The company that will get $28 million for providing airport body scanners is a huge US defence contractor with a scandalous history.
Airport security
aviation industry 
Airport security measures: inadequate and designed by morons
The announcement of the end of the ban on liquids, aerosols and gels at international airports in Australia by 2013 leaves a number of difficult questions unanswered. Our airport security processes were designed by morons, writes Ben Sandilands.
What if IT IS a bomb in someone’s underpants?
The latest distraction in the airport security circus came to town this morning with the launch of a three week trial of a G rated full body scanner at Sydney’s international terminal, writes Ben Sandilands.
aviation industry Molestations and assaults on dignity are out of control at US airports
The case of a 95-year-old woman who was humiliated at a Florida airport has reignited the controversy over government backed criminal assaults and molestations of air travellers, writes Ben Sandilands.
Moscow bomb blast kills 35 people
Media wrap: At least 35 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in an explosion at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport this morning triggered by a suspected suicide bomber.
Liquid explosive scanners at airport leave way open for other attacks
There will be tens of thousands of opportunities at all domestic and international terminals in Australia today for baggage handlers, cleaners, caterers, retailers, refuellers, police officers and security company staff to pass bombs, guns, knives, and vials of germs to passengers once they have passed through the security checks.
Political snippets: Swan and the OZ strange bedfellows
Treasurer Wayne Swan cannot be accused of preaching to the converted by taking his thoughts on the future of the Labor Party to the op-ed pages of The Australian.
Americans up in arms over airport pat-downs
The potentially unhygienic consequences of the use of latex gloves by American airport security staff to pat-down travelers has caused uproar on internet blogs and forums, with tens of thousands of Americans protesting against them, writes Bob Unruh.
leaked 
100 naked airport body scans made public
With all the controversy currently in the States about airport security and strip searches, Gizmodo releases 100 photos of the body scans of ordinary citizens. They were taken from 35,000 images kept by US Marshals, although all ‘naked’ photos were promised to never be made public.
US air travellers vent their spleen on social networking
The anger of Americans at having their genitals manually checked by airport security officials is turning into a social media protest movement, writes Ben Sandilands.
Airport security: welcome to the US of hey, I have to feel your bum
US security procedures for passengers who refuse body scans by machine are now being given pat downs that would bring a charge of s-xual molestation or indecent assault in most criminal jurisdictions.
Petty security lunacy to continue at airports here despite BA protest
or every patently stupid rule imposed by the US, there seems to another equally nonsensical one imposed by the authorities in charge of arrangements at major airports such as London Heathrow or Frankfurt.
Dishonest airport security still based on low-setting gambles
There is no doubt more could be done to tighten security at airports. But that isn’t the Australian way, which is to insist on compliance with standards that are more about appearance than effect.
In defence of plane spotters
Among the dumber mindsets in matters concerning security at airports there has been a crack down on photography in general and plane spotters in particular. Plane spotters aren’t a public nuisance! Ben Sandilands pleads his case.
There’s more to aviation safety than scanning underpants
The pre-Barack Obama-visit package of security measures yesterday announced by Kevin Rudd are purely window dressing, ultimately ineffective at doing anything but making the lives of travellers more miserable.
Rudd’s new airport security: futility meets impossibility
There is no remotely practicable combination of procedures and technology that can remove the risk of a terrorist attack on the population at large, writes Ben Sandilands — and the government knows it.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: The funny side of oligarchic duopolies
Why aren’t Wooworths being open about the fact that the locally owned Thomas Dux ‘corner stores’ are actually a Woolies company? Plus, it is a civil liberty to fly around the country anonymously?
Amsterdam’s soft-sell on airport body scans
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has started the soft-sell approach to voluntary body scanners, with a brochure featuring smiling attendants, happy families, and a distinct lack of crowds or tightly packed queues, reports Ben Sandilands.
Why putting a gun in your luggage makes it safer
Most airports in the US won’t allow your luggage to be locked. So, how can you ensure you won’t get explosives put in your bag by Slovakian authorities at the airport or ensure your expensive camera equipment remains safe? Put a gun in your bag. Seriously.
Don’t laugh: how to stop the bum bomb
After the infamous underwear bomber, the next major concern for airport security may be bombs being stowed inside human bodies. Or, ‘butt bombs’, as New Republic have dubbed them. But can they bring down a plane?
Will full body scans cause cancer or just embarrassment?
In all the talk of full body scanning of air travellers following the attempted bombing of a Delta flight, no one is mentioning the health consequences for frequent fliers of being repeatedly digitally stripped and imaged at airports, warns Ben Sandilands.
The greatest lies we’ve been told about terrorism
It’s highly unlikely terrorists kill you and border control is not really making us any safer from terrorist attacks anyway. The Washington Post debunks the five biggest myths about keeping citizens safe from terrorism.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: Double-standards at ACMA?
Does SBS board member and West Australian editor-in-chief Bob Cronin have a conflict of interest? The inside word on ABC’s summer holidays, and the farce of Australian airport security.
Airport security madness could get a whole lot crazier
So you think airport security screening is bad now? asks Ben Sandilands: a new report about terrorists smuggling bombs in their anal cavities (no, really) could see cabin-security fever reach new levels.
Brisbane airport insider: Corby family demonised us
In light of the news that the Queensland Law Society (QLS) has advised airport baggage handlers to lodge a complaint against Schapelle Corby’s former lawyer after he admitted in the Nine TV documentary that he fabricated the defence that baggage handlers put the drugs in Corby’s bag, a Brisbane airport baggage handler voices their outrage.
