Don't TSA me, bro: Boing Boing open thread, and new rules for those who refuse patdown

Stjohn

Fuck ‘em.

I’m building a Van’s RV-7. It might go less than half the speed of a commercial jetliner, but it’s faster than a train or driving, and I can bring whatever the hell I want on board. Staff at FBO’s and municipal airports are usually friendly and courteous. As a bonus, irradiating or groping private pilots and passengers isn’t on the agenda. Security is usually in the form of a local cop in a truck who drives around the taxiway making sure nobody’s stealing avionics or siphoning avgas.

This is still more or less the land of the free, but goddamn, you really have to work for it these days.

Sork

“I’m building a Van’s RV-7.”

The RV-7 is an internet classic.
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Van%27s-RV-7A/1225773/L/

sapere_aude

John Gage, a spokesperson for the union that represents the TSOs, was just on MSNBC defending the TSA’s intrusive screening policies. So, as far as I’m concerned, that makes the TSOs complicit. They are fair game for criticism.

If Gage had said that the TSOs oppose the policies but have no choice but to enforce them, then I could sympathize with the argument that we shouldn’t take our frustrations out on the TSOs. But, when the representative of the TSOs goes on national television and defends these policies, that argument no longer holds water. If the TSOs were merely enforcing policies they don’t support because their job requires it, they would, perhaps, deserve some sympathy. But if they stand behind these policies, then they deserve to be criticized for taking this stance.

jediknight36

The backscatter and millimeter wave machines have been proven to to detect the materials the so called underwear bomber used, which started all this. It has even been stated that this is only supposed to make you FEEL safer. I don’t feel safe knowing that I am getting dosed with more radiation than I need or that I get put under more stress than I can handle. I just had a brain tumor removed and I have to fly in Jan to get it checked on and since then, my pitutary and adrenals have not been working properly. I can barely walk let alone go through this. And that is beyond the fact that this is unreasonable search and seizure (4th amendment) and is an infringement on our right to privacy, which has been upheld by the SCOTUS. I’m getting to the airport early just to make sure they know I don’t eff around. None of us should put of with this. And the change in policy was changed from arresting you and labeling you as a terrorist.

Anonymous

What about non US citizens? Opting out or refusing soemthing could lead to the refusal to enter US or to further controls. Is it true that US border authority could hold a non US citizen for controls for many days without contacting the embassy?

S. Ellis

I agree with most of what lectroid and a few other commenters have said concerning better ways to react to the TSA officers and the policies they are being told to carry out.

“I’m so turned on” and fake boner jokes may get attention, but they are also more likely to get you, and your valid concerns, written off.

It is always a good idea to speak with passion, listen with respect, and assertively but humanely broadcast your message. I really do appreciate the stunts some people have pulled to bring more attention to the issues (naked protests, etc.), but in the long run treating everyone–your fellow passengers, your frisker, your congressman, and your mom–with respect and consideration will help ensure that your message won’t be thrown out with all the other jerks and bad jokes. Respect and righteous anger really can coexist. I want the TSA officers and my political representatives understand and hopefully agree with me. They are less likely to do that when I’m mocking them. You don’t have to degrade or mock someone to vocally disapprove of or try to arrest their actions.

I’m having a hard time imaging the effectiveness or longevity of Gandhi’s or Thoreau’s messages of civil disobedience had they been carrying exaggerated sex toy, feigning orgasms, or dehumanizing their assailants. Even when they themselves were being dehumanized. Nonetheless, you are free to do any of these!

I want my foes to know I see them as human beings, which is exactly why I am so disappointed in their actions. Be angry, be articulate; just don’t be a huge asshole.

aLearnerRather

That’s a great post, S. Ellis, very well put. Never hurts to remember first that the other guy is a human being too.

TenInchesTaller

Hmm, went through Philadelphia International yesterday, and still no pornoscanners or groping going on there; maybe they’re afraid of the ghosts of the founding fathers?

The TSA agents thought it was funny that I still walked on my toes when I put my platform pumps through the X-ray. (In their own bin, no less: Truly glamorous people always use three bins.) Gotta stay TenInchesTaller!

fxq

John S. Pistole is an escaped Red Lectroid. I’ll see if I can doctor up… er… find a screenshot to show y’all.

Anonymous

If John Tyner is smart, he will have already set up a PayPal account. If so, and if he already has 500 followers, all he would need to do is ask each person for $22. PayPal is made for fast transfer of money, and his fine would be wiped before you can say “don’t touch my junk!”.

Henrik Harbin

miss eliza sea

As a gay woman, I kind of don’t want someone I could be attracted to groping me in public. I also don’t want someone that could be attracted to me groping me in public. Can I ask for a gay man to pat me down? But how would I know he’s gay? It’s not like we have a secret handshake or anything.

Quiet Wyatt

I’m a gay male, so I share your concern; it could be quite embarrassing if I happen to find my TSA groper attractive — even in my adulthood, “boners happen.”

But I plan on using this to my advantage. If I am asked to walk through the scanner, I will request a patdown instead, and, assuming my groper is male (100% likelihood) and straight (90%), I plan to pretend to ENJOY the patdown. Vocally.

“Mmm… your hands are so warm. Ohh, that felt nice. Just a little higher/lower — oh yes!”

Neon Tooth

Obama defended all these measures just a couple days ago, yet no anger at the leader of the country……..

Did John Stewart not give permission?

Anonymous

You know, boats are a thing. I’m pretty sure boats go there. Not the most pleasant route, maybe, unless you’re on a cruise liner…

technoplastique

For the TSA agents who do not want to be doing these invasive groping searches, isn’t a crime also being committed against them? If you got a job with the TSA before this all started, and then were told you had to grope people or be fired, isn’t that also sexual assault? If two people were kidnapped and their kidnapper forced one of them to assault the other the kidnapper would be charged with the crime, not the person who actually did the assaulting, right? A boss who tied promotions or keeping a job to anything sexual at all would be in court so fast they wouldn’t know what hit them. Wouldn’t low level TSA employees have something similar to that available to them? (Sorry if someone else already brought this up, I’ve read a lot but not every single comment.)

sapere_aude

The number of people killed in terrorist incidents worldwide over the past decade (including the 9/11 attacks) is roughly equal to the number of people killed by breast cancer in the United States alone in a single year.

So, if intrusive inspections at the airport are warranted in order to prevent the relatively few deaths that might result from terrorism, wouldn’t even more aggressive measures be warranted in order to prevent the much larger number of deaths from breast cancer? Perhaps the TSA ought to add mandatory mammograms and breast exams to their screening procedures â€“ after all, they’re practically doing breast exams already with their “enhanced” pat downs.

Nimdae

There was a transportation analysis that pointed out that the security measures the TSA are implementing are likely to encourage more people to drive to their destination rather than fly, then pointed out that, per mile, driving has a much higher fatality rate than flying.
- sapere_aude
  
  I highly recommend the book The Science of Fear by Daniel Gardner. It explains why it is that we, as a species, are so lousy at evaluating risk and responding appropriately, and why we tend to overreact to dangers that are relatively uncommon (like terrorism) while essentially ignoring dangers that are far more likely to do us harm (like automobile accidents). Our current airport security policies are the result of overreaction to the irrational fear of terrorism â€“ which is exactly what the terrorists want us to do.
  
  Speaking of which, I also highly recommend the book Thinking Like a Terrorist by former FBI agent Mike German, who learned about terrorism first hand by infiltrating terrorist groups. This is the best book I’ve ever read on terrorism (and I’ve read several). It explains exactly how terrorists think, what they’re trying to accomplish, and why they do what they do. And it talks about how we tend to play right into the terrorists’ hands by doing exactly what they’re trying to provoke us into doing.
  
  Also, if you want to understand terrorism, watch the movie The Battle of Algiers which, according to German, is used by terrorists worldwide essentially as a training film for how to conduct a successful terrorist campaign. In fighting the “War on Terror” the United States has essentially repeated the same mistakes that the French made in Algeria. Whenever I see video of passengers being searched at the airports by the TSA, I can’t help but be reminded of the scenes in The Battle of Algiers of French soldiers searching people for bombs as they passed through security checkpoints from the Casbah (the old Arab quarter of Algiers) into the French sections of the city. But the FLN (i.e. the Arab terrorists) always managed to find ways to circumvent the French security measures. In the end, the terrorists won because it was much easier and less costly for them to penetrate French security than it was for the French to maintain that security, and because the French security measures were so draconian that they alienated the people, causing the French to lose the popular support they needed in order to hold on to power in Algeria. That’s exactly what the FLN was trying to accomplish in Algeria in the 1950s and early-’60s; and it’s exactly what al-Qaeda and its allies are trying to accomplish today. And, like the French before us, we are giving the terrorists exactly what they want.
  - mindysan33
    
    I know this is off topic (kinda, sorta), but this really bothers me. Are you really asserting here that Algerians were terrorist for fighting an occupation in their own lands? Really? Wouldn’t you do the same, and use all tactics at your disposal in order to be rid of an occupying force? I feel that the term “terrorist” has become a pejorative aimed at delegitimizting resistance of any kind to oppression? Was the French occupation of northern Africa legitimate in any way (not to single out the French… but since you brought up The Battle for Algiers…)? How do you justify it in a way that’s not racist? I’m not saying that you are, but I’m saying that by calling Algierians terrorist, you are, even if that isn’t what you mean. And presumably, the modern day “terrorists” that view this film most likely have a deeper understanding of its message outside of useful tactics. Presumably, they feel a kinship with those being occupied in the film. The films themes are deeper than just blowing up the French, it’s more about the impact of colonialism on the colonizer and the colonized, no? I’m curious, though, when is the use of force correct in fighting oppression and when is it not, in your opinion… I’m not trying to pick a fight here, but your characterization of supposed “terrorists” does bother me a bit…
    - tcfarrell
      
      Your comment relies on a common misunderstanding about terrorism which, I believe, is the single largest reason why having these discussions can be so difficult. You seem to believe that terrorists are defined primarily by an ideology (some also believe that they can be defined ethnically, which is a similar problem, but not yours). The correct definition is this: terrorism is a tactic. It is force applied with the primary goal of causing fear among a population in order to affect political change. Any person who uses force in this way is a terrorist. This is true regardless of what political change they seek, and the moniker of “terrorist” makes no judgement as to the morality of that goal. The term speaks only to the method employed. So, what makes al-Qa’ida a terrorist organization is not their goal of islamist global domination, it is the fact that they pursue that goal through the use of violence to provoke fear which they hope will result in change that they find favorable. The same would also be true in a situation where the local resistance to a colonial power foments civil unrest through violence with the goal of making the territory ungovernable by that colonial power. That local resistance movement would be a terrorist organization. In contrast, a similar resistance movement which took up arms against the colonial power directly would not be a terrorist organization even though they acted to further the very same goal. Again, terrorism is a question of method, not ideology.
      
      You can see strains of this point lurking in throughout this discussion about the usefulness of the TSA’s actions. I think that it may be useful to keep in mind the fact that the ultimate goal of the Sept. 11th attacks (or any other terrorist attack) was not to kill. Murder was the means by which al-Qa’ida pursued the goal of bringing down the West. Al-Qa’ida didn’t care if 3,000, 300, or just 30 people died. The death toll doesn’t matter to them as long as we panic, stifle ourselves, waste resources, and squander our power. And they do this because they cannot raise a challenge to us directly, so they choose to invoke fear in the hope that we would destroy ourselves from within. That is what makes them terrorists, and that is why they succeed when we reduce our own capacity out of fear. The sad fact is that in many respects, it does work. The resources that we put into security could be better spent on (your preference of: health care/debt reduction), but we spend it on airport security instead because we are legitimately afraid that if we don’t, more of us will die. Worst of all, while I don’t believe that porno scanners and groping are the most reasonable solutions to this problem, I think we can all accept that hope alone would be insufficient, and finding a reasonable middle ground is no easy task. The fear is real, and it is justifiable, and we must react, but in reacting we give in to that fear, and that has been their goal all along.
    - Anonymous
      
      “The correct definition is this: terrorism is a tactic. It is force applied with the primary goal of causing fear among a population in order to affect political change.”
      
      This seems to accurately describe what the TSA is doing (albeit by order of a third party). American citizens are being terrorized by their own government.
    - sapere_aude
      
      tcfarrell‘s reply above is far better than what I was going to say; but since you addressed your comment to me, I guess I ought to post my reply anyway:
      
      The word “terrorist” is not a synonym for “bad guy”. Anyone who engages in acts of terrorism is a “terrorist”, regardless of whether the cause they are fighting for is just or unjust. The FLN engaged in a campaign of terrorism, beginning with the assassination of police officers on the street, then escalating to the bombing of cafÃ©s, nightclubs, airport terminals, racetracks â€“ anywhere French colonists gathered in large numbers. These bombings deliberately targeted civilians. That is terrorism. Therefore, the FLN were, indeed, “terrorists”. That doesn’t imply that their desire for Algerian independence from France was wrong, or that they were any more “evil” than the French authorities they were fighting against. It’s simply a commentary on the strategy and tactics that they chose to use in their struggle for independence. If they are deliberately targeting civilian noncombatants with brutal acts of violence in order to spread terror, they are terrorists, whether we sympathize with their cause or not.
Antinous / Moderator

Are you on crack? That would be Government Healthcare! We might as well dig up Stalin and put him in the White House.
- sapere_aude
  
  We might as well dig up Stalin and put him in the White House.
  
  According to Fox News, we already have.
  - afs97209
    
    According to Fox News, Obama is a “Communist Fascist”
SonOfSamSeaborn

Manchester Grammar?

Antinous / Moderator

I think you’re being disingenuous about income

Did you just call me a liar?

Neon Tooth

Uh, call it what you like. I doubt the TSA worker’s modest income is the same as those who are flying as a whole.
- S. Ellis
  
  A TSA officers income is probably not the same as mine–I ‘m sure it is quite a lot more. I usually take 3-4 round trips a year, and my income is below the poverty line. All kinds of people fly.
  
  I don’t totally disagree with your main message, but it is not always a battle between the Rich Flyers Who Want Rights and the Poor Security Officers Who Want a Living.
  
  I’m poor as heck, and I want both.
  - Neon Tooth
    
    Indeed, so do I and I’m solidly working class by any measure. I also think that the policy is intrusive and ridiculous. I guess where we part ways is who we choose to blame and why. That’s kind of the crux of my argument. I think abusing workers and calling them ‘pedos’ and ‘pervs’ isn’t helpful, and is downright mean while you’re traveling to visit friends and family on Thanksgiving and a worker’s stuck trying to pay their rent. Personally I can’t imagine something much more soul crushing than being stuck doing your job for a lot of vacation people who want to give you nothing but abuse during the holidays. There’s an undeniable anti government, anti-union, pro-privatization, classist and in some cases racist stink to all of this. For example: why aren’t the same anti-war “liberty” liberal and “libertarian” types harassing military members in the airport? Perhaps it’s because they know it’s all a bit bigger than them? When comfortable liberal folks get confronted with uncomfortable truths they can get extremely angry, offended and defensive, especially when they voted for and support the people who are the actual bosses of that policy.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      You keep describing this as classist. Unless I’ve missed it, I have yet to see your response to the TSA pay scales that I linked, which show that most TSA workers are solidly within the same class as the people who are flying.
      
      Without having access to their personnel files, I can’t say who makes what, but having worked for a large government organization, I’d predict that most of their workers are a couple of grades up from the bottom. If you work for the government, you generally get a raise within your pay grade with every annual evaluation unless you’ve completely fucked up. Their benefit packages add 30% to 50% value to salary when you compare it to a self-employed person (like me and every one else at BB) who has to pay everything from self-employment tax to health insurance out of pocket and doesn’t get paid vacation/sick leave/holidays or employer retirement plan.
      
      Pay Band Minimum Maximum
      A $17,083 $24,977
      B $19,570 $28,546
      C $22,167 $33,303
      D $25,518 $38,277
      E $29,302 $44,007
      F $33,627 $50,494
      G $39,358 $60,982
      H $48,007 $74,390
      I $58,495 $90,717
      J $71,364 $110,612
      K $85,311 $132,237
      L $101,962 $155,500
      M $120,236 $155,500
      
      “The above rates are basic pay rates and do not include locality pay. 2010 basic pay rates are limited to $155,500. 2010 adjusted pay rates (base pay plus locality) are limited to $172,550.”
      
      http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/pay_scales.shtm
      
      * A wide choice of health insurance programs
      * Personal leave days for vacation, illness, and family care
      * Ten paid holidays per year
      * Paid training
      * Fully portable Thrift Savings Plan (similar to a 401(k))
      * Non-taxable Flexible Spending Accounts for out-of-pocket medical or dependant expenses
      * Transportation subsidies
      * Defined benefit retirement plan
      * Flexible work schedules
      * Employee recognition program
      * Life and long-term care insurance
      * Employee Assistance Program
      * Uniform allowance
      * Telework
      
      http://www.tsa.gov/join/benefits/career_benefits.shtm
      
      You talk about these people like they’re sharecroppers.
    - Laurel L. Russwurm
      
      Abusing people is never OK. People are understandably angry that TSA employees are abusing their children. You seem to be saying that’s OK because the people performing the abuse are workers getting a paycheque.
      
