Could technology have saved me from being touched?

I've always loved traveling. The whole idea of experiencing new cultures and seeing new landscapes appeals to me greatly. I even like airports because it's like a melting pot of people with varying nationalities and from so many different backgrounds.

I enjoy the whole experience so much so that I don't mind sitting through long-haul flights, which I find really therapeutic, by the way, and having to drudge through x-ray machines and the long lines at immigration counters.

It helps that I hardly encounter any problems getting through all the various security checks--maybe I have an honest face--and almost always pass through all checkpoints without much hassle.

However, on my way back from Paris earlier this week, I had a little "episode" that was out of the ordinary for me.

I've passed through a fair share of x-ray machines at airports, so I thought I had the process down to a pat--laptop out, mobile phone out, keys out and sweater out. In some airports, particularly the U.S. ones, shoes have to come off too.

At the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, the over-hanging metal detector went off as I walked through it. No big deal, I thought, that has happened before. They'll just wave their little handheld metal detector over me to confirm that I'm no aviation security risk.

Instead, this female airport staff--decked in rubber gloves--stepped up and said she was going to "touch" me to conduct her search. Touch?? I was mortified, mainly because I hated being touched, much less by someone I didn't even know. But, I understood the reason for it... We live in a post-911 era and sometimes, these incidents are a necessary part of life.

The airport staff told me to take my shoes off, which I promptly did. She took them and passed them back through the x-ray machine, setting the red light off. Ah-ha, so my shoes were the culprits, I thought to myself and figured maybe I wouldn't need to be searched after that. But alas, no such luck...

As the transport security officer, and her rubber gloves, prepared to run her hands over me, I smiled to myself as I recalled fellow blogger Nathaniel Forbes' similar experience at a U.S. airport--fortunately for me though, my security officer only came close but never actually touched my "private parts".

Still, it was an uncomfortable experience, to say the least, to have a stranger touch you from shoulder to toe, back and front...did I mention that I hate being touched?

And of course, I was found to be no security threat and allowed to continue my journey without further hassle.

I thought to myself then that, surely, technology could help eliminate the need for the "touching" incident. For instance, the x-ray machines can be enhanced so they can better detect daily items and components that travelers will likely have with them. After all, these machines were tweaked so that someone with metal rods in their limbs would no longer set the alarm off, so I'm sure they can be further improved to eliminate other non-security risks.

Governments across the globe need to realize that they are dealing with people from different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds, with different value systems and personal beliefs. Touching someone may be a usual practice in some countries and cultures, but it may not be in another.

Rather than force such practices on travelers in the name of security, we should look toward technology to identify ways to improve processes and create a better traveling experience.

This week, luggage manufacturers Targus and Pathfinder Luggage, said they will soon sell newly-designed carry-on bags that will allow travelers to pass through security without going through the hassle of removing their laptops for x-ray inspection. These bags have just been approved for use by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

Maybe someone can start working on the human body next?

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Eileen Yu

Eileen Yu began covering the IT industry when Asynchronous Transfer Mode was still hip and e-commerce was the new buzzword. These days, she gets stirred up over issues concerning Internet regulation, intellectual property rights and software patents, online privacy and data protection. Eileen is senior editor at ZDNet Asia, where she oversees the business tech news site.