public.”
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