      “I think abusing workers and calling them ‘pedos’ and ‘pervs’ isn’t helpful, and is downright mean while you’re traveling to visit friends and family on Thanksgiving and a worker’s stuck trying to pay their rent.”
      
      Guess what: people flying to spend time with family work just as hard to pay their rent, and are spending their hard earned dollars to spend time with their family, which may well strain their ability to pay rent. There are people who visit family instead of go on vacation because the budget covers either or.
      
      A huge part of the reason why people are so angry is that most people can’t afford to take the loss of the price of the ticket. They feel economically coerced into allowing the abuse.
      
      You lob the accusation that there is:
      
      â‡’ an undeniable anti government,
      â‡’ anti-union,
      â‡’ pro-privatization,
      â‡’ classist
      â‡’ and in some cases racist stink to all of this.
      
      Yet the ONLY one of these in evidence is “anti-government” which rather makes sense as this is a government mandated policy.
      
      People are angry at how they are being treated by the TSA, who are carrying this out. Nobody seems to particularly care if there is even a union for the TSA. People care about what is being done.
      
      People don’t want this privatized they want it STOPPED.
      
      Classist, well, the upper class, don’t have to fly this way so it’s not an issue.
      
      Racist? Huh?
      
      Lumping “liberals” together indicates something of your bias and agenda. The war is a completely separate issue. This issue is part of the erosion of privacy and civil rights.
      
      What you perceive as “attacking the workers” is ordinary people not understanding how people can do this to other people.
      
      Even worse, how people can do this to children.
      
      “I was just following orders” doesn’t cut it.
    - flatfive
      
      “Personally I can’t imagine something much more soul crushing than being stuck doing your job for a lot of vacation people who want to give you nothing but abuse during the holidays.”
      
      You mean like the restaurant business? Or the service industry in general? Yep, it can suck – I’ve made it my career. So, thanks for the sympathy.
      
      I used to take my hard-earned dollars to the ticket counter when I wanted a vacation, and then let the better-paid TSA agent walk over my presumption of innocence and treat me like a criminal.
      
      Not any more, though.
    - S. Ellis
      
      I hope you read my comment (#233) where I explicitly explain why I think harassing and mocking the TSA officers is a bad idea. I also described my conversation and behavior with the TSA officer who patted me down when I opted out of the scanner, which was in fact assertive but respectful and humane.
  - Neon Tooth
    
    Anyway, in my haste I forgot to mention that probably makes you an exception.

freenw

You’ll notice that Pistole will cite a study saying that a certain amount of x-rays are shown not to hurt people, but what he has yet to say is that these machines produce rays equivalent to the study. It’s a sort of logic wordsmithing. He’ll say things like, “people are concerned that A can hurt you. Well, studies have shown that B is proven to be completely safe.” When I go to the dentist, I have to put on a heavy lead apron covering my chest and groin just to get a small, short, directed burst of x-ray in a 3-inch section of my mouth. These machines expose the entire body with no protection…

And another thing- People should be insisting that the TSA agents change gloves between each search. Think about it, do you want hands in your pants that were just in the pants of the 200 people in line before you? What types of venereal diseases can this spread? How about genital lice? Yuck.

Even having 200k+ frequent flyer miles allowing me to travel anywhere for free, there is no way I am going to be flying until this gets resolved. I have two small kids and I am IN NO WAY going to let someone, especially a someone who is not a sworn police officer, feel up any of my kids. So our great leaders are giving me as a father this choice – to either irradiate my kids storing naked pictures of them, or let some random stranger stick their hands in their underpants. Not a chance.

I would like to think that the administration is just completely incompetent, but this is so extreme that I have to wonder if the controversy over this is just a cover for something even more nefarious. Additionally, companies like Disney that rely upon traveling families and others may want to have their lobbyists start making some visits to Washington.

This is not good…

PathogenAntifreeze

Frankly, I think this is the most dangerous time, in history, to fly, specifically because of all the complaints about TSA policy. Here’s why: important people are making money off the millimeter and x-ray scanners… TSA policies are all about showing citizens their proper relationship with the government… and now the citizens are daring to be uppity; they’re not being sufficiently “patriotic.”

Now go Google “northwoods.” Of course, that was a long time ago, and just planned, not implemented. Next, Google “anthrax letters,” and think about the build-up to the latest Iraq war.

My protest against TSA nonsense at this point is staying home and not flying, because people who gain from TSA’s current stance and direction have no moral qualms about what they’re doing, and a lot to gain from continuing.

lectroid

Ok. I’ve commented in other threads, so I’m not going to reiterate those posts here, but I do have a couple of opinions on the protest techniques offered up here:

1. Refusing the scans, refusing the patdowns, and leaving the airport noisily, making a scene. Totally acceptable. It’s your ticket, it’s your time. You’re following the procedures, and you are effectively communicating your views on the policies and spreading awareness to other customers.

2. Refusing the scans, refusing the patdowns, then trying to go back to the gate in hopes of shutting down the station and causing an evacuation. Civil disobedience is an effective weapon, but don’t be surprised if you hurt your cause more than help it when you make 1000 people miss their flight to see grandma. While I agree that there are important issues at stake here, it’s still pretty much a dick move.

3. Wearing a kilt/short skirt and going commando. While not to MY personal taste, I suppose making TSA personel uncomfortable is applying pressure to a point in the system. If enough TSA workers protest the policy or refuse to comply, it could make a difference. Unfortunately, the difference it might make is to weed out all the regular, nice folks who don’t like doing it and just want to get on with their day, and select for the petty tyrants who enjoy making smug, entitled air passengers squirm. Also, every 17-year-old in the world thought of this immediately, and really, it’s not that clever. OMG TEH GAY is so 90′s.

4. Complying with the pat-down, then calling the TSA agent a thug, or a nazi, or otherwise heaping verbal abuse at them. No.Just no. 99.9% of the workers really are NOT enjoying the process, don’t like it, would not do it if they had a choice, and might even agree with you, but being a asshole is just… well, being an asshole. Call your congresscritter a thug, call the head of the TSA a fucktard. They’re public figures. It’s what they signed on for. The people manning those screens had no say in this policy. Their bosses and their bosses’ bosses are the assholes. Not them.

5. Complying with the pat-downs and telling the agent, politely, you understand they’re just doing their job, but you think it’s a really bad job. This, I think, would be the most effective. Folks who find these policies objectionable (and who here doesn’t?) should be trying to make ALLIES, not enemies. Assume the agents are human beings, just as you’d wish they would realize you’re a human being. Ask them what they think of this policy. Ask them if they’ve thought about protesting to their supervisor, or union official (if there is one) or finding another job. Ask them if they think they should be paid more or trained better if this is going to be part of their job from now on. Imagine if half of all TSA agents suddenly wanted ‘hazard pay’ for being on the pat-down squad. Imagine if 80% of agents simply refused to be on the pat-down squad for ‘religious reasons’. THAT would be a statement.

6. Not flying. Good idea

7. Not flying, telling airlines you frequent WHY you’re not flying, telling your representative, senator, president, etc. why you’re not flying. Best idea.

aLearnerRather

Lectroid, I respect your points, and with anyone else, with customer service people or real cops or postal workers or all food service workers, or really anyone I run into in the world, I try always to be polite, friendly, and professional, as I hope they will be with me. This is simple decency and good manners, and I hope I practice them as much as I ought.

But the TSA is different. I agree with RSK that we should also boycott all air travel, but for a system as odious as this, pressure needs to be applied at all levels. TSA workers would love it if you would lay the blame for their actions on someone else, anyone else, but the fact is that these searches are degrading to many kinds of people, and they can’t happen if the TSA workers don’t do them. These searches are horrible and unacceptable in a free society, and as much as they suck for those of us who have to undergo them, they should suck for the people giving them. More so.

The strip search of the small boy, in front of his parents. The special ed teacher whose catheter the TSA broke, and who was left soaking in his own urine. TSA workers did this to them, and no one has apologized, no worker has been disciplined (or even spoken to, for all we know), nothing has changed. Until it does, employees at every level of this vicious system deserve our opprobrium.

Ninjahippie

Remember three things: The TSA are NOT law enforcement. You have a constitutional right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure. The law of whatever district you are in still applies.

With that in mind my procedure will be:

When asked to enter an AIT scanner I’ll respond “Only if you have a warrant.”

When told I’ll have to get the “enhanced” pat-down I will tell them fine. I will comply as long as there is a third party witness present. If I am touched in any way that I feel inappropriate I will press all applicable charges under [insert state] law and at a minimum bring civil action against all agents involved.

We are citizens. The law works for US.

Kosmoid

There’s no reason why this policy can’t be suspended immediately to allow a cooling off period to examine all arguments for and against.

Let me get this right. If I want to fly, I can either choose cancer or sexual assault. This is the simplistic and very emo take on this that is churning through the media.

We can’t have profiling (as the Israelis do?). It’s fairer to violate the rights of everyone then just a few.

Look for the blue gloved-hand to become a new ubiquitously recognized icon.

jim

WTF is “the TSA officers are not to blame…”? “Just doing my
job” did not work Otto Adolf Eichmann why shoud it work fore TSA
officers

lectroid

because in any but the most theoretical sense, there is a difference between systematic extermination of many millions of people and having a hand run over your naughty bits.

Neither is good, but the first is decidedly MUCH WORSE.
Neon Tooth

Maybe you can berate U.S. troops when you see them in the airport as well. Just following orders….

S. Ellis

I flew out of SFO this morning, on a return flight to the east coast. As soon as one of the TSA agents asked me to take off my belt and get in line, I asked if I could have a pat down instead of going through the BS scanner. They were relatively chill about it, but had to call in another female agent after calling “opt out!” down the line. She was probably in her late fifties/early sixties.

The agent asked me if those were my things in the tubs on the “done” side of the x-ray’s conveyor belt. When I reached for them she immediately blocked my hands and told me I was not allowed to touch them. I reiterated, “I am not allowed to touch my own property?” She told me because I had refused to go through the scanner, I was not allowed to touch them. I told her, calmly, that I found that to be ridiculous and illogical–they had just been probed via x-ray and were found harmless, but were suddenly a danger because I hadn’t been scanned?? She grabbed my things in the totes and brought them over to the end of the security area.

The agent then asked me if I was okay with receiving a pat down. I was honest and assertive with the agent, while keeping my tone level and considerate. I told her I was not okay with it, but what other choice were they giving me? I had to get home, 3,000 miles away, and they would not let me fly home unless I let her feel me up. She asked me if I was okay with different parts of the procedure a few times, and each time I responded “No, I am not okay with it, and will probably not fly again while this policy remains in place.”
She said she wasn’t comfortable with it either, and I told her that should be addressed. She also said “I have to ask if you are aware of each step in the new procedure, because a lady freaked out on me.” I said, “Of course she did, you are touching us in really invasive and inappropriate ways. And a lot of people who have experienced some sort of sexual abuse or assault would find this experience triggering. It isn’t right.” Despite going along with a policy I find despicable and useless, I know the lady was trying to make a living, and in her defense she really tried to be brief and non obtrusive when putting her hands near my breasts and groin. Having a mother of a similar age who has to work a crappy job to survive, I felt bad for her. She was definitely flustered and trying to do her best.

Afterwards she asked if I had gone through the backscatter before, and I said yes, but I had received a pat down afterwards, anyway. She asked why, and I said apparently my underwear threw them off. “But why, everyone wears underwear, that’s normal!” Not all underwear or bodies are created equal, lady. And it’s really no one’s business.

Get out of our faces, TSA. AND OUR CROTCHES.

qatarperegrine

Ellis, you can’t touch your bags when they’ve been screened and you haven’t, because it would give you the opportunity to transfer contraband from your person to your bag.
Neon Tooth

I know the lady was trying to make a living, and in her defense she really tried to be brief and non obtrusive when putting her hands near my breasts and groin. Having a mother of a similar age who has to work a crappy job to survive, I felt bad for her. She was definitely flustered and trying to do her best.

Nah, screw the old bag! She’s an incompetent, power tripping “goon” and a pedophile. Haven’t you been reading all the comments on Boing Boing lately? How dare you try to humanize on of them.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Neon Tooth,
  
  People are pissed off. I understand that you’re also pissed off, but can you do it with more substance and less spleen.
  - Neon Tooth
    
    I am pissed off, but not hysterical and entitled. The policy is definitely bad, but I won’t vilify workers for it. The TSA was created and its employees have been deliberately prevented from having the very collective bargaining rights that would help them argue against such conditions. John Pistole is the TSA boss, and his boss is some guy named Barack Obama, who was just defending these policies a couple days ago.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Why should the workers get a free pass when they’re the ones carrying out these intrusive searches? There have been allegations of classism, which I reject based on the TSA workers being in the same class as their searchees. Since your chances of speaking to John Pistole or Barack Obama are infinitesimally small, how do you propose making changes other than by shaming those who carry out the policies until they revolt? If every TSA worker in the US called in sick tomorrow, that would have a pretty big impact. Why don’t you hold them responsible for their actions?
    - Neon Tooth
      
      Why should the workers get a free pass when they’re the ones carrying out these intrusive searches? There have been allegations of classism, which I reject based on the TSA workers being in the same class as their searchees. Since your chances of speaking to John Pistole or Barack Obama are infinitesimally small, how do you propose making changes other than by shaming those who carry out the policies until they revolt? If every TSA worker in the US called in sick tomorrow, that would have a pretty big impact. Why don’t you hold them responsible for their actions?
      
      I think you’re being disingenuous about income, furthermore it’s been pointed out to you that TSA workers have been forbidden the right to collective bargain and address their grievances with management. If you berate a TSA employee and make them feel miserable on the job what are your chances that Obama or Pistole will care? You can complain directly to the TSA and directly toward your political representatives. Your congressman and state political parties have offices don’t they?
      
      ‘Lectroid made this great comment in the other piece that you may have missed:
      
      Given this economy, asking them all to walk off the job is smug, entitled, and horrifically classist. Especially given that roughly half of the congress that created the agency made it EXPLICITLY ILLEGAL for these workers to argue with management with any sort of collective voice. Those demanding they quit are asking each and every individual to take a stand for YOUR rights/comfort/convenience while simultaneously depriving them of any formal system that creates a collective buffer that would make such an action possible without risking their own economic devastation.
      
      Once again, I’ll state: Americans are demanding skilled job performance from people being compensated at unskilled labor salaries, and then telling those same people they have no right to demand the training required to do the job.
      
      And here’s more on collective bargaining, you can also read the entire beginning that discusses how these procedures were forced on them with rushed and little training and most importantly little warning given to the flying public.
      
      NO SAY AT WORK
      Itâ€™s possible that if workers had more say, these unpleasant surprises could have been avoided, according to Cyndi Jenson, president of AFGE Local 1120 in Salt Lake City. â€œWe could see a storm brewing once we got into training mode,â€ she said. â€œWe were trying to be lighthearted but we could see that members of the public would have a problemâ€ with the new procedures.
      
      Without a union, Jenson said, â€œour voice doesnâ€™t get heard, and now people want to sue us. Who is going to protect us? We donâ€™t have rights on the job.â€
      
      Jenson worries that the uproar is going to add fuel to Republican calls to privatize airport security.
      
      Transportation Security Officers were denied the right to collective bargaining when the agency was formed after 9/11. Two unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union, are now vying to represent TSOs.
      
      In response to a petition from AFGE, the Federal Labor Relations Authority agreed November 12 to a representation election, which is expected early next year. AFGE organizers estimate the total workforce is between 30,000 and 40,000, but the numbers are currently unpublished. AFGE claims 12,000 TSOs as dues-paying members, in 38 locals around the country.
      
      Although they lack bargaining rights, AFGE has been able to represent workers in disciplinary proceedings, said union organizer Terry Meadows. The TSA employee handbook allows workers to designate a representative, so AFGE has been providing representatives to argue cases on behalf of workers, and winning some. However, the proceedings are still controlled by management, Meadows noted. â€œWe could have a really good caseâ€ and still lose.
      
