Scanners

Since the mid-1990s, the application of scanners has become prolific. Examples include converting information into digital formats, monitoring environments, and reading predetermined information, such as barcodes. Evident in supermarkets, hospitals, universities, or government buildings, to name but a few, scanners’ efficiency, accuracy, and security functions have changed the way in which many organizations and institutions now operate. With regard to the impact of this technology for surveillance, security, and privacy, much comment has focused on the compromises inflicted on civil liberties and human rights, especially with regard to full-body scanners at airport security. Full-body scanners look through clothing to reveal any hard or metal objects that may be concealed—it is much like a “soft” X-ray scan that penetrates only as far as the skin—thus highlighting ...