EPIC.org hosts TSA Screening summit: "The Stripping of Freedom"

On January 6 (that's this Thursday) at The Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington, DC, The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) will hold "a one-day public conference devoted to an assessment of the TSA airport security procedures and recommendations for reform."

Scheduled speakers include Ralph Nader (former Presidential candidate and longtime consumer rights advocate), Nadhira Al-Khalili (CAIR, Council for American-Islamic Relations), David Greenfield (NY City Council), Kate Hanni (Flyers Rights), Chip Pitts (Stanford Law School & Oxford University), Prof. Jeffrey Rosen (George Washington University), Michael Roberts (the ExpressJet pilot who famously refused TSA full body scan and pat-down), and Bruce Schneier (everyone's favorite security expert).

Web, Twitter.

EPIC's Sharon Nissim says, "People will be able to submit questions via Twitter even if they are not at the event, and we will have it live streaming. The URL will be posted on the website when we have it."

(Photo contributed to the BB Flickr Pool by Boing Boing reader Sam Ley)

• [kam]

  on the way out of the US, had no Porno-scan or pat down. TSA experience generally ok.

  Flight back (from AMS on essentially the same flight the underwear bomber took) got the porno-scan and a pat-down from Netherlands security “officer”.

  no biggee. It may not be popular to say in this forum, but isn’t flying a privilege and not a RIGHT? If you really want to opt out of the security protocol you can stay home.

  • [sapere_aude]

    isn’t flying a privilege and not a RIGHT?

    Nope. It’s a right; at least according to federal statute and the U.S. Supreme Court.

    49 USC 40103(a)(2) – “A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace.”

    Kent v. Dulles (1958) – “The right to travel is a part of the ‘liberty’ of which a citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment”

• [Tim]

  Personally, I have never really been inconvenienced or bothered by the backscatter scanners. That doesn’t mean I support or like them–I find them ineffective and I can see why people could be bothered by them. I’m just personally not bothered. If someone wants to get their jollies looking at my junk through a backscatter image, then they clearly have never Googled ANYTHING with the safe-search turned off.

  I do get annoyed by the TSA repeatedly shouting their mantra of “Security is not optional” and the fact that (what seems like) a majority of people are ok with the TSA doing whatever they want because “it’s a small price to pay for security”.

  The TSA is NOT security. It’s psychological comfort to a lot of people, but it is NOT security. Not by a long shot.

• [Cowicide]

  dammut, sometimes I really wish I still lived in D.C. – thanks for the head’s up. boing boing!!

• [Neon Tooth]

  Since it’s never said I’ll mention that I had an absolutely body-scan/pat-down free trip away, and then back home again over the holidays. All TSA workers were friendly enough too.

• [Anonymous]

  The poster you display is designed by Oleg Volk
  http://olegvolk.livejournal.com/919747.html

  Labels are available here:
  https://www.lifelibertyetc.com/Products/Stickers/TSA-Checkpoint-Stickers

• [Phil Ward]

  Thank you Anon for doing exactly what I was just about to :)

• [Demetri]

  Just got home from the summit, what an amazing group of Speakers. Edward Luttwak and Bruce Schneier were the highlights for me.