      COLLECTIVE BARGAINING?
      When the Bush administration set up the TSA, officials argued that union rights could compromise security. TSA Administrator John Pistole, an Obama appointee, is thought to be more accommodating, and the two competing unions are pushing Pistole to grant collective bargaining rights for the TSA workforce.
      
      At a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing on intensified screening measures, Republican leaders warned Pistole against making a decision for collective bargaining. “If you decide to . . . allow for collective bargaining among the TSA workforce,â€ Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson told Pistole, â€œthere would be an upheaval in Congress and serious efforts to prevent that from happening.”
      
      But there has been an upheaval in Congress around collective bargaining rights since TSA was formed, Lewis noted. Referring to Senator Hutchinson, Lewis said, â€œIf sheâ€™s ready to fight, weâ€™ll get on our boxing gloves, too.â€
      
      http://labornotes.org/blogs/2010/11/airport-screeners-caught-crossfire-called-%E2%80%9Cperverts-creeps%E2%80%9D
    - Jesse M.
      
      Why should the workers get a free pass when they’re the ones carrying out these intrusive searches?
      
      There are cases where a policy you’re asked to enforce is one you disagree with, but you know if you quit they’d just hire someone else to enforce it, and you need to bring in money for your family. There are other cases where a policy is so morally abhorrent (say, participating in genocide) that even if it’s true that someone else would do it in your place, you have to opt out if you want to be able to live with yourself. I don’t think this is a case that falls into the latter class like genocide, the fact that quitting would just be an empty gesture that would change nothing and cause you to lose your income (in a bad economy where it might be hard to find another job quickly) is a legitimate reason to keep doing it, I think. Along the same lines, I don’t think people should go to jail for possessing drugs for personal use, but I’m not going to say every cop who feels the same way has a moral responsibility to quit their job because it involves the occasional drug arrest.
      
      Since your chances of speaking to John Pistole or Barack Obama are infinitesimally small, how do you propose making changes other than by shaming those who carry out the policies until they revolt? If every TSA worker in the US called in sick tomorrow, that would have a pretty big impact. Why don’t you hold them responsible for their actions?
      
      TSA workers don’t have a union to organize a “call in sick” from the top down. They aren’t part of a hive mind, for all TSA workers to organize themselves to do this would present the same sort of “herding cats” problem as getting all airline customers who disagree with the policy to quit flying for a month, which would also “have a pretty big impact” (bigger than TSA workers calling in sick, I would think). So if you’re going to blame TSA workers who disagree with the policy but don’t do anything about if for their inaction, you should also blame all the airline customers who disagree with the policy but enable it by choosing to fly anyway (to see their family for the holidays, for example).
- g0d5m15t4k3
  
  They are people. I agree. I worked in tech support for 4 years. Every day I was cussed at, called names and hung up on. But nothing was keeping me there but the paycheck. When you have a job like that you have two choices:
  
  1.Stay at the job because you get paid & there aren’t any other jobs. The way you deal with a job like that is by spacing out (See Office Space). You stop thinking of your customers as people all together. Or you become an alcoholic/drug abuser.
  You remove yourself from your job.
  
  or
  
  2.Quit after two weeks because the pay isn’t enough for how degrading the job is. You can’t deal with the dehumanization.
  
  The real answer is that on a long enough timeline, you will always end up choosing option 2.

EH

Ha ha, so they’re turning to disinfo now? Who ever was talking about *refusing* pat downs? I mean, I guess you could, but I don’t think anybody was ever arguing that people should be able to fly without going through any search process whatsoever.

Anonymous

Last year, i flew 7 times. Since this TSA backscatter/pat down started? Zero. I will not fly again until this violation is revoked. I am boycotting air travel until this ridiculous violation of civil liberties ends.

Raines Cohen

Just cleared into the country at IAD, terminal C for connecting paSsengers. No scanners present, magnetometers only, so no opportunity to opt in or out. A small dog was screening passengers and luggage at the international bag claim in customs.

Laurel L. Russwurm

@sumadis

Sorry, you just don’t get it. Every time you put up with this assault you are condoning it.

Many people find these assaults unacceptable. They are working to change it.

If you don’t like their solution, maybe you ought to be getting this repression struck down in some other way.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

– Edmund Burke

HotPepperMan

It is clear that the TSA are changing the rules at the last minute so that the traveling public are uncertain (FUD factor). Additionally, the ‘blame’ for delays will be passed on to anyone who, for whatever reason, refuses the porn scanner and, should they also object to having their personal areas groped, to be labeled as potential terrorists. The onus being placed on you complying and not spoiling other people’s travel plans by them having to close a security area should you attempt to go through again.

There is a simple solution.

1. Refuse the x-ray as there is uncertainty regarding their safety – a simple check on the interwebs will show this differing opinion.

2. In a normal voice, but sufficient for those in proximity to you can hear, emphasis should be placed on point 1 above.

3. Opt for a pat down IN PUBLIC. Do NOT go to a private area.

4. Ask questions. This is important. If you are about to be touched by a stranger it is important that you understand the WHY and the HOW of what they are proposing.

5. Ask for the person about to pat you down to put on a new pair of gloves within your sight.

6. Ask for a copy of the rules to ensure that you are both complying properly and also that the rules are being properly enforced. How can you comply if you do not know what the rules are and are?

Above all, be polite and do not be embarrassed or made to feel at fault for ensuring the TSA are able to do their job properly and protect the traveling public. Similarly, if you are clearly complying and being nice there is no reason for the bottom inspectors to detain you. You know it make sense…

elk

Keep in mind this doesn’t account for those millions in the country who either don’t get the word, or don’t fully grasp the english language quite enough (so therefore don’t understand the new, invented dominos they’re about to push over).

Not hard to imagine such a cascading disruption cycle that the airline industry starts taking notice b/c of disruption to their bottom line.

The ‘more brawn than brain’ approach chosen by the TSA is going to come back to bite them increasingly harder…

mdh

I think the government works by providing incentives and disincentives. The TSA is a disincentive, distorting and disrupting the marketplace.

Slappy

News Flash on TSA’s website:

Most OK with TSA full-body scanners
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-01-11-security-poll_N.htm

CBS poll finds 4 out of 5 Americans support the use of advanced imaging technology at airports nationwide.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20022876-503544.html

I must be the 1 out of 5 that think all this blows.

Looks like the disinformation machine has shifted into second gear.They didn’t mention that these articles are months old.

S. Ellis

This is a very well articulated article from a former police officer about what is wrong with the TSA and their current procedures/protocol (and lack thereof):

http://gizmodo.com/5696160/why-the-tsa-could-lead-us-to-public-rebellion-or-a-terrorist-attack

Anonymous

It’s already a nightmare for me to go through security as I’m on a medication (humira) that needs to be refridgerated. It’s a live protein injection so I’d rather not put it through the luggage xray machine which they’ve been good about – they just do the manual search with the drug sniffing machine. But then it’s a gamble to see if they take away my icepacks (when they melt they are dangerous liquid right?) so I’m forced to go to starbucks (no assistance from security or the flight co) and beg them for cups/bags of ice to wrap my $1500 medication in. In Jan I’m looking to have surgery and get an osotomy bag (poo bag) So now I’m getting a pat down/getting molested – trying to make sure they don’t rupture the feces all over me while making sure my medication is getting through oh and that my wallet, laptop aren’t being stolen while all of this happens.

Anonymous

I hope every person commenting on every one on these and other threads is actually doing something relevant to state their case and communicating their feelings with their local government representative.

Something potentially constructive, you know?

Anonymous

skysky, who told us that the “terrorists” care about “taking our freedoms away?” Is it possible that they wanted to make a point about us stopping raping their land, destroying their countries and killing their children?

Is it possible that some of the people in our government just jumped on the opportunity, framed the incident as terrorists against freedom and started showing their violent, corrupted, power-hungry oppressive face?

Anon#133 Exactly. It is difficult to understand oppression, unless it happens to you or someone you care about. My gf who has close friends in the trans community was saying “I don’t care if they see me naked, what’s the big deal?” until one of her friends mentioned that being forcefully outed at every airport is not a desired experience.

And, lastly, what we’re seeing is TSA adjusting their procedure by escalating the oppression and violence believing that this is what would shut down dissent, not addressing the main issue. Typical oppressive strategy; but oh so fragile in the face of mass civil disobedience.

I wonder what would happen when a few large airports close on T-day-1 and tens of thousands of happy USAnians miss their thanksgiving dinner.

Hundreds of lawyers are getting a hard on as you read this.

MagnanaMouse

It’s all very clear. I’m glad that they laid out for us how to maneuver through this police state maze of liberty-free convenience. Making millions can be so complicated in this economy. You have to really give it to Michael Chertoff, Bush’s Homeland Security director and Tom Blank, Bush’s TSA director, for what they’ve been able to accomplish since re-entering the Free-Market Private Sector! Representing the companies producing and distributing the Naked Scanners and creating a market for them! Giving up our rights as freemen is the least we can do to help ensure that our taxes are funneled to the right folk! C’mon, it’s the American way. We’re not *really* prisoners. Being treated like one is a small price for liberty.

Greg323

Sometime this holiday, someone will test the new policies. Bet on it. If not over Thanksgiving, then sometime before Christmas. It will be interesting to see if the TSA actually shuts down a checkpoint. I’m also willing to bet that the person testing this policy winds up on the “No Fly” list indefinitely. The TSA has the power to do this, and the government will back them up.

I think it’s an asinine policy. However if enough people get checkpoints shut down in several cities, it could cause the TSA to change their guidelines. Maybe. It’ll be fun to watch.

I’m traveling by air in mid-December, and plan on asking for a pat-down. I’ll live with the consequences until someone issues definitive guidelines on the amount of radiation the backscatter scanners emit.

martian_bob

Tomorrow.

Boston to Minneapolis.

Utilikilt.

Regimental.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Anonymous

I flew from BOS to IND last Friday, and they had both the backscatter and a old-fashioned metal detector. I was all ready to opt-out and was pretty scared, and then they waved me through the metal detector…
Raines Cohen

From ye goode olde days of yore (2009) before backscatter & enhanced pat-downs, I got a pretty-enhanced patdown when flying in a utilikilt – simply based on the metal detector sounding based on all those metal snaps! My advice: Do think about your goals and unintended consequences – i.e. optimizing for one form of search/detection/action may make selection for a different form of inspection than you intended more likely based on failing another form.

In three domestic and international flights from different US airports in the last two weeks, I always got sent through the good-old magnetometer, no secondary searches (although a solar-powered computer bag with its own battery pack and all kinds of suspicious-looking cables took long enough to hand-inspect and re-run that I missed an international flight I would otherwise have made).

I picked this Wednesday for a series of flights, international and domestic, back before opt-out day was declared, simply in order to maximize the probability of getting voluntarily-bumped in cities where I’ve got friends and family who would enjoy an unexpected pre-Thanksgiving visit. I have to say, looking at seatmaps, that for whatever reasons, there are lots of seats on all flights, including in prime times, on what should be the busiest day of the year, so either more people than expected in the airlines’ pricing models are choosing not to fly (despite a very attractive sale in the past few weeks), or are shifting their travel to different days.

watchout5

That’s nice of them to make their policy so that if you’re refusing to get man handled by some greasy underpaid junkie you won’t go to jail. I love the rhetoric in there though, they’re so worried about one person refusing a pat down getting one inch closer to the planes. Clearly the TSA needs to treat you like a nuclear bomb (but without the metal or anything in your shoes?) if you refuse the pat down. However you’ll be allowed to do whatever terrorism outside the airport…where no one is….

Kosmoid

Not to mention the elderly, the children, the developmentally disabled who are all lumped into a group that are equally suspected of being a bomb-toting terrorist. Clergy and other religious figures, yep, you too.

Kosmoid

I don’t think there is any scientific basis for conclusively saying this type of scanning is either safe or harmful. The UCSF letter to Holdren asks for a panel to independently study possible adverse effects. Proving causality in a disease process that might take decades to appear is extremely difficult.

The real problem is that if you refuse, you are subjected to a violation of your personal privacy rights, IMHO. This TSA practice should be stopped immediately because it appears that the “pat down” is a punitive measure for refusing the scan. Added to this is the fact that there is no real evidence that this will make flying any more secure and safe.

Questionable benefits (and harm), but with real privacy liabilities.

Here’s hoping that this new awareness of the public to raise a stink about privacy extends to the Internet.

Anonymous

My Dad is a TSA agent, so I am pretty torn on this issue.

My initial reaction was outrage at the new policies. I am pretty anti-authoritarian by nature, and I have never been a fan of airport security, even before the new scanners and pat-downs. However, upon further reflection, I have come to the conclusion that these new procedures do serve a purpose, or at least more of a purpose than the whole shoes/liquids/nail clippers nonsense.

If the goal is to prevent travelers from bringing weapons onto planes, then the scanners certainly seem to address this goal (sure, they are not 100% effective, but they are pretty damned good). Same thing goes for the pat-downs (generally speaking, as we will see later). What doesn’t make sense is scanning young children or individuals that do not meet the terrorist profile. That being said, as soon as you rule out a certain age/race/sex, then you have opened a security hole that could be exploited.

What is missing from the equation is public discourse/debate (perhaps that is what is happening now?) TSA policies are handed down without any chance for the public to weigh the costs versus the benefits. Thus, I understand the need for protest, and for events like tomorrow’s opt-out. I even plan to opt-out myself, just to observe the processes (or lack thereof) involved. To that point, here’s a little tale from a colleague of my Dad, showing that the enhanced pat-down may not be enhanced enough. Strip searches may indeed be next…

“I had a “Male Assist Alarm” yesterday and after gathering his things directed him to the pat-down area. The first thing I did notice was that he was wearing one of those wrist supports that people often wear when they have injured his/her wrist, thus this must be the reason for the alarm when he walked thru the metal detector. I conducted what I thought was a pretty thorough pat down and when I finished testing my gloves as well as the wrist support the passenger informed me that I WAS DEAD! There was a 22 caliber pistol hidden in his rolled up pants legs. This is the first time that something had gotten past me but it shook me up. Stupid mistake on my part from not being thorough enough. Granted this was just an exercise but what if it wasn’t? This guy could have walked onto a plane with a fully loaded weapon and then what…makes me nauseous to think what could have happened. This is what we, as TSA officers deal with on a daily basis. We HAVE to treat each passenger as a potential threat until he or she has been cleared. So now we have Joe Public screaming that we are violating their civil rights by conducting these pat downs and they want to opt-out of the AIT machine, which by the way, would have picked up the gun exactly where it was hidden. Just sayin….”

bombjack

@#216 â€¢ 7:49 PM, Nov 23

[...]There was a 22 caliber pistol hidden in his rolled up pants legs. This is the first time that something had gotten past me but it shook me up. Stupid mistake on my part from not being thorough enough. Granted this was just an exercise but what if it wasn’t?
[...]

How many people will try to get weapons/bombs on a plane? Or further asked how many of these people will use the hidden weapon for taking over the plane or blow up the plane?

Can a society live with the risk, that sometimes a attack happens, because you can not get 100% security? What will the TSA do, if the next bomber is hiding explosives in his intestines? Body cavity search for everybody?

But supposing you get 100% security at the plane, what is with the other vulnerable points in your/our (I am from Germany) society? The rows at the TSA checkpoints where mentioned before, but think at train stations, subway stations and other things.

There was a school shooting in Winnenden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnenden_school_shooting where the body count was 15 people….what if the next terrorist group will make this happen in a shopping mall? So far I know you can get weapons very easily in the US even illegal (no questions asked) and tighten the weapon-laws will not change that, because you will rise the black market more….

Can it be that the “only” solution is to minimize the people which are so upset (angry, pissed) that they try to blow things up or make attacks even if that means to change the politic?

If yes, then the whole discussion about TSA policies and security measures is only a treatment of symptoms and goes in the wrong way, because if the measures taken will get tighter your and my society will get the “homegrown terrorist”. First it will be only civil disobedience, but later if this fails violence from normal people will grow….and think twice what reaction from the authorities will follow? After a while the society will go in doom loop and your and my society is at the best way for that…..

bombjack
- S. Ellis
  
  Do you think the more draconian and demanding the TSA becomes, the more likely violence will occur? Like how Batman’s vigilantism may in fact be one of the leading factors of the generation of dangerous and flamboyant psychopaths in Gotham City?
  
