The high-tech backscatter x-ray security scanners, which have been called a “state-sponsored peep show,” were criticised as an invasion of privacy and dignity. Security workers can see directly through the clothing of a potential airline passenger with the scanners.
In a budget control committee meeting, General Secretary of the EU parliament Harald Römer suggested the machines be sold, but so far there have been no bidders, Der Spiegel reported.
Despite its initial reluctance for the new technology, the German government sparked renewed howls of protests in December when it said it would go ahead with tests on the scanners, arguing they did not mean a final decision had already been reached or that the devices would be set up at German airports.
The scanners are already being used at EU airports in Amsterdam and London, as well as in Zürich, Switzerland, which is not part of the European Union.