I Shall Not Be Scanned
Nacktscanner ist eigentlich ein Wort für ein Gerät, das Menschen an Flughäfen bis auf die Haut durchleuchtet, um verborgene Waffen und Sprengstoffe zu finden. Nacktscanner sind aber auch Politiker, die Menschen im Namen der Sicherheit bis auf die Haut ausziehen wollen - am Flughafen, im Internet, in ihrer Wohnung. Jeder neue Terroranschlag, jedes versuchte Attentat ist Wasser auf die Mühlen der politischen Nacktscanner.
Translation: Body scanners [literally: naked people's body scanner] literally are devices to scan people at airports for hidden weapons and explosives. But body scanners are also politicians who want to undress people in the name of security - at the airport, on the Internet, in their apartments. Each new terror attack, each attempted assassination is water to the mills of political body scanners.
I consider myself a frequent flyer. Actually, this is less spectacular than it used to be: bimonthly crossings of the Atlantic oceans and weekly cross-country flights have long been replaced with weekly short-haul flights. Still, I'm walking to metal detectors and being padded down more often than I deem it necessary.
This might change - if Germany's federal government actually proceeds with plans to install body scanners at all of the country's airports - never mind that experts are doubtful of the effectiveness of body scanners (article in German); never mind that Israel's El Al airline has a near-perfect security track record without body scanners.
I, too, want to be safe when flying. The 9/11 hijackers could have been prevented from destroying the World Trade Center and, partially, the Pentagon through body scanners. But that was in a different world where box cutters were as good as admitted to airplane cabins. More recently, the so-called shoe bomber and the Nigerian who tried to bring down a Delta airplane before New Year would have passed even the most developed scanners available today without problems. Body scanners may serve a purpose - I suspect it is the scanner producing industry's rather than anything else. But that might just be me.
So here's my resolution for 2010: Since I live in a relatively small country with a (relatively) reliable high-speed railroad infrastructure, I will fly less and travel by train more often - if necessary, up to 100 % of my in-country trips. And with the introduction of body scanners at my local airport, I will officially renounce my frequent flyer status.