  I will never compare the TSA to Batman ever again. I’d like to know, though, what the sociological patterns and implications are. I loathe these circumstances, but I am simultaneously fascinated by what may or may not happen.
  - bombjack
    
    Yes, partly I think so….if the intensity of the grip is more as the people are willing to take, than violence or better said civil resistance will be spread.
    What if the TSA will insist on a strip search? How many people which refuse the “Nude-Scanner” (here in Germany we call it “Nacktscanner”) will agree to strip for the TSA guy?
    
    On the other hand I see such agencies like the TSA, Homeland Security, BKA (the German FBI) and much other agencies very critical, because there is a trend for them to expand the range of authority further and further.
    
    [...]but I am simultaneously fascinated by what may or may not happen.[...]
    
    Me, too but I think we (the Western societies) have to change our politics, otherwise the number of Terrorists will grow and the attacks, too. I think at oil, water, food and other resources, which will where the next embattled goods. It may sound now a little bit lefty, but my opinion is only if people have something to loose (and have the feeling that they are not exploited) , they are more resistant against radical opinions. If we get that not under control we will loose the battle like the roman empire…..
    
    bombjack
Kevin

The “little tale” from the anonymous TSA guy is a load of crap. As he concedes, the firearm was picked up by the metal detector and a wand would have pinpointed its location. In other words, the security level we had for decades was just fine for that situation. No security can make us 100% safe, and while the TSA is f*cking around in people’s underwear the terrorists are developing another strategy, just as they have done after every attack. We need to drop the whole TSA nonsense and spend the money on intelligence, Arabic translators, nuclear detection, etc. We spend so little on that and you people want to spend time and money rummaging around in our pants. It is so idiotic.
Chris Tucker

“This guy could have walked onto a plane with a fully loaded weapon and then what”

Maybe six dead passengers and one dead schmuck with an empty pistol shoved up his ass.

The cockpit would have remained secure, the plane unhijacked, the surviving passengers would be hailed as heroes, the dead as martyrs and every single TSA agent at that particular checkpoint would be fired.

That’s what.

Your father’s friend is a terrified little coward. So some bad shit happens, but that’s all that could conceivably happen in that scenario.

And you know what? If some schmuck gets a gun on the plane I’m on, and I wind up getting shot, well, shit happens. It happened to me. Luck of the draw. And as I’m dying, I’ll be laughing, because all that’s going to happen to me is death. All that’s going to happen to the TSA screeners at that checkpoint will make them WISH for death.

nickelrocket

So I have to fly tomorrow. I fly for work and to visit my kids. I’ve been reading all sorts of horror stories all week about scanner cancer and The Groping. I don’t GET to protest. I have to be a good sheep, keep my head down, mouth shut and submit to humiliating pictures or else I disappoint the most important things in my life. I call this whole mess a big load of blackmail. I want my kids to grow up knowing that they have a choice, that they are in control of their own destiny, but right now they are not. I am not. My wife is not. There is nothing more I want to do than get in some TSO’s face and scream PERVERT! NAZI! FASCIST! GET A REAL JOB! Get your hands off me and let me get on with my life! The moment I do that, I lose everything. I’ve read a lot of brave talk from people who think they can take on the TSA and more power to you. I hope you have no family and bottomless amounts of cash. Because they do. I don’t have any answers but all this is doing is fanning the flames for a big flash point that will ultimately make things a lot worse.

How did we get here?

babybull

wondering about another angle on this. are agents required to wear fresh gloves for each enhanced pat down? if not, that’s a health violation. if so, how many pairs of latex gloves a day is that? that plastic trash island in the pacific isn’t getting any smaller.

Anonymous

God Bless America!

skysky

The sad thing is that there aren’t going to be any more actual terrorist attacks on airplanes or airports. The terrorists are reading this comment thread and saying “We’ve made them terrified of their own government. They’re their own terrorists now. Mission Accomplished.”

Sork

The TSA is probably what the terrorists (AQAP) calls their “strategy of a thousand cuts that will bleed the enemy to death”. All that is left is for them to use a rectal bomb attempt, which like the rest of the bombings (shoes, pants) will utterly fail, but will force mandatory cavity searches.
jungletek

What if you were already scared of your government before 9/11?

Anonymous

I will be flying for Christmas. I haven’t decided yet whether I want the scanner cancer or the groping. Maybe things will be fixed by then. I wish I could take a train but my mother lives in Hawaii. :\

Anonymous

There’s no way I can opt out because there is no way I could endure an enhanced pat-down. I just couldn’t.

Instead I have bought my first ever cross-country Amtrak tickets and have the written the TSA, the White House, my congresswoman, my old favorite airlines to tell them I won’t be flying …

I’ll be interested to see who else is riding the train for the first time this Christmas.

druidbros

Amtrak is a wonderful way to travel. The snack cars have everything you could want including Sam Adams beer and Hebrew National hot dogs. You get to relax and they have plugs for your laptops.

Anonymous

What the TSA wants is your obedience not your safety (or perhaps to a lessor extent your safety). Either way we need to all refuse the groping and all head for the planes, believe me they can’t stop us all.

Anonymous

The way it’s heading America is going to end up like North Korea: Completely isolated from the rest of the world and too busy worshipping ideals that are completely disconnected from reality to notice we’ve lost all our freedoms.

Anonymous

Blogs are our Democracy Security Association. Please keep posting your experiences.

BookGuy

Are such tickets (completely refundable) even available? I can’t remember ever booking a flight that didn’t require significant financial penalties for changing or canceling, but I tend to fly only on one or two airlines.

Here’s what I keep mulling:
1. We can refuse to fly, but that mostly hurts the airlines, who themselves would probably prefer less intrusive security so as not to alienate their customers. So you’re preaching to the choir there.

2. We can mess with TSA agents with a variety of strategies, including but not limited to sexual overtures.* Aside from some rogue agents who no doubt get off on power and/or groping people, most TSA agents would probably be perfectly happy to not touch anyone or interact with any angry passengers, and just hang out watching the screen on the X-ray belt and looking at boarding passes. Their jobs would be significantly easier and less stressful. So again, preaching to the choir.

3. We can press our representatives, but they have mostly shown indifference or “What are you gonna do?” attitudes.

So who DO we pressure? How do we get at the lobbyists and companies that make money from this?

* Important note: I don’t consider what HotPepperMan outlines to be “messing.” Being polite and insisting all procedures are explained and verified is smart, but that only messes with people who would have been unprofessional to begin with.

tessuraea

I’m flying tomorrow (if the weather clears) out of a teeny airport – but coming back via SFO. So next week I’ll get to deal with this.

Current plan is to opt out and then carefully explain to the screener that I’m a rape survivor and that she might trigger a flashback. It’s true, and it’s unlikely to be pleasant for anyone involved if it happens. I’m not going to deliberately do anything to make the TSA agent’s life any more difficult. But they should know what they’re doing to people like me. There are a lot of us.

Using my trauma as a weapon of protest. Awesome. I wish it was unnecessary. :(

Anonymous

There ARE a lot of you. 1 in 4 women.
maelenna

I’m in awe at your courage in deciding to do that, tessuraea. I’m watching this unfold from Australia, and I’m finding that I’m increasingly glad this is where I live!

If you need an extra courage boost, Cory Doctorow’s ‘Little Brother’ has recently been a great reminder for me about why it’s necessary to stand up for your rights in this sort of situation.

Anonymous

I won’t fly until the security theater stops. I don’t care if it takes two days to drive where I’m going; at least in my car nobody treats me like a criminal.

If a lot of people refuse to fly and the airlines go bankrupt, that’s fine with me. It’s not as if they’ve done anything in the last decade to inspire my loyalty.

brianary

Doubling down on cowardice-pandering theater.

Who even wants to be anywhere near that? No thanks.

Anonymous

My wife and I flew to America last December for some pre-Christmas shopping. We’re certainly not going this year and I can’t see us wanting to go again any time soon. I’ll spend my tourist dollars elsewhere.

It’s so sad to watch the ‘land of the free’ become the ‘land of the fear’.

Anonymous

I have to travel to Canada next year. It’s going to cost me an extra 6 hours of my time and $400 to NOT transit through the US. Sigh.

I really hope the commercial impact of this on US airports and airlines starts to make itself felt. There were enough reasons to avoid LAX before, but now it’s become non-negotiable.

ZarroD

A TSA Holiday Poem
http://tinyurl.com/32axqqx

Jesse M.

So although I want them to end the pornoscanner/patdown regime, if I need to fly I’ll go through with it. Given the possibility that these things can increase your risk of scalp melanoma, do you think you could get away with putting a cheap radiation shield like this or this or this on your head, if you explained your reasons? (and had a printout of an article explaining the danger) Perhaps just a tinfoil hat? ;)

crankypage

Just asking – what will they do to a guy who wears a hard plastic cup through screening?

Anonymous

Yeah, I driving 22 hours to get home this winter break (I go to college on the east coast, live in the midwest) instead of flying. I’m usually not one to boycott, but there is no way in hell I want people looking at me naked…if my choices are being herded into a radiation machine or being molested…well that’s not really a choice at all. I didn’t read all 125 comments, but have you guys heard about the worker who was caught masturbating to the pictures? I read the article on CNN this morning, but as I write this, it seems to have been erased from the site! I found another one here: http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/?c=124&a=2389 but it’s not as credible as CNN…I wonder why they took it down :|

Anonymous

I would like to see a flash mob doing “Don’t Touch Me There” by The Tubes at a TSA checkpoint. That would be something. Can someone arrange this, please? Thanks.

jim

jim in reply to lectroid

so it is the degree of atroseys the maters

Anonymous

I went through US security at LAX and Las Vegas and Canadian at Montreal and neither I or my co-traveler were asked to go through the fullbody scanner or an “enhanced” pat-down. Security personnel was attentive and courteous everywhere.

Anonymous

I’ve been considering wearing my priest shirt from last halloween for the next time I fly, just to see if that makes any difference.

jim

i ment atrocity

greermahoney

Ugh. Flying tomorrow and scared. Not scared of the terrorists. I’ve been flying with the threat of them for 9 years. For the first time I’m scared of my own government. And of myself if I don’t stand up.

rsk

We’re not going to stop this merely by protesting.

We’re going to need to leverage the most powerful force in America: greed.

Air travel supports an entire segment of the economy: the airlines (obviously), hotels, restaurants, convention centers, etc. They all want to make money — lots of it.

So here’s what we need to do: we need to call them up and explain that we won’t be booking flights or making hotel reservations or any of that UNTIL THE TSA IS SHUT DOWN.

Emphasis on that last point. It’s not enough to merely insist that the TSA stop this latest, particularly annoying bit of stupidity: they’ll just come up with another one…as they have for their entire existence. No, the entire agency has to go. It has negative security value.

And then we need to impose increasing economic pain on the entities I listed above until THEY and THEIR lobbyists — who are far more powerful than any of us — effect the necessary changes via the pet congresscritters.

The trick (as with any action of this nature) is to make the action widespread and sustained. A month of boycotts will do nothing. But half a year? In which, let’s say, two airlines and hotel chain both fail? Yeah, that should start to make the message heard.

So essentially what I’m proposing is that we economically cripple the travel industry in the US until the TSA no longer exists.

Oh, I know it’s harsh. I understand it will have ramifications. But I don’t think anything less will suffice, and I really don’t think we have the persistence to fight this battle and the next one and the next and the next one and…so I would rather leverage the current outrage and try to end this now.

geekd

This is exactly right.

Do not fly.

When the airlines bottom line starts hurting, then they will be on “our side” against the TSA. They have lobbyists and bribe money.

Do not fly.

janusnode

Gizmodo is suggesting that the TSA is deliberately NOT using the Rape-Scanners and genital groping today, to ‘sabotage’ Opt-Out Day. If there is nothing to opt out of, there is no one opting out:
http://tinyurl.com/2aq32ss
The TSA denies this, of course.

bradmofo

As a Brit with extended family in the States, I was tempted to visit this year.

Not a snowball’s chance in hell now.

Anonymous

I hope if I ever have to fly again that I’m menstruating when I go through security. I hope they demand I pull out my tampon. In front of people. IT COULD’VE BEEN EXPLOSIVE! She’s a witch!!

misadventures213

Holy fuck. When did life in the 21st century become such a “thing”?

Say what you will about lung cancer, the cheesiness of the 70s, and right-wight conservatism, but I’m just old enough to remember when you could waltz through a magnetometer, get invited into the cockpit by Charleton Heston — or better, Peter Graves (!!!) — and then “smoke em if you got em”.

And if your plane was hijacked — and no disrespect to the people involved — you shrugged, flew the damn plane to Cuba, and then continued on to your vacation spot in Miami.

I’m begging someone to explain it to me — why is everything such a “thing” now?

Shawn Wolfe

CHERTOFF GROUP
“We’ll See You In Hell”

http://chertoffgroup.com/cgroup/2010/03/104/

Anonymous

daily squib is a satire site. CNN dun goofed and then took down the article when they realized it.

Loraan

Additionally, the ‘blame’ for delays will be passed on to anyone who, for whatever reason, refuses the porn scanner and, should they also object to having their personal areas groped, to be labeled as potential terrorists.

I want to reiterate this point; it’s why I came to post, and I’m thrilled that one or two BoingBoing commenters beat me to it. As I see it, one effect of this new policy is that it gives the TSA a procedural way to screw you over if you protest or resist at the grope-down at all.

If the TSA ends up not liking my “attitude” towards the grope, or if I fail to comply with any of their commands (even ones that I think I have a legal right to refuse) they can just say, “You are refusing the procedure. Leave the area immediately.” If I don’t leave, now I’m arrested for interfering with the procedure, and if they really want to fuck me over, they evacuate the terminal and say it’s because I presented a security risk.

In addition to giving the TSA a more powerful weapon against people who stand up for their right to be treated with dignity, this policy is a classic example of “divide-and-conquer.” It destroys the potential solidarity of passengers with each other and against the TSA, by making passengers who are delayed mad at the one passenger the TSA is picking on, instead of the abusive system and the individuals who implement it.

Beachtwig

I don’t want anyone to touch my breasts or my fem-junk. My kids are definately not going to fly. For many reasons *I* would actually prefer to take off all my clothes and do jumping jacks in public, than to forcibly be touched.

Why no NAKED OPTION? If I went through a scanner and was then selected for additional “enhanced screening”, I would rather *bring a friend* and go behind a curtain so TSA could see me twirl around naked (from say, 1-2 meters away) and let them pat down MY CLOTHES rather than my body. They are of course *not* giving this as an option, because it takes away their position of POWER and shows this de-facto precedent for what it really is, unwarranted virtual strip searching.

I wonder what kind of Lady-Gaga type outfit I could come up with which would not be quite publicly indecent but which could leave so little to the imagination that there would be no need for an actual patdown? Suggestions?

WRITE TO CONGRESS! Ask them to support legislation that will hold the TSA accountable such as the American Traveler Dignity Act (currently awaiting consideration by the House Committee on the Judiciary) and the amendment to H.R. 2200 submitted by Representative Chaffetz of Utah, which prohibits the TSA from using whole body imaging machines for primary screeening at airports.

Peace&Love ~Beachtwig

Beachtwig

P.S. — I’m not a perve! I wouldn’t be flashing the public, but I’d slip into tape and a skimpy bikini for a minute to get through security (behind a curtain!) and then cover up than let someone touch me.
jackie31337

I wonder what kind of Lady-Gaga type outfit I could come up with which would not be quite publicly indecent but which could leave so little to the imagination that there would be no need for an actual patdown? Suggestions?

I’m personally planning to wear a stars-and-stripes bikini next time I fly.
Ugly Canuck

“I wonder what kind of Lady-Gaga type outfit I could come up with which would not be quite publicly indecent but which could leave so little to the imagination that there would be no need for an actual patdown? Suggestions?”

Think “thong”.

Visit the ‘King Thong’ outlet at your local shopping mall!

blorgggg

the kilt hack is a fake. just tried to go through and was directly told i was targeted FOR wearing the skirt. then they berated me about how they had no airplanes when they wrote the constitution when i asked about my rights before they groped me HARD. they get IN your butt!

Anonymous

At Manchester airport in the UK we have a compulsory nudey scanner. If you are selected to go through it you either comply or don’t fly. Yes, really.

What happens if someone from overseas refuses a pat-down and the scanner on his way our of the country? Is that a new way to avoid the need to get a green card? Just refuse the scan and be denied exit. Voila.

Kevin

The TSA workers are also to blame, not just their pigheaded bosses. We are being told, “if you don’t like it, don’t fly” — well, TSA workers, if you don’t like carrying out these policies, then don’t work for TSA. And if you DO like carrying out these policies, you should not be anywhere near a position of authority.

