A new type of scanner is being tested at one British airport. The human x-ray machine produces "naked" images of passengers.

Don't fancy a frisking at the airport?  Here's the next high-tech alternative.

This scanner on trial at Manchester Airport in northern England can see right through clothes.

And it can see everything.

Absolutely everything.

Airport officials insist passengers have nothing to fear from the intimate images.

[Sarah Barrett, Manchester Airport Official]:
"It's impossible to recognize an individual's face from the image. They're not photographic images.  They don't show skin color, they're not erotic, they're not pornographic—completely anonymous."

The full-body scanner is intended to help security staff check for hidden weapons or explosives and spare the blushes of passengers uncomfortable about a physical pat-down. Passengers worried about its ability to show clear outlines of private parts, false limbs, breast enlargements and body piercings are being given another option. But it rather puts you between a rock and a hard place.

You can refuse a scan—if you really don't mind a good traditional frisking.