Filmi star claims Heathrow security guards printed and circulated naked pictures from body-scanners

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan claims that when he went through Heathrow, security staff printed out the naked image of his body from the full-body scanners (scanners that the authorities have claimed won't ever be used to generate printouts) and circulated them among the staff:

'I was in London recently going through the airport and these new machines have come up, the body scans. You've got to see them. It makes you embarrassed - if you're not well endowed.
'You walk into the machine and everything - the whole outline of your body - comes out.'
Khan said he did not know that the body-scans - installed in the wake of last year's abortive Christmas Day bombing of a transatlantic flight over Detroit - showed up every little detail of one's body.
'I was a little scared. Something happens [inside the scans], and I came out.
'Then I saw these girls - they had these printouts. I looked at them. I thought they were some forms you had to fill. I said 'give them to me' - and you could see everything inside. So I autographed them for them.'

Shah Rukh signs off sexy body-scan printouts at Heathrow (Thanks, Drew!)

(Image: S3010420, a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike image from dodo_anji's photostream)

Previously:

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Action • Gadgets

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Ocker3

I’m sorry adambowie #9, even people who are famous (perhaps even internationally) get bum treatment if they’re the wrong colour and haven’t called ahead. Just look at BoingBoing’s archives to find evidence of this, how many times people have gotten treated Horribly by customs/immigration/airport security.
loraksus

As far as I know, hair is transparent in backscatter imaging, so the first pic on Hagrid | #6 ‘s link is fake.

So, you know… if we had an actual pic, we could tell.
Anonymous

I agree he invented the story for PR reasons, but the airport’s denial is equally implausible:

‘However, a BAA spokeswoman said the claims were â€œcompletely factually incorrectâ€ because the body-scanning equipment had no capability to print images. She stressed that images captured by the equipment could not be stored or distributed in any form.’

Of course that’s nonsense, because anything that appears on a screen can be “stored or distributed” if someone takes a picture of it, just as any “streaming” audio that comes out of speakers can be captures, recorded, re-distributed, etc…
PC

Heathrow are denying it: http://ow.ly/15PK6
nottzilla

Err.. Sorry to break it to everyone but if you saw the show on Friday (Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, on BBC 1), you would be aware that he was clearly joking!

The end of the show saw him riding a mechanical bull whilst clutching a vibrating dumbbell in each hand. Hilarious show? Yes. The right place to reveal shocking security secrets regarding airport scanners? No.

Satire, people!
magnus

cory falling for this rubbish? meh.
- Nelson.C
  
  I don’t think Cory’s fallen for anything. The clue is in the word “claim” seen in both the body of the post and the headline.
  - noah
    
    If Cory had understood the story, he would have used the word “jokes” or “kids” or “jests” in the headline, instead of the word “claims”. As written it seems that Cory is under the impression that Khan is making a factual claim that an actual event occurred.
    
    As opposed to telling a joke, which is what he was, in fact, doing.
Antinous / Moderator

There’s a much bigger story about Shah Rukh Khan in the news right now.

Shah Rukh Khan cricket row: More than 1,100 arrested

Police in India have arrested more than 1,100 people following protests against a Bollywood film. They were prompted by comments from its star, Shah Rukh Khan, regretting that no Pakistan cricketers were picked for next month’s IPL cricket tournament. Hindu hardline party Shiv Sena reacted angrily, vowing to disrupt screenings of My Name is Khan, due out on Friday.
Anonymous

nottzilla’s totally on point. It’s extra-juicy satire because many conservative desis have made a HUGE deal about these scanners and privacy concerns; plus, SRK is immensely popular in Bollywood. It’s meant to titilate the naive and make the rest of us laugh.
Anonymous

And yet, I kind of want it to be true. Khan is pretty hot. I’m so going to hell.
dr80085

I don’t believe a word of his story. It’s just a crafty way to be allowed to tell the world what a mighty schlong he has.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  It’s just a crafty way to be allowed to tell the world what a mighty schlong he has.
  
  Um….er….well…
Anonymous

“(Thanks, Drew!)”

You’re welcome! :)
Hagrid

Pictures or it didn’t happen.
LX

I find another part of this story more interesting: that Khan came to the UK to promote his new movie “My Name Is Khan”, in which an indian muslim tries to convince western people that he is not a terrorist – and that it will probably not be presented.

Of course, this bollywood love message would conflict with the current witch-hunt of terrorists everywhere, so there you are.

Greetings, LX
- xaxa
  
  LX, are you suggesting the film won’t be shown in the UK? Google Movies gives times for screenings.
  
  Posting fabricated Big Brother nonsense doesn’t help your argument.
- Anonymous
  
  Nods (sigh)… anything that conflicts w/the, “Us vs. Them,” programming is ultimately passed over for wider distribution.
Hagrid

Check his scan pictures out here: http://site.scannerporn.com/
(Be sure to click though to the sign up page!)
- arkizzle / Moderator
  
  Hagrid,
  
  Ha! Good one :)
Anonymous

I am sure he said this on Friday night with Johnathon Ross (talk show in the UK) He was just joking around with the presenter
Matt J

I don’t believe this. The idea that they would have a printer hooked up to these things is laughable. If someone were circulating photos it would be on a mobile phone.
adambowie

Khan related this story on The Jonathan Ross Show on BBC1 on Friday where he was a guest.

He claimed that a group of girls got hold of printouts which he then signed. I just don’t see that in a million years they’re going to have these machines hooked up to printers given the very real sensitivities.

And like or not, celebrities tend to get good service at Heathrow (the only British airport yet to fit these as I understand it).

Finally, you don’t get scanned on the way *into* the UK, only out. Since these machines have only recently been fitted, unless he be’s been jetting in and out of the UK quite a bit, he simply won’t have had the opportunity yet.

If you’re in the UK (or at least you can make you computer think you’re in the UK), you can hear him tell this story here until this Friday: http://bbc.co.uk/i/qn04k/
benher

Does he suddenly rip off his shirt to reveal a superman outfit and begin dancing with a girl with a frizzy perm?