Pistole and the other bureaucrats are the ones I really despise, though. In a democracy, policies are supposed to be reached by persuasion and consensus. TSA policies are created unilaterally and imposed by intimidation and humiliation. Whether or not you care about being groped you should be very concerned about that.

Having a particular opt-out day I think is a bad idea because on that day people will want to go see their families, and now if there are no mass protests, TSA will say “see, Americans are fine with this.” (They have already started to say this sort of thing.) And Pistole is now saying it’s no big deal because not many people are being subjected to the pat-downs. First, it is not a defense that you are doing something inexcusable to only a few people. Second, not many people are being subjected to them YET. Make no mistake, they have eased off now only because of public pressure. They are softening up the public for more intrusiveness later.

It is clear to anyone with a brain that this does not make us any safer. TSA has not stopped anyone yet and never will. The whole thing is nauseating.

Neon Tooth

The TSA workers are also to blame, not just their pigheaded bosses. We are being told, “if you don’t like it, don’t fly” — well, TSA workers, if you don’t like carrying out these policies, then don’t work for TSA. And if you DO like carrying out these policies, you should not be anywhere near a position of authority.

It’s comical to even compare such situations. Number one, TSA workers aren’t telling you that. Number two, nine out of ten times you not flying is not as devastating as somebody not working. Thanks for proving again that there’s indeed a big classist aspect to this.
- jackie31337
  
  Number one, TSA workers aren’t telling you that. Number two, nine out of ten times you not flying is not as devastating as somebody not working.
  
  What about people who have to travel for work? For some people, not flying is not working.

Laurel L. Russwurm

The only elitism in the issue I can see is that the people who have made and implemented these policies (and people who have access to private planes) don’t have this problem. They don’t get scanned/groped.

I guess a private plane can’t be flown into a building.

If TSA employees are actually employed under such discriminatory conditions, that looks like a separate human rights complaint.

This whole thing looks like a human rights issue to me:

http://whoacanada.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/human-rights-and-the-tsa/

I’ve also posted a “round up” of some of the best advice here in my personal blog:
http://laurelrusswurm.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/happy-opt-out-thanksgiving/

Everyone have a safe Thanksgiving.

boingaddict

while everyone is screaming at TSA look what canadian border patrol is doing booooooooooooooo

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Strip+searches+store+Canadian+airport+port+workers/3866603/story.html

EliZ

THE SCREENER, A 1 ACT PLAY BY EliZ

Flyer: Oh.. Oh here it is, the backscatter scanner. (hops up and down, clapping)
Woman: (amused, taken aback, behind Flyer) Boy, you sure do like that scanner…
Flyer: Oh, it’s not the scanner I like (breathless) it’s the alternative

JUMPCUT to TSA screener warily patting down Flyer, as Flyer leers wide-eyed, panting, drooling expectantly, thrusting crotch forward to attempt to touch TSA screener’s hand. Flyer rotates his hips, wiggles his tongue suggestively, squirts lubricant into the palm of his hand.

Flyer: Touch it… come on, touch it. It’s ok, I don’t mind!

~fin~

dsb

Seriously people, out of all the things done by our government in the name our “homeland Security” this is what your freaking out about? that some guy might touch your junk?

Anonymous

a) Why can’t they copy what Israel does at their airports?

b) Gee the suicide bomber’s job has gotten a lot easier. Walk up to TSA cue, detonate self. Voila!

rushmc

The Ballad of Airport Security.

Anonymous

If these new policies so inspire protesters as to vastly increase the numbers of (sexy, sexy) kilt-wearing men in otherwise boring airports, then I say “well-done, TSA”.

bjacques

Having already been through the scanners here in the sockalist nanny-state of the Netherlands, I’m not especially bothered (I haven’t opted out, so I don’t know what the consequences would be). It seems that context is everything. Dutch people are by turns obedient and stubborn, not always at the right times, but in general aren’t making a fuss. I imagine context has a lot to do with it. The government so far hasn’t been hysterical about terrorist threats, or acted condescendingly (though they did follow Bush into Iraq) towards citizens. Airport screeners here get paid real wages with real benefits, which is generally true for all workers here.

But I wonder if in the US I’ll get the pat-down whether I go through the scanner or not. A friend tells me it’s the same type the Dutch use, and it red-flagged me. I mentioned elsehwere that I have a stiff shoulder, and assuming the position hurts a little (though not as much as this spring). The blood flow racing to the sore area showed up in the scan, but they only patted me down in the shoulder area. So if you’re sore or horny, you might get patted down anyway. I guess I’ll find out next month when I fly back after Xmas.

Speaking of TSA screeners, I hope the public outcry does lead to a thorough housecleaning. The TSA comes from the same thinking that gave us an inadequate Iraq invasion force (never mind the invasion), a rapacious and incompetent Coalition Provisional Authority and post-Katrina Gulf Opportunity Zones–building a security state on the cheap.

Give the assholes in the TSA one last chance to shape up, raise pay (and benefits) over all and seriously rethink policy. I’m not holding my breath.

But don’t let it turn into a stampede for abolishing the TSA altogether, which some GOP congressmen want to do, for populist cred. But the TSA will likely be replaced by a well-connected private security firm. Same rules, but enforced by goons trained especially to treat ordinary people like cattle, in every respect.

hmoonc

I am a transexual man and will be flying out of JFK to get home over the holidays. After reading, researching, and much thought, this is my plan of action: I will not go through the BS machine on principle. When they call “opt-out” and look for a groper, I plan to state loudly and clearly that I am a transsexual, and I need a third party to watch me be molested (I plan on coming up with something more eloquently put than this), someone who is NOT a TSO. I will be flying alone, and my one friend in the city will be on the other side of the security stuff. I am hoping that a combination of my opt-out, T-status, and obviously rational request for a third party will result in something interesting and meaningful that will not delay me from my flight (I’ll arrive quite early just in case). Really, if I say that I am a transexual man, who will they have pat me down? It’s not a binary-gendered world, and they need to take that into account, regardless of all of the other crap going on with this. Any ideas on better courses of action or things to say? Have the ACLU on my speed dial?

Anonymous

Here here! I think the trans community in particular really needs to come together on this issue.

If you cisgendered folk think all this theater is hard on you, imagine how we feel? Especially those of us who are already uncomfortable with our own genitals–some of us don’t even touch ourselves down there, we certainly don’t want some random greasy person who may-or-may not be of appropriate gender/sex touching us in such an intimate way.

Capcatcha: Unsanly sacrifice

imorgan73

Has anyone been able to source an honest opinion from the airlines on this? All of this TSA security theatre BS has to be hitting their bottom line.

S. Ellis

I didn’t get their opinion on how it is affecting business, but I did hear a bunch of gate agents cracking up over the SNL TSA sketch.

BK

These guys reported back that they actually enjoyed the new pat down:

http://boingboing.net/2010/11/01/eye-catching-trouser.html

WeightedCompanionCube

Maybe I’m reading the post or the comments wrong, but I thought the gate was past security.

If you refuse the scanner and the pat-down but head for the gate, you’re not going back towards the gate, you’re trying to walk right through security towards the plane.

That’s not civil disobedience, that’s unlawful entry. Especially when you have been told no less than three times you can choose the scanner, the patdown, or you can leave. At that point you are breaking the law.

The reason you completely shut down the checkpoint when an incident happens is to prevent a attack on the checkpoint itself. Think about it: A smart operation would take advantage of the current hubbub about procedures to defeat the checkpoint. A decoy tries to head for the gate, out of “frustration”, yelling about pornoscanners and civil rights, everyone focuses on that troublemaker while others sneak right on through, or slip contraband past distracted screeners in the other lanes.

When it comes to security, you always fail closed.

I did have an idea: Position the scanners so no one can see the inside of the scanner, and project the scan right there so the subject can see what the screener is seeing. That way people see just how much detail and obfuscation there is, not to mention the gee-whiz factor.

Or make it a game like Kinect: You have to put your feet here and raise your arms like this to plug the leaks in the fishtank…

Anonymous

My thoughts summed up visually in a proposed re-brand for TSA:

http://cargocollective.com/jetpilotdesigns#76328/graphic-illustrations

Anonymous

I’m someone who has been sexually assaulted. I’m also someone who, for some reason or another, has had a lot of head injuries and thus a lot of CAT scans.

I don’t want anymore radiation, but I also feel like one of these pat-downs might give me a panic attack. All I want to do is enjoy Thanksgiving with my family. I just moved across the country, and I miss them.

Anonymous

I’m not concerned about the BS (har har) Scanner giving me cancer, I wouldn’t even be concerned about being groped by some underpaid high-school drop-out who is probably thinking “I should get a new job” every other day. IF I weren’t transgendered. Neither of the options are good for me. I’m wondering if it would be wise even to…well, let’s be blunt here. I’m wondering weather it would be wise to wear my penis through the airport at all. I wonder what it would look like in the scanner, and during a grope-down, hey it doesn’t feel EXACTLY real, so they might say “hey, what’s that” and make me take it out. How humiliating would that be? Or for the ladies on the other side of the fence–some georgous woman goes through the line, gets a pat down and is suddenly outted as a biological male by a shocked, untrained, ignorant TSA agent to everyone in the immediate area.
Talk about human rights violations!

Rachael

Well, don’t count from any government help from newly re-elected Colorado senator Michael Bennet. He thinks that everything can be fixed with sensitivity training, and hey it’s only 3% of passengers getting groped anyway, so what’s the big deal?

http://geo-geek.blogspot.com/2010/11/senator-bennets-reply-to-my-concern.html

-.-

jerwin

The Nation chimes in with speculation that this may all be a Koch Brothers funded conspiracy to weaken the Obama administration specifically, and the Federal Government in particular.

Ugly Canuck

This too is of interest:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/daskrapital/2010/11/17/libertarians-behind-tsa-junk-touching-outrage-orgy-also-masterminded-topless-tuesdays/

Interesting…what is this TSA stuff displacing from the headlines?
- Ugly Canuck
  
  Oh hey thanks to Naked capitalism for that last link!
  
  http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/
omems

Although that’s an interesting idea, the article itself is almost entirely speculation from a clearly biased journalist:
“…although a TSA agent does seem to be trying to comfort McLain, offering her tissues as the libertarian rebel breaks out crying.”
- jerwin
  
  “It’s biased” is a polite way of saying TLDR.

Anonymous

Why doesn’t everyone buy a radiation badge and carry it through, and publish their results ?

The badges cost almost nothing – just type “radiation badge” into google and look at the ads that come up.

It would be great if we had some distributed test results from in the field – some real world radiation numbers.

Anonymous

No, dsb, I’ve been freaking out all along about the Iraq invasion, the mercenaries, the warrantless wiretapping, the extraordinary rendition, the black sites, the waterboarding, the Nisour Square massacre, Maher Arar, the Obama administration arguing in court for the right to murder an Americam citizen without as much due process as would fill an Altoids box, and the expansion of the American Empire at the expense of our civil society.

But I’m not a fan of your implication that being forced to be either irradiated or sexually assaulted by my government, and having it done to my children, is not a big deal.

Anonymous

Does anyone have a link to or experience with what the new procedure is like when traveling with a small child? I have a 15 month old daughter and may be flying alone with her in the next couple of months. Neither of us will be going through the backscatter machine (which is what they employ here at LAX).

So how does this work? Do I have to hand my daughter over to a TSA agent while another one searches me? Then will they do an “enhanced pat-down” of her? Neither of those prospects gives me a warm fuzzy and leads me to think I’ll just be telling my family that they’ll have to come visit me. I’m not handing my daughter to a stranger for safekeeping and I’m not letting anyone grope my toddler’s genitals.

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool liberal and have always been anti-profiling, but the Israeli-style system is looking more and more appealing by comparison.

Troutwaxer

How about this: “My daughter and I are not going through the scanners. You may search my daughter, but I will be filming you with my cell phone, and if I feel you cross the line into inappropriate groping, I will call the police and show them this video.”
- Laurel L. Russwurm
  
  The problem with allowing them to search the child, even if you’re recording it, is that the the child could well end up violated. Which isn’t worth the risk. Charging the perpetrator may provide retribution, but nothing can take away the damage done to the child.
  
  That’s why they don’t do drug trials on pregnant women and children.
  
  Unacceptable risk.
Sork

The official version
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/index.shtm
Bottlekid

“I’m not handing my daughter to a stranger for safekeeping and I’m not letting anyone grope my toddler’s genitals.”

Well then you may not be flying anywhere. You have two options and I think you already know what those are.
You wanted examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ByKOhAhsU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skkCpnCm7iM

omems

Some things I’m wondering about:

How long until a TSA screener files suit against a moaning/tumescent passenger for sexual harassment? What about the other way around?
Likewise, what precisely can and cannot be said at the checkpoints, and especially in the plexi corrals they stick you in when you aren’t in the main stream of passengers?

Given the ubiquity of other juicy targets (trains, boats, the queue leading to these checkpoints) on US soil, why not focus on inbound international flights? If a a terrorist wanted to blow stuff up in the land of freedom(TM), there are many other, easier targets.

Anonymous

I like this idea.

Even better, buy a dozen of these radiation badges and give them as gifts to the TSA officers. Let THEM see exactly how much radiation they are absorbing on a given day.

Anonymous

â€Ž”The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” -Thomas Jefferson
I will personally accept the risk of a terrorist attack on the aircraft in which I am flying (or any other attack, anyplace), up to and including my death, if it means that I do not have to give up my Constitutional rights.

Anonymous

I’d like to announce the “War on Falling Down”. Falling down is a menace, you have a 1-in-246 chance of dying from falling down. It is an hidden killer. It is time be brought it out into the light! You are ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES MORE LIKELY to die from falling down than in an airline terror attack! Think about it. Falling down. We MUST work together to end this horror.

Anonymous

I don’t know if this has been asked yet (and am too lazy to search the 230+ posts) but what happens to your carry-on items if you refuse the pornoscanner and groping?

Surely they would be required to give you the items back, but since the TSA in general is on a power trip what’s to stop a TSA goon “drunk on power” from refusing to return your items?

And what about checked luggage?

Where the heck is the ACLU in all of this?

(mcf)

johnny_haiku

As a British person, I’m wondering if perhaps it would be helpful if I- and any other willing foreigners were to write a letter saying (essentially) “I’d love to go on holiday to America, and put some money into your messed-up economy, but not if it means I have to be irradiated or groped”. I think hitting them financially is going to have the best effect, and if we can emphasise how this policy affects Tourism will make some impact.
One question though- who would I write to? Who’s the American equivalent of the Minister for Tourism?

Anonymous

Unfortunately, these have been common in lots of British airports including Heathrow, and you don’t get to opt-out, which is why I’m travelling to Europe by train in a few weeks.

Believe it or not, PM Gordon Brown was even talking about adding “airport security measures” including these scanners, to our already useless railways a short while back, and a couple of years ago, I read various reports of the police randomly turning up outside bars with one of the machines and demanding that everybody who entered or left step through it, to be searched for drugs, in the same way that they sometimes do random testing of people in the street.

Fuck this country.

Shawn Wolfe

Does anyone know if the naked body scanners pick up tattoos?

Clark M.

Next thing you know, they’ll be denying passengers entry through security because we have too much iron in our blood.

Troutwaxer

The simple security math goes something like this: On a ten-year average, we’ve had about 270 terror deaths in the US every year – and 99% of that is the attacks of 9/11/2001. On the other hand, we lose 7000 people a year because they take the wrong over-the-counter-pain reliever, 70,000 a year from diseases they contract during a hospital stay, and 400,000 each year due to heart disease and smoking.

In other words, terror deaths in the US are a statistical whisper as compared to almost any other form of death you can imagine. The idea that we must submit to porno scanners and grope searches to prevent terrorism is ridiculous. If we re-focused those same efforts to making sure that every medical person washed their hands after seeing every patient, we’d save many, many more lives.

I posted this in the other thread, but I hope it will find a happy home here as well. (My dream is that someone important picks up the concepts I’m discussing and writes about them in a major newspaper or something.)

lakelady

I’m not flying until December so I can’t participate in tomorrow’s protest. I do intend to opt out of any BackScatter scanning (interesting that the abbreviation for this machine would be BS Scanner) and go for the pat down. I also hope that I have the guts to tell the agent that I’m extremely ticklish and then proceed to laugh quite loudly when going through the pat down. I figure it’s a great way to provide a not so subtle commentary on the whole process and entertain my fellow travelers while holding them up. I encourage others to do the same.

Ito Kagehisa

I also hope that I have the guts to tell the agent that I’m extremely ticklish and then proceed to laugh quite loudly when going through the pat down. I figure it’s a great way to provide a not so subtle commentary on the whole process and entertain my fellow travelers while holding them up. I encourage others to do the same.

