One major legal and ethical issue is the argument that body scanners have
breached child pornography laws and have been said to generate indecent
pictures of minors and adults alike. Some officials have said that the
scanner is like a "virtual strip search" because the images produced are
so graphic (Travis,2010). Because of this, some airports in the U.S and
in other countries, such as Great Britain where scanners are also used,
have been forced to exempt children under the age 18. This is because
they could be faced with committing offenses having to do with child
pornography. In an airport in Manchester, there was a 12-month trial
period where the scanners were tested to see just how invasive the images
were. During this 12- month period, several graphic images were generated
including some that showed breast enlargements, parts of a person's
genitalia and other private images (Travis,2010). Another main concern
is the issue of privacy and how the scanner might violate our amendment
rights to privacy and our fourth amendment rights to unreasonable search
and seizure. Many privacy campaigners argue that the scanners do just this,
they may assist in protecting us, but it is done so in a very intrusive
way that many people feel invades their privacy (Klitou,2008).