Ron gets an x-ray vision no-prize for bringing us the latest in airport security tech, and the busybody controversy it seems to be raising:

A new X-ray machine at London's Heathrow airport, which sees through passengers' clothes, has been attacked by civil liberties campaigners as a “voyeur's charter”. The machine uses low-level radiation to see through clothing, producing an anatomically detailed black and white image of the body underneath.

To their credit, passengers tested were quite level-headed about the whole thing:

“I don't mind if the pictures are a little more personal as long as I'm safe in air—that's what matters,” [passenger Pernille Nielsen] told Reuters.

Which seems to make no difference to our stasist self-appointed protectors, who of course know better than we do:

British civil rights group Liberty called the X-ray images unjustified and intrusive. “We obviously do not object to taking security measures, but I remain totally unconvinced that it is necessary,” a spokesman said.

To justify the intrusion, the airport should show current detectors are inadequate, he added.

I mean, Richard Reid's shoes didn't explode, so that case does nothing to prove the inadequacy of current detectors, right?

I wonder how often these neo-Victorian protestors fly?