That is the most INCREDIBLY EXCELLENT RESPONSE SO FAR. I have noticed that authoritarians aren’t effectively battled with their own medicine – remember what a dismal failure anti-Rush Limbaugh hate radio was? No, because nobody listened to it twice. But Colbert and Stewart are probably the most effective voices against our current wave of fascist authoritarianism. It seems that goons and bullies hate laughter.

Say “no” to radiation scanning, and then giggle or guffaw madly whenever one of the goons touches you. I like it!

rushmc

Some of you people can justify anything to yourselves. I have never and would never do a “job” that I objected to morally. And any of you who tries to justify immoral actions because you feel you need the money are reprehensible.

Ari B.

Does anyone know of a supplier of lead-lined underwear?

HotPepperMan

It is clear that the TSA are changing the rules at the last minute so that the traveling public are uncertain (FUD factor). Additionally, the ‘blame’ for delays will be passed on to anyone who, for whatever reason, refuses the porn scanner and, should they also object to having their personal areas groped, to be labeled as potential terrorists. The onus being placed on you complying and not spoiling other people’s travel plans by them having to close a security area should you attempt to go through again.

There is a simple solution.

1. Refuse the x-ray as there is uncertainty regarding their safety – a simple check on the interwebs will show this differing opinion.

2. In a normal voice, but sufficient for those in proximity to you can hear, emphasis should be placed on point 1 above.

3. Opt for a pat down IN PUBLIC. Do NOT go to a private area.

4. Ask questions. This is important. If you are about to be touched by a stranger it is important that you understand the WHY and the HOW of what they are proposing.

5. Ask for the person about to pat you down to put on a new pair of gloves within your sight.

6. Ask for a copy of the rules to ensure that you are both complying properly and also that the rules are being properly enforced. How can you comply if you do not know what the rules are and are?

Above all, be polite and do not be embarrassed or made to feel at fault for ensuring the TSA are able to do their job properly and protect the traveling public. Similarly, if you are clearly complying and being nice there is no reason for the bottom inspectors to detain you. You know it make sense…

Flying_Monkey

I went to San Francisco from Toronto last week and back. Both sides of the border, it was quick, pleasant and the personel were polite and even funny. I had no body scans, patdowns or groping. I have to wonder: is it coz I is white?

Anonymous

Adam Savage accidentally smuggled 2 12″ razor blades through the scanner:
http://gizmodo.com/5697222/adam-savage-mythbusting-airport-security-wtf-tsa

dsb

re: anon

Good, I am glad you have been freaking out about these things, as i have too, If you will read my earlier post upthread you will see that i don’t consider it “not a big a deal” I believe it is in fact an injustice, however as you listed in your post there are many injustices being performed in the name of our security, and while innocent people are detained at gitmo and other unknown black sites with no legal resource, While drone strikes kill afghani and pakistani children as “collateral damage” I have a hard time getting too excited about americans having to submit to the indignity of having their private parts touched by a stranger.

You are correct to argue that it is not an either or proposition on which you oppose, However i would submit that the vast outrage over the TSA, while ignoring the far more serious crimes committed in our name in other parts of the world, is rather shortsighted and reeks of exceptionalism and entitlement.

John Mark Ockerbloom

“It’s not that people shouldn’t be outraged by this, It’s that they should be more outraged.”

Well, this is a start. It’s human nature that people are more prone to object to oppression when it starts to affect them, or their loved ones, directly. Rather than putting them off by scolding them for being late to the party, I’d rather welcome them, and encourage them to stick around and stay involved.

I’ve seen a couple of different kinds of objections to the wholesale invasive screening of passengers. Some are clearly horrified at it in principle. Others make remarks that suggest that the real problem is not the invasive screening, but the fact that it’s not being directed at all those funny-looking people, instead of to upstanding, privileged folks like the complainer.

I agree with Antinous that the objection to the TSA procedures is not inherently classist. But there is a classist element in some of the complaints I’ve seen, whether it’s been to encourage ethnic or religious targeting, or to cast aspersions on the education and dignity of people who joined the TSA before all these new rules came down, or to bash government indiscriminately. Already I’m seeing some of this protest being cited to push forward dubious policies like privatization of security (which wouldn’t change the screening rules), or racial profiling, or to bash random Democratic programs.

If this issue gets defused by a agreement (tacit or otherwise) to leave the white guys alone while continuing to oppress everyone else, we’ll have failed. Let’s make our objections heard, drawing attention to the fundamental problem of the government trampling our rights and dignity in the name of (a largely false) security, and not take any offers to let the government do what it wants as long as it leaves *us* in particular alone.

aLearnerRather

Yeah, these are important points to make. These policies aren’t Obama’s fault specifically, but he has direct authority over them, and thus it is on him to fix them.

I bristle a bit at the accusations of classism or elitism–I’m not sure how being outraged at federal agents groping children, rape victims, cancer survivors et al makes me an elite. Hell, I don’t even fly, mostly, I don’t have the opportunity; I’m upset on principle.

But what we should be going for us a just, compassionate civil society, for the benefit of all Americans, including LGBTs, nerds, Tea Partiers, Android developers, Muslims, entrepreneurs, Green Bay Packer fans, and raw foodists. The government should be by us and for us, and we should bring it to heel when it gets out of control, as it is with this groping unpleasantness.

datavortex

I’ll be getting the pat-down of course. My plan is to start moaning very quietly at first and then get louder and louder as the process continues. I’ll also start moving very slowly closer and closer to my screener, and thrust my pelvis at him when he gets his hands close to it.

I am hoping for the most homophobic screeners possible.

Wirelizard

More subtle version of datavortex’s plan:

After your groper is done gropin’, wink at him/her and ask, “Was that good for you too, big boy?”

Or just ask, “So, this is your favourite part of the job, right?”

You’ll either make them uncomfortable, or get an honest reply. Either counts as a win, frankly.

SonOfSamSeaborn

We’ve seen all these jokes before. What I really think might be more effective against the individual performing the search would be ensuring you have a boner beforehand, and remaining quietly compliant with the process.

Avram / Moderator

I am so glad that I’m not planning to be anywhere near an airport anytime soon. These new policies will allow any random prankster, or confused person, to shut down an entire airline terminal. Maybe a whole airport.

Apparently the TSA is demanding to scan/feel up people getting off of planes, too.

gandalf23

Seems like a good idea: “A BILL To ensure that all members of Congress shall be subjected to the same Transportation Security Administration air travel screenings as their constituents. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the â€˜American Traveller Equality Act of 2010â€™. SEC. 2. NO EXEMPTIONS FOR CERTAIN AIRPORT SCREENING METHODS. No law of the United States shall be construed to confer any exemption for a Member of Congress from any physical contact, x-rays, millimeter waves, metal detector, or any other security procedure that are requirements imposed upon the general public to fly in comercial aircraft. END” It’ll never pass, but it’d be fun to hear the politicians argue as to why not :)

Laurel L. Russwurm

Wonderful idea:

Seems like a good idea: “A BILL To ensure that all members of Congress shall be subjected to the same Transportation Security Administration air travel screenings as their constituents. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the â€˜American Traveller Equality Act of 2010â€™. SEC. 2. NO EXEMPTIONS FOR CERTAIN AIRPORT SCREENING METHODS. No law of the United States shall be construed to confer any exemption for a Member of Congress from any physical contact, x-rays, millimeter waves, metal detector, or any other security procedure that are requirements imposed upon the general public to fly in comercial aircraft. END”

Especially in light of the fact that the President is in favor of “The List” this law would need to ensure that the president and his family get to participate in the same TSA theatre experience that their subjects enjoy.
The List: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30286

As a parent, I always thought it was my job to protect my child. This is not acceptable. This is assault.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skkCpnCm7iM

Listening to the official talking about making a game out of the assault so that the children have a better time out of it sounds like advice that might come from a “How To Be A Pedophile” handbook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ByKOhAhsU

No flight is worth this.

Laurel L. Russwurm

Huh. Sounds like you can refuse.

But once you do make sure you don’t even LOOK back at the gate or heaven forbid lurch in that general direction, or they will shut down the checkpoint and drop the jail on you.

Doesn’t sound much like they are listening, does it.

I wouldn’t DREAM of flying in or out of any American airport. I’m simply not that brave.

Anonymous

I wish I was flying just to disrupt the machine. Unfortunately, these idiotic leaders we have in power have driven me out of the USA – I am a freedom loving man – and I refuse to live in a country that is no longer the land of the free. I have moved to another continent to escape them – Libertad!

I suggest just being very clumsy – dropping your things, following directions just a bit off correct, farting and generally just acting as you feel – uncomfortable and nervous. I would also make sure to have a companion with you at all times.

The TSA officers are not to blame – they are underpaid, undereducated drones. By clogging the system we can bring it to a halt

jackie31337

I wish I was flying just to disrupt the machine.

I know this doesn’t apply to you specifically, but imagine what would happen if enough people bought fully refundable tickets for the same flight, refused to go through security, and then asked for a refund (citing unacceptable security procedures). Imagine if it happened all over the country at the same time. I would imagine having to fly (nearly) empty planes might piss the airlines off enough for them to protest the new security procedures. Purely hypothetical, of course.
- BookGuy
  
  ^My note above was in reply to jackie31337′s hypothetical about refunded tickets.
  - jackie31337
    
    Last I checked, first class tickets are still fully refundable, as are full-fare coach tickets. They are usually the most expensive tickets available for a flight, since they don’t have the restrictions (Saturday night stay, minimum of 14 days advance purchase, etc.) that discounted tickets do. At least this was true about 10 years ago when I worked for an airline. This may have changed since then.
    - BookGuy
      
      Thanks for the reply, jackie31337. I guess that’s what I (don’t) get for flying on the cheap.
      
      For whatever it’s worth, I flew from Logan to Pittsburgh yesterday. There were no scanners at the checkpoint I used in Boston, or at least none that I could identify as such, so there was no issue. The TSA personnel actually seemed a bit more polite than usual, although for some reason, I’ve always found the ones in Pittsburgh to be grumpier/nastier. Guess we’ll see when I fly back.
Anonymous

WTF is “the TSA officers are not to blame…”? They are exactly to blame, they are enforcing this humiliating policy. “Just doing my job” is always a nice excuse. If they had a little more dignity of their own, they would refuse to participate in groping and, as a consequence, quit and find another job.

I am flying tomorrow, I will certainly mention to the groper how I have no respect to him personally and how much what he personally does hurts the society.
- Anonymous
  
  With almost 10% unemployment, who the heck can afford to quit their job these days?

g0d5m15t4k3

I’m glad I am not flying any time soon. Really I only fly for vacation and that’s if I can afford it. Next time I do fly (and its likely to be an international flight) I am planning on refusing the Porno Scanner simply because it hasn’t been studied conclusively as to whether it does or does not increase chances of cancer. Cancer runs in both sides of my family, I think I will skip it. And what little data I have read said radiation is absorbed mostly by your eyes. I just had laser eye surgery. I’m not going to risk my vision (and the cost of laser eye surgery) to fly.

I’ve fantasized about what it’d be like getting the Enhanced Pat Down. I’m kind of an exhibitionist, so I could easily strip down to a g-string and pasties in front of the entire public and be fine with it. Or could I go the moaning in sexual ecstasy in public route? And then ask the TSA for their phone number afterward or if they always go so far on their first dates. Its a mixed bag really.

In all seriousness though, I understand why transexuals, rape victims, children, people with medical disorders, people traveling alone, etc. might have a problem with getting the scan and/or the pat down. Hell, I have a problem if it makes me miss a flight. I do hope those who MUST travel by plane refuse the scanner and make complaints about their pat downs to the authorities.

zuul

See, the thing is, this isn’t going to stop the protest. The opt-out day is designed to clog the airports with people complying with the grope (which takes time and manpower) but refusing the nudie pics (which don’t). And if you don’t want either, we already knew this would mean you’d be denied entry, thanks to “Don’t Touch My Junk.” So . . . all this does is codify what we already knew would happen. It’s not even a well-thought-out reaction to the protest.

Personally, I’m opting out by not flying. I fly for work, but I’m actively looking for another job. My family won’t be seen in an airport if I can drive there in three days or less. And there are very few places I want to go in the US that don’t meet that requirement.

Anonymous

The amount of radiation a person receives is called dose, and is normally measured in mrem or uSv. The average person in the US gets about 360 mrem per year from background sources. So, that is about 1 mrem per day (average). The backscatter scanners will give a scanned person a few urem, or less than 2% of one day’s background radiation dose. From a risk stand point, this is insignificant, compared to other risks we encounter every day. For more on background radiation and risk, see our page on Radiation and Us and for more on terms, see our page on terminolgy.

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/body.htm

Also has links to manufacturers of scanners. “The facts ma’am, just the facts.”

dsb

I find it very sad that so many people are up in arms about this. Not because it’s ok, it’s not ok, its clearly an invasion of privacy and will be ineffectual as a security measure. but out of all the things our government has done in the name of security and “The War on Terrorism” this is the one that is finally making americans care, it’s ok for innocent people to die as collateral damage in our wars. “Suspected terrorists”, many of whom are also innocent and merely swept up and turned in as the result of local feuds, can be detained and tortured for years with no legal recourse, and yet if security measures inconvenience us in any way it’s such an outrage.

BWJones

The real issue is ionizing radiation. I’ve not been able to find any reliable indication of what the dosage is for these machines that, were they in the hands of medical professionals would have to be tested and certified to ensure that they do not exceed radiation dosages. Are the TSA backscatter X-Ray machines tested and certified like medical equipment is?

These systems are installed and maintained by the lowest bidder, so what assurances do we have that our noggins are not being dosed at higher rates than normal?

TSA officers running the equipment are not allowed to wear radiation badges, though there are other government employees that do. In medical areas exposed to far less radiation, people are required to wear badges. In other areas where submarine sailors are (ironically) exposed to less radiation than if they were standing on a beach are required to wear them. http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/2009/05/uss-toledo-ssn-769/

For those travelers like me who fly 20-40 times/year, I really would rather opt out of those repeated ionizing radiation exposures on top of what one gets while actually flying. Why should I suddenly be expected to be exposed to 20-40 chest X-Rays more per year?

No thanks.

Neuron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backscatter_X-ray

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35498347/UCSF-letter-to-Holdren-concerning-health-risks-of-full-body-scanner-TSA-screenings-4-6-2010
Anonymous

the good news about that is with all the groping going on..they’ll more than likely find any tumors for you.

honestly, it’s only a big deal if the people make it a big deal..a pat down isn’t a big deal. if you’ve gone to a night club or been pulled over for something..it’s a little inconvenient but well worth it if you’ve seen on tv the consequences of not doing it.
- Anonymous
  
  It’s not a “pat down” like in front of a club. You clearly haven’t had the new security screen. I have. The screener placed his hand inside my underwear. His fingers touched my pubes. As he “patted down” – which was actually an up and down stroke – the insides of my thighs, I felt his fingers touch my scrotum. Three times. If this reads like a letter to Penthouse, that’s because the experience felt just like it reads – exploitive and degrading.
- Anonymous
  
  Guilty until proven innocent right? I can’t WAIT to live in this America. Thanks for letting it happen! Those that give up essential liberties for temporary security deserve neither.
- Anonymous
  
  These are not traditional pat-downs. They are “enhanced.” Google it for details.

dsb

it’s not that people shouldn’t be outraged by this, It’s that they should be more outraged, and more consistently outraged by things done in their name which unlike this are largely invisible in our popular media and daily lives.

jerwin

also, please note that the goons do not like to be recorded.

A TSA supervisor and San Diego Harbor Police asked Wolynak to put his clothes back on “so he could be properly patted down,” says his attorney.
He refused. Harbor Police took Wolanyk away and have charged him with refusing to complete the security process at the airport and attempting to record the events on his iPhone, according to Davis.
“Harbor police also confiscated his iPhone and the video camera used by his companion, who was also charged with unlawful recording within the airport without permission,” said Davis. “He was handcuffed and paraded through two airport terminals in his underwear to the Harbor Police office.”

Gun crusader strips down in front of TSA

Eddie Codel

They might not like it, but it’s not against TSA policy as long as you’re not shooting their video monitors or holding up the line. From their site:

“TSA does not prohibit the public, passengers or press from photographing, videotaping or filming at security checkpoints, as long as the screening process is not interfered with or slowed down. We do ask you to not film or take pictures of the monitors. While the TSA does not prohibit photographs at screening locations, local laws, state statutes, or local ordinances might.”

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/taking_pictures.shtm

It might be handy to have this printed out in case an agent tries to demand otherwise.

Anonymous

The issue isn’t merely about TSA it’s more about our dormant, do-nothing congress… yes, our elected representatives who took the oath to uphold the constitution / the law of the land and to protect us from tyranny. That TSA has now claimed authority over our bodies and can run their hands up our inner thighs and examine the contents of our underwear, photo-X-ray our genitals is the most egregious violation of our civil liberties in the history of the Republic. “Give up your privacy / your private space / submit to a good groping because I say so” … (“or I’ll put you on a list and ruin your life”) That Americans are so docile and obsequious in accepting this is astonishing. It seems we have become as gutless and cowardly as those who represent us.
TSA = Tyrannizing Spineless Americans
Taming Sheepish (Scared) Americans

Anonymous

Fedaphile – TSA agent who enjoys groping frightening american citizens. As in, Don’t let Fedaphiles touch your junk. Or, Fedaphiles feed on your fear and willingness to submit to their groping.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/baK3cAfNcD6jErZ5t2J9Hg?feat=directlink

From Jabba

Dan Tentler

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30286

Apparently if you complain now, you go on a list.
curiouser and curiouser.

Michael Dawson

I have to say this sort of crap, really puts me off travelling to or transiting through the US, it’s bad enough here in New Zealand where we have to empty our pockets of all metallic items, laptops etc. and place them in a bin that gets scanned, then walk through the metal detector, which always goes off because it always beeps because of my metal belt buckle which all guys have, so I then have to stand with my arms out like some kind of criminal whilst some guy who couldn’t get a job in the police or the army waves all over my body with a metal detecting wand then asks me to show him the belt buckle, I’ve even stopped wearing steel capped footwear to avoid the damn thing going off but they seem to have turned up their sensitivity so now even belt buckles set them off.

The very thought of having to leap through any more hoops such as removing shoes or these full body scans or pat downs, would lead me to just not fly.

If everybody refused to fly till they cut this crap out then the airlines would get pretty worried and force the issue and maybe they would calm down.

I get it, airline security was lax and some guys were able to hijack some planes, putting locks on the pilot’s door and metal detectors on entry gates made sense, at this point hijackers no longer see planes as a soft target and try something else, can we get on with our lives now please.

Candice

While I believe the kind of thing I’m about to suggest should be unnecessary and is both frustrating and inconvenient… if all you have to put up with is a metal detector, have you ever considered preemptively a) not wearing a belt to the airport or b) taking your belt off and putting it in the bin along with your other items? I feel like this is an extremely obvious solution.
- Michael Dawson
  
  I know lots of guys wear a belt as a fashion accessory, but mine does in fact keep my pants from falling down, so no I can’t take my belt off to save time, as I will then have my pants round my ankles while I try and grab my belt out of the bin once it has passed through with my other things, so no it’s not an obvious anything.
  - deckard68
    
    There are belts made entirely of plastic, marketed as being safe for passing through airport security. 5.11 makes one, though it is a wide (1.75″) belt intended for tactical pants. It works, though the buckle is a bit bulgy.
    
    However I found that Odwalla protein bars set the metal detectors off, maybe because of the foil wrapper.
    
    The TSA should not be able to set fines. They should have to take their case to a judge, who could determine a fine, and could decide if the TSA overreacted (which seems to be all they’ve ever done in the 10 years they’ve existed).
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      There are belts made entirely of plastic, marketed as being safe for passing through airport security.
      
      You could just skip the belt and wear an orange jumpsuit.
    - Chris Tucker
      
      “You could just skip the belt and wear an orange jumpsuit.”
      
      It’s NOT a “jumpsuit”.
      
      It’s a speedsuit!

Anonymous

New TSA Slogan: We check more packages then UPS.

Antinous / Moderator

If they evacuate the terminal because of you, you’ll almost certainly be charged with a terrorism offense. This would be their response to protests. If you protest, we will fuck you up for the rest of your life.

lhl

I wonder if someone should start a Kickstarter project to fund the legal fees of people to go and challenge this stuff in court (I still don’t get how the extra-constitutionality part of these work).

Like you mentioned, they’re depending on not being challenged because it’s too much risk/trouble. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in court for years, but I’d certainly throw in a few hundred bucks if I knew it was going towards bringing this stuff properly into the legal system (seems like this should go up to the Supreme Court right?). And I bet there are those that would be much more likely to take a stand if they knew there were hundreds/thousands of people directly supporting them (along w/ various civil rights groups).

Or would taking a stand against the unconstitutionality of the police state be considered aiding and abetting terrorism?
- pmocek
  
  lhl wrote:
  
  “I wonder if someone should start a Kickstarter project to fund the legal fees of people to go and challenge this stuff in court (I still don’t get how the extra-constitutionality part of these work).”
  
  Kickstarter is limited to “creative” projects.
  
  From the Kickstarter FAQ:
  
  Who can fund their project on Kickstarter?
  
  Kickstarter is focused on creative ideas and ambitious endeavors. We’re a great way for artists, filmmakers, musicians, designers, writers, illustrators, explorers, curators, performers, and others to bring their projects, events, and dreams to life.
  
  We know there are a lot of great projects that fall outside of our scope, but Kickstarter is not a place for soliciting donations to causes, charity projects, general business expenses, or raising funds without a specific goal. Learn more about our project guidelines.
  
  In a manner of speaking, I will be “challenging this stuff” in a few weeks. In November, 2009, I was arrested at the Albuquerque International Sunport (the airport) while attempting to return home from Drug Policy Alliance’s biennial conference. It’s unclear why I was arrested (one police officer told my travel partner that I was being arrested “for being stupid”; I received an audio recording of him saying so via public records request). My arrest seems to be related to the fact that I was documenting the process by which TSA verifies a passenger’s identity when he presents a boarding pass but no identity documents.
  
  I was charged with four misdemeanors:
  
  1. New Mexico Revised Code 30-20-1: Disorderly conduct
  2. Albuquerque Code of Ordinances 12-2-16: Concealing identity with intent to obstruct
  3. Albuquerque Code of Ordinances 12-2-19: Resisting, obstructing, or refusing to obey a lawful order of a police officer
  4. Albuquerque Code of Ordinances 12-2-3: Criminal trespass
  
  My jury trial will begin at Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday, December 7, 2010. The case number is CR 2573709. The judge will be Kevin L. Fitzwater. My defense attorneys are Molly Schmidt-Nowara and Nancy Hollander.
  
  See also:
  
  * The Identity Project: State of New Mexico v. Phillip Mocek FAQ
  * The Identity Project: Trial to begin December 7th in TSA checkpoint case
  * Cannabis Defense Coalition: Activist arrested at Albuquerque airport
  * Philosecurity: Flyer Arrested After Declining to Show ID
  * Carlos Miller: Man arrested after refusing to show TSA his identification
  * Flyertalk Forums: Flyer “Processed” (Arrested?) in NM After Declining to Show ID
  * Related documents, audio, and surveillance camera video I received via public records request
- Anonymous
  
  Kickstarter is for creative projects, not political ones.
  
  Not trying to shut down your idea. Just speaking from experience as someone who tried to get a political project on Kickstarter. There are other methods – pyrix.com, probably others.
Tim Maddux

Making entire airport terminals so utterly vulnerable to DoS attacks would be unfathomably bad security policy.
Noodlehead

I don’t really even see how they can charge someone with terrorism should they not obey these silly rules. DHS would have to go to some pretty great lengths to prove that.

This new clarified policy reads as little more than a wild threat, almost daring people to ignore it so they can blame the whole hassle of an evacuated terminal on someone else.
- Chevan
  
  They can charge you with anything they want. The real question is whether you have enough money to make it through court long enough to have a jury decide they are indeed full of shit.

nugglets

i’m still confused about the procedure at security checkpoints. does every single person who goes through security need to submit to either the porno scanner or a pat down, or is it only people who set off the metal detector, who then get pulled aside for a scan/pat down?

g0d5m15t4k3

You only get AIT or patdown if you fail the metal detector. Or if they select you. I wore those big baggy pants once and went through the metal detector fine. They said “because of my pants” I have to get a pat down. This was before the enhanced patdowns. She just pat down my legs too, not my whole body.

Anonymous

I have not read the whole comment thread, forgive me if these points have been raised:

1. If terror is the real issue, why isn’t anything being done about the root causes of terror. Hint: it’s not ideology, it’s economy.

2. I think the whole TSA debacle is a precursor to seemingly less draconian measures that will end up being actually more invasive. For example: New rules: you don’t have to go through a scanner or a pat down IF you agree to having this ID chip embedded in you.

Anonymous

Sounds like they’re basically saying ‘Put up too much of a fuss and we’ll just bar you from your flight. Keep pushing after that and we’ll jail you.’

Very reasonable way to deal with people complaining about getting molested.

Anonymous

Wait – am I reading this correct that the TSA is now touching your skin directly? It is not through the pants or anything like that? They are actually putting their hands directly on your penis, testicles, breasts, vagina, etc ..???

foxtongue

A friend of mine who would like to remain nameless says,

There’s a concept called “seasoning” used to refer to how a pimp breaks the will and reduces the ego of a woman in the process of coercing her into prostitution. It could be considered brainwashing, or thought reform, or, in other words, the steady creation of a holographic crisis in her brain, developed with the intent that she reach a breaking point. Increasingly terrible things happen to the woman at the hands of the perpetrator of the violence. Eventually, the woman comes to think of the abusive relationship as “normal” (with normal being whatever doesn’t require identifying adjectives.)

Seasoning is also used to describe the process someone goes through in abusing a child. He practices hurting her. He gets better at it. Eventually, hurting her is normalized for him, and possibly for her.

A third application of this notion happened in pre-WWII Germany. In anticipation of violence in the streets – to which it was in the interests of the government that people were inured – pornography became more and more violent. Individual acts of violence became normal: and, indeed, people became inured. Because of a combination of this inurement and their inculcated fear, most people kept walking when someone was being beaten in the street.

Now, people stand in long lines at airports and watch while other people are publicly humiliated by being sexually fondled. They stand, passively,listening and watching while children scream in protest with their parents standing by helplessly or even holding them while they’re molested.

To me, this looks like another kind of seasoning; the beginning of the process of normalizing acts of brutality carried out by government authorities, unencumbered by interfering members of the public.

Just a little theory. I don’t think there’s a conspiracy. There doesn’t have to be.

Nice

Let’s level the playing field. From now on everyone should just dress like Muslim women.

okiedokie

Personally I will refuse the scanner and the pat down on religious convictions. The Bible repeatedly states that Christians should not cause others to stumble spiritually, therefore if I submit to the xray, I could possibly cause the person viewing it to lust and if I submit to the pat down I could cause the TSA person to fantasize about me.

Therefore, to follow one of my religious beliefs, they can’t xray me or touch me.

Dawn deMom

Avram, I am sitting here saying, “WOW.” Then I decided that the reason you didn’t want the TSA/Airport police to grope you is because you have HUGE CAJONES and you didn’t want them to feel so much less than they are!

Really – there needs to be classes in what can be done and how to say it for travelers. Thanks for posting what you did and I will be referring to your blog repeatedly so I can try to question what they are doing.

I am a sexual abuse/violence survivor and I have talked with my husband about what would happen should I be pulled aside for a pat-down. I won’t go through the backscatter/MMW machines since cancer runs in the females in my family – I really don’t want to take that chance. Since I need to have physical exams done when I am under general anesthesia, I anticipate I will travel by driving for a very long time or until things change. I would love to take a case to the Supreme Court but I don’t know what kind of setback in my life the TSA treatment would cause.

Thanks again – I hope this changes soon because this is wrong on so many levels.

Avram / Moderator

Dawn deMom, I’m not sure what you’re thanking me for. Xeni posted this article, and that blog post I linked to in my comment was written by a guy named Matt Kernan. I haven’t traveled by air since sometime in 2008. (I much prefer trains.)
- Anonymous
  
  I am thanking you because I learned (erroneously) that telling others of my experiences (positive and negative) was something I should never do. Having lived through severe physical, emotional, and sexual abuse I have learned in therapy that there are things we should talk about so others may benefit from them. Just the fact that you wrote this down, Xeni found it and shared it with us, helps me feel I’m not alone in this crazy world.
  
  So when I say thank you, I am sincere. When I am thanked for something I don’t feel I should be, I accept the gratitude because, for the other person, it might be something they needed to hear.
  
  And I needed to hear this so thank you!

Anonymous

I do not need to fly this holiday, but I have been considering the wisdom of placing a squeaky toy in my pants…

CSteele

I wonder if, as a woman, I could disguise a squeaky toy as a sanitary pad? Then, everyone around you would HEAR if they touched your junk with enough pressure to make the toy peep. Of course, the security freakout afterward might not be so pleasant.

aLearnerRather

Here’s how I’d want to play it. I hope I would have the guts to do it. Refuse the backscatter machine. Allow the grope, comply with the whole thing to the letter. And then, as I was collecting my shoes, belt, and bag, I’d say the meanest, most vicious thing I could think of to the TSA agent. Like, “Did you enjoy that, you thug? Guess what: I hate you. Everyone in this line hates you, and you deserve our hatred. You’re no countryman to us. This country was founded explicitly to throw off the yoke of thugs like you. I have nothing but contempt for you, and I hope everyone in this line tells you the same thing.”

I have zero sympathy for TSA agents. Don’t tell me “they’re only doing their job,” either. If your job forces you to strip-search little boys, or humiliate cancer survivors, you should quit. They make their living intimidating and molesting innocent American citizens. They should be made individually and personally to feel awful about this. They should be ashamed of themselves.

We do need security at our airports (and train stations. But if the cockpits are secured (and they are, right? Locked doors, no access to anyone but flight crew?), and if there are air marshals, then the worst a terrorist can do to the plane is blow it up in midair. They can’t do a 9/11 attack if they can’t fly the plane. But unless the TSA is prepared to do body cavity searches on everyone, they have to accept that determined attackers, even ones with no bombs, could still bring down a plane.

Sensible security is secure cockpits, plainclothes air marshals, metal detectors and wands, and police and intelligence work that catches the terrorists before they get to the airport. What we have now is more of a program to desensitize citizens to being searched anywhere for any reason.

fordprefect

What would happen if, as a protest, a group of people walk into an airport and begin groping each other in public? On person could have on white latex gloves, and the others could line up and take turns getting felt up. Would anyone (TSA) have a right to stop something like this? Wouldn’t 1st amendment rights apply? Nobody’s naked, and the groping itself is something that is sanctioned by the government – because it’s exactly what they’re doing on the other side of the security line – so it could not be deemed obscene or offensive. Seems like something a flash mob organizer or a group like the Yes men ought to try out.

Thor

How is this “new”…it was understood, at least by me, that if you refuse both methods of screening, you are refused entry into secure area. This was never in question…unless of course there was no clear rule put out by the TSA…I guess it’s a new written rule, whereas it was an unwritten rule before.

And does anyone think that this isn’t going to do a damn thing to stop the next terrorist attack? I mean, we are CREATING a target right in the terminal before security. All it would take would be one suicide bomber (completely un-screened up to that point) walking up to a packed thanksgiving eve security point and blowing themselves up to make the TSA look completely foolish, and point out just how vulnerable we really are. Whatever countermeasures we think up, they will bypass and find another way. All this does is strip our freedoms away, which is one of the goals they have.

I hate to be all doom and gloom, but security checkpoints should be blatantly obvious targets that we are only making more obvious targets…it is a large gathering of people that haven’t been screened, except by wandering eyes of security personnel looking over the people in line. By that point though, it’s too late…as they are in the crowd. If anything the controversy over the scanners and gropes is only drawing attention to this obvious target.

Anonymous

That is a horrifying scenario, and there are no significant check points up to that point. I seem to recall in an earlier article shared here that this was addressed in Israeli airports. Apparently their security program was also geared towards preventing people from gathering in large groups while passing through the airport to eliminate this possibility.
- Anonymous
  
  this is not a “pat-down” a la a club, as you mention.
  this is a full-body close search, which has been described by criminal lawyers as comparable only to the searches performed prior to entering inmate-areas of prisons.
  I.e. “open your mouth. Move your tongue around. Now lift up your sack. Now bend over and spread your cheeks.”

Anonymous

I guess the part of this that bothers me the most, even more than little kids being groped by the TSA is the BS Scanners recording little kids naked – basically child pornography. I am really struggling as to how this is even remotely legal. The TSA (in my opinion) should be prosecuted (in it’s entirety, every single employee) for conspiring to create, store and potentially distribute child pornography.

Anonymous

Why don’t people wear swimsuits and flip flops and then change in the restroom into travel clothes after security check? Wear an easy to take off cover up or swimsuit and t shirt until you get to the checkpoint, take it off for the pat down and quickly get it over with.

Anonymous

Can they do this to non-US citizens? I mean, I plan on going to the US sometime next year on holidays, but I don’t want some agent groping me or potentially giving me cancer… I do have a Tourist VISA, shouldn’t that be enough to let them know I’m not a threat?

Anonymous

If you want to fly in the US you will need to comply with these regulations. Your citizenship, visa, or immigration status does not matter.
- Anonymous
  
  Thanks for your reply, I guess I’ll take my money somewhere else, where I’m respected as a human being. It was humiliating enough to have to answer all those personal questions to the agent at the embassy to now have to strip in public and get touched in my private parts.
  I hope Americans change this soon enough, I really like their country and the VISA cost me enough money to want to go… But I’m not willing to undergo any further humiliations.
  In my country, Argentina, we have experienced all sorts of humiliations in the past. From people disappearing to other countries imposing their economic rules, our way to demonstrate doesn’t prove very effective as we still have a very corrupt political system, but what we do is simply gather at a public place (preferably downtown, where the government agencies/Congress/Pink house are), and make a LOT OF NOISE. Cut the traffic, put up banners with what we want. This is one idea. Cut the traffic into the airports, humiliate agents who enforce ridiculous measures. The law is the law, but if noone reenforces it, it is impractical. Also, the law is the result of moral and good customs, and this is neither moral nor good customs to me.

Anonymous

These are the baby-steps of tyranny.

How many more should we allow them to take before we put this to an end?

Do we wait for history to tell us where we should have stood out ground, or do we act now?

schnaars

Rather than protesting gropes / pronoscanners, travelers should systematically boycott one airline at a time until they revolt against the TSA. Drive AMR or UAL out of business and you’ll see change.

Anonymous

Until I stopped flying, I always carried a nice little ceramic/plastic knife that didn’t show up on the older, even less effective intrudo-tron machines. Nobody ever got hurt, they didn’t even have to stop serving alcohol (which we all know turns normal citizens into violent psychopaths, right?).

If I’d been on one of the planes that hit the WTC, things might’ve turned out a little different. They certainly wouldn’t have turned out any worse!

The TSA works for Al Quaeda.

spool32

Seems ripe for some civil disobedience…

mugabo

TSA should sell scan prints like they do on the log flume (fun word, flume) at Disney.
It’d make the process a bit more fun than it already is, and generate some revenue.

Anonymous

Perhaps a brief sermon:

“By performing this act your are demeaning me, and you are demeaning yourself. You are violating my civil rights, and those of everyone you search. You are violating the founding principles of the United States and you should be ashamed of yourself. This violation protects no one, for those you touch inappropriately are not terrorists, but honest citizens. Your actions revolt me, and if your are not ashamed of them, you revolt me as well. You should resign and keep your dignity.”

Or perhaps a dick joke:

Look them in the eye and say “Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?” when they prepare for the pat down. “Just so you know, I dress to the left, and I apologize if your actions arouse me.”

Anonymous

I wonder what the response would be to a flier wearing an adult diaper, particularly if the flier had paused in the bathroom to fill it with warm water before getting in line.

Guairdean

I’ve decided to stop flying. If I need to travel for business, I’ll drive. Airline revenues will drop if enough people stop flying. When the airlines start losing even more money, policies will change quickly.

Anonymous

If they’re presenting the argument that a grope is as comprehensive of a security measure as a full-body X-ray, then they ought to have done taxpayers the favor of rejecting porno scanners outright and simply groping every passenger to save money.
Air travel? Fuck it. Humans weren’t born with wings anyway.

Anonymous

they keep the perverts in the room leering at you through the scanner and then let them out to do pat downs so they can finish the cycle. If they used the money they spend on better intelligence we would be way much safer. I have noticed that all of the terrorists lately got on board in a country outside he United States, what happens to their security? Last but not least and we had a conversation at work on this, what is going to happen when one of them hides something inside a body cavity? What is the TSA going to do then???

Nice

Flying accoutrement:
—————-
Undergarment Wetsuit: check
Easily ruptured packets of strap-on poo: check
After dinner mints: check
Waiter?: check

Blockhead

I love the theater Joke, It makes it so dramatic. If the chance of a plane crashing is so low why the push for security? Court houses have procedural warrants in place for searches why no complaints from everyone? A gun in a courthouse might kill 6 people and cause a few thousand dollars worth of damage. If a plane is brought down 250 people die and it could cost well over a billion dollars.
I guess not everyone here has had a ticket or been in jail so that might not be so dramatic or high profile a “theater”. The cops who give those pat downs are I’m sure just as well educated as all the PhD’s on this thread and our local courthouse has at least 40 cops.
The airline business is a global beast that ensures at least 50,000
flights in the United States a day get where they are going complain to the airlines they actually care about your money the government hasn’t cared since The war of 1812. One last question in my many little statement and question set where are the videos of TSA Officers doing the job wrong? That’s the video you need to build major public support.

Mister44

I’m still a big fan of this idea:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=119589998103371&id=1432485515&notif_t=share_comment#!/pages/Nov-28-is-Derek-Smalls-Day-time-to-fight-airport-scanners/125005014226523

Travel with your cylindrical shaped lunch wrapped in foil in you pants.

Our security was fine before 9/11. I would argue it was better than now in some respects.

9/11 didn’t happen from lack of scanners or pat downs, it happened because:

1) The terrorists knew how to fly a plane

2) The people on board assumed they would be diverted, demands named, etc etc. Not that they would be flown into buildings.

If a 9/11 type plot happened today, there would be a plane full of people saying “Fuck this!” and fight tooth and nail to beat them down. The difference being now is that the best weapon I have is a writing pen, where as my pocket knife would have come in handy and would have been on me at the time during 9/11.

Never mind the fact that while we are over reacting with air travel, our buses and subways are cherry targets ready for picking. (Remember the London attack? The Mumbai attack? Anyone? Beuler? Beuler?)

The fact is – you can’t stop the crazies all the time. Fortunately, while they make great press and are “scary”, they inflict so little death its isn’t even worth worrying about.

Anonymous

I will opt out of all but international flights. No more trips to Palm Springs.

Nimdae

As much as this is a risk of having anti-terrorism thrown at protesters, if there’s enough protesters locking down terminals/airports, it would be extremely difficult to get any terrorism charge to stick. If anything, it would make very clear how bad the security is, that it allows such an event to happen. There are people that are perfectly willing to risk their criminal record just to make a point. There are likely well off people that can afford good lawyers to take this as far as possible.

The TSA really gave the protesters a strong and powerful weapon. I’m sure it was well known that refusing screening could result in arrest, but now they are stating they will close and evacuate checkpoints. Not only will they tie up security agents, but also passengers, causing numerous delays.

Anonymous

Fuck this. I’m taking the bus.

tad604

I wish I could take the bus or drive to Hawaii, which after my last vacation there, is the only place I really wan to go to on vacation anymore.

Mister44

re: “If the goal is to prevent travelers from bringing weapons onto planes, then the scanners certainly seem to address this goal”

Moot point. We don’t have a problem with weapons on planes. Pre 9/11 we could travel with pocket knives with no problems. (Funny story, one time they let me on with my 3 1/2″ bladed knife, but they wouldn’t let my cigar punch that looks like a bullet on board. Nucking futz.)

Other than securing the cockpit, every other security measure is theater/masturbation. 9/11 didn’t happen because of weapons – it happened because of terrorists who could fly planes, and passengers content to ride out the ordeal.

If I wanted to sneak stuff on a plane in a terror plot, I would have someone work in maintenance or as flight attendants and sneak stuff into the bath room or what have you for later pick up.

You can’t stop all the crazies all of the time – but let us look at the numbers – do don’t have a terrorist problem. We had one event where they got very lucky.

sumadis

I travel a lot. Usually with equipment – camera gear, wireless microphones, hard drives, more than one laptop… It’s already enough of a hassle – and a random one at that. I’m pretty used to it; sometimes it takes forever, sometimes not.

Now there’s all this new ‘protest’ talk. I think it’s a bit like Critical Mass as a method of attempting to gain awareness for cyclist’s rights – the basic idea is good, but it ultimately just pisses people off, f’s up traffic and gets a bunch of people arrested. There’s got to be a better way of actively changing pubic policy when it comes to airport threat prevention.

Of course, the methods are all irritating – the pat, the scan, the shoes in the bin vs shoes on the conveyor belt, take off your watch, keep it on… it’s Security Theater. (btw your shoes are off because it slows you down and you are then less likely to run or resist, not because some jackass stuffed his sneakers with wires and matchsticks)

So now in the holiday crush a bunch of once-a-year fliers, all riled up by media and fear, are gonna start protesting by ‘testing’ the limits of some rentacops? FEDERAL rentacops?? Please, don’t bother. Your basically attempting to kill the messenger AND facing the real possibility of jacking with everyone else in line who just wants to make their flight.

Would I like to know exactly how much radiation is in the new machines? Yes, and I’ve already written my congressman about it. Would I prefer not to be heavily patted down by someone who likely has little idea what they’re looking for? Yes. Would I also simply like to get through the airport 6+ times per month without having it take a couple hours each time? Hell Yes. So please, find a more effective method of ‘protesting’ this latest act in the great opera of Security Theater, and let the rest of us just get to our damn gates.

Nimdae

One of the major reasons for the length of your processing is the security theater itself. You get delayed, more often than not, by people enacting useless prrotocols that cost time and money and do nothing but frustrate people. Security theater doesn’t make your travel, nor the general public, safer. I’d rather have the tax money spent elsewhere and have lower travel costs with about relatively the same safety.

You can bear a single day of inconvenience while the flaws of the system are exploited. The blame goes to the system, not the protesters.
Anonymous

I’m surprised to hear that’s the reason shoes are removed. Seriously? I would’ve thought people would be a lot faster with bare feet than in than a lot of the footwear I see that is totally unsuited to running–sandals, flip-flops, high heels, dress shoes, etc.

Whatever reason for the removal, screening officers I’ve talked to appreciate the rule because it makes the lines move a lot more quickly. Many shoes have metal shanks in them. Many people who wear these shoes through metal detectors don’t know this. Having to resolve metal detector alarms on every other passenger because they didn’t know really slows down the line. Talk to screening officers at a Canadian airport with a US pre-clearance area to get an idea of the difference in speed.
Anonymous

“There’s got to be a better way of actively changing pubic policy when it comes to airport threat prevention”

…. an appropriate typo
lakelady

So acts of civil disobedience disrupts your life, isn’t that the whole point? If it weren’t disruptive then why bother? I’m guessing a generation or two ago you would have said “be quiet and take your seat at the back of the bus, you’re making me late for work”.
Antinous / Moderator

The unwillingness to experience any inconvenience or upset anyone guarantees that things won’t get better and will probably get worse. I’m sure that there were shopkeepers who were pissed off that they didn’t get their tea delivery because it was dumped in Boston Harbor.
- Glenn Fleishman
  
  I had _already paid for that tea_, damn it.

Jack

I bet somewhere there is some Troll under a bridge smacking himself in the head and saying: â€œHey! Theyâ€™re stealing my act!â€

Anonymous

Oppose TSA searches? You’re a “domestic extremist”:

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30286

Anonymous

For those who are about to be searched. We salute you! I humbly submit this little ditty in your honor. Keep it in your head while undergoing your humiliation. Sing it to the tune of jingle bells.

Groping Hands.

** Chorus ***
Groping hands
Groping hands
Feeling all the way
Up your crotch
And down your blouse
Probing all the way … Hey!

They say you have a choice
You haven’t lost a right
Let them see you nude
And don’t put up a fight
If you just say no
You have not won the day.
You’re going to have your crotch felt up.
By the fucking TSA!

** Chorus **

A day or two ago
My family took a flight.
We checked in right on time.
We tried to be alright.
The TSA said to strip.
We said “You’re a dip.”
So now we’re being mo-lested.
By a TSA a-gent.
Oh!

** Chorus **

He said his name was Joe
He could not find a job.
He spent all of his day surfing prono – what a slob

He joind the TSA
So now he spends his day. Watching people nude!
If they just say no.
He has a beter time.
Feeling up the lithe titties.
Of your daughter or your wife!
Oh!

** Chorus **

OldBrownSquirrel

Th plvc thrst sggstn gv m th d f gng thrgh scrty drssd s Dr. Frnk-N-Frtr. Nthng s mr lkly t mk TS gnts sqrm thn hvng t grp trnny.

Sork

I expected another Frankfurter.. Try it when the TSO’s are late for lunch break.
SonOfSamSeaborn

That’s one of the first things that caused the privacy concerns and the backlash — some transexuals strongly and rightly object to having to subject to one of two procedures that both reveal their gender through genitalia to the security staff.

MikeSperry

TSA misses 2 12 inch razor blades carried by Adam Savage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3yaqq9Jjb4

sapere_aude

I wonder if anyone is planning to wear something like THIS to the airport today. If so, I hope whoever does it videos the experience and posts it online. I’d love to see the reaction of the TSOs and the other passengers waiting in line when this person is asked to remove his/her shoes.

Anonymous

if you don’t let the TSA photograph your crotch area then the terrorists win. /sarcasm

Anonymous

Many posts here have described a person being detained for groping while their belongings sit at the end of the x-ray conveyor belt, unattended, on the secure side.

So if you put your belongings on the conveyor, opt out of the porn scan and then refuse the grope, what happens to your stuff? If you go back for it you will cause a facility wide lock down. If you leave it behind 1) it may be stolen, 2) you just breached security in a functional way.

Yeah TSA, you just made a new loophole that can blow holes in planes. Job security!

Anonymous

Dear BB, any suggestions for people traveling alone?

I plan to get the groping in public, but I’d like a third party as witness, and the presence of another TSA employee doesn’t bolster my confidence (for some reason). Also, I’m somewhat concerned about leaving my stuff at the end of the conveyor belt, especially with the longer-than-necessary wait people have reported experiencing after declining the scanner.

flatfive

#232: Ask for a law enforcement officer to witness the search. They abide by different rules than the TSA (the Constitution, for example), and they often don’t much care for their assignment to hang out with the government Rent-a-Cops. And by all means, if something happens you don’t like, tell the cop you want to press charges, then and there.

Also, probably a good idea to have a lawyer on speed dial, with whom you’ve talked to about this prior to the day of travel.
- Sork
  
  “Also, probably a good idea to have a lawyer on speed dial, with whom you’ve talked to about this prior to the day of travel.”
  
  Would they object if you want your lawyer present during your screening?
  - flatfive
    
    Would they object? Maybe. Too bad. Their policy states a 3rd party witness is allowed if the searchee requests one.
    
    Personally, I travel with my legal team at most times – I was raised by one, and I married one. And they *really* like civil rights lawsuits.
    
    Seriously, if anybody’s so much as contemplating civil disobedience with the TSA, Step 1 is Lawyer Up. You will not regret it.

Anonymous

I’m surprised no one has suggested aluminum foil undies yet….

WeightedCompanionCube

Foil Undies? Nah, just a Foil Cucumber

Chris the Carpenter

Can’t beat ‘em? Join ‘em. I say, that after the pat down, or during it, demand a supervisor. Then explain to the screener and supervisor what a shitty job the guy did, how much he missed and that for the safety of fellow passengers, you should be patted down a second time. See how many times you can get away with this. Keep implying (carefully) not that you are hiding something but if your search was that bad, you fear what the other passengers may have gotten away with. Might just be a fun little game. I bet you could muster 3 times… 4 might be pushing it. And, of course, one could also subtly imply enjoyment of the procedure…

Now that I think about it, is there a law against a pervert going through screening specifically to get the pat-down? I know you are limited in what you can say within those “glass walls” but, I don’t think there is a limit on how many times you can be screened (i.e. going out for a lot of smokes during a long wait). Seriously, could a very open and vocal pervert go through enough times that the TSA would REFUSE to screen him? What prevents people from making sex noises? –Nothing illegal ’bout that, is there? Man, the more I think about this, there are some real opportunities out there to make some very viral videos.

BTW –I mean no offense to the perverts out there. Hey, 2 consenting adults and all that…. Hell, America was built by freaks of all kinds –They are the ones with all the good ideas.

David M

How many culture jammers does it take to shut down an airport?

Anonymous

I just drove 1300 miles for work over this past weekend because I’m not going _near_ this TSA nonsense.

Dear $airline_I_would_have_flown, are you listening?

Don't TSA me, bro: Boing Boing open thread, and new rules for those who refuse patdown

More at Boing Boing