Community | November 13, 2010 | 161 comments

Growing backlash against TSA body scanners, pat-downs

source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/12/travel.screening/index.html?iref=allsearch

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TheEmpireGuy
(CNN) -- A growing pilot and passenger revolt over full-body scans and what many consider intrusive pat-downs couldn't have come at a worse time for the nation's air travel system.

Thanksgiving, the busiest travel time of the year, is less than two weeks away.

Grassroots groups are urging travelers to either not fly or to protest by opting out of the full-body scanners and undergo time-consuming pat-downs instead.

Such concerns prompted a meeting Friday of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano with leaders of travel industry groups.

Napolitano met with the U.S.Travel Association and 20 travel companies "to underscore the Department's continued commitment to partnering with the nation's travel and tourism industry to facilitate the flow of trade and travel while maintaining high security standards to protect the American people," the department said in a statement.

Federal officials have increased security in the wake of plots attributed to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Industry leaders are worried about the grassroots backlash to Transportation Security Administration security procedures. Some pilots, passengers and flight attendants have chosen to opt out of the revealing scans.

More of the units are arriving at airports, with 1,000 expected to be in place by the end of 2011.

"While the meeting with Secretary Napolitano was informative, it was not entirely reassuring," the U.S. Travel Association said in a statement.

"We certainly understand the challenges that DHS confronts, but the question remains, 'where do we draw the line'? Our country desperately needs a long-term vision for aviation security screening, rather than an endless reaction to yesterday's threat," the statement said. "At the same time, fundamental American values must be protected."

The travel industry is concerned that consumers may decide not to take a plane to Aunt Gertrude's for the holiday.

"We have received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from travelers vowing to stop flying," Geoff Freeman, an executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association, told Reuters.

A 2008 survey found that air travelers "avoided" 41 million trips because they believed the air travel system was either "broken" or in need of "moderate correction," the U.S. Travel Association said. The decisions cost airlines $9.4 billion, the survey said.

One online group, "National Opt Out Day" calls for a day of protest against the scanners on Wednesday, November 24, the busiest travel day of the year.

Another group argues the TSA should remove the scanners from all airports. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a non-profit privacy advocacy group, is taking legal action, saying the TSA should be required to conduct a public rule-making to evaluate the privacy, security and health risks caused by the body scanners.

Pilots' unions for US Airways and American Airlines are urging their members to avoid full-body scanning at airport security checkpoints, citing health risks and concerns about intrusiveness and security officer behavior.

"Pilots should NOT submit to AIT (Advanced Imaging Technology) screening," wrote Capt. Mike Cleary, president of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association, in a letter to members this week. USAPA represents more than 5,000 US Airways pilots.

*More at link

~~~~~

Personally, I believe there is no reason that we should accept such invasive measures in the name of "security". The TSA has crossed the line, and we need to stand up and say "No more!". Protecting the American people from possible terrorist threats is one thing, but forcefully intruding on ones privacy and possibly their health in order to do that is just too much, in my opinion.

I certainly believe that there are much better ways of combating terrorism. For instance, the greatest thing they could do for our safety would be to end our unjust wars on foreign soil. Terrorism is symptom of a larger disease, a disease which we are responsible for starting and are continuing to this day. It is our interventionism. We suffer from the backlash of an interventionist foreign policy.

Like murderers and thieves, if a terrorist really wants to attack the U.S., then they will. All the body scanners and TSA intrusions in the world are not going to stop that. Of course, I'm not saying we should just bend over and accept what might happen, but what I am saying is that there are far better, far less intrusive ways to combat the problem that terrorism poses.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." --- 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights.
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161 comments // Growing backlash against TSA body scanners, pat-downs

  • juicie
    • 0
      juicie  

    • My grandmother isn't coming to visit this year for Christmas because she doesn't want to get molested. My aunt flies a lot for work and has had a few instances where she was fondled and molested. She calls them out every time.
      That is a hostile work environment!

    • 1 year ago
  • dariusvons
    • 0
      dariusvons  

    • terrorism is only a threat to american when our government does it. and it's a fact terrist attacks world wide have been going down since the 70's and independently of american anti-terrorist activity (started in 2000).

    • 1 year ago
  • dariusvons
    • 0
      dariusvons  

    • everyone should boycott airlines! hell we'd only need to do it once or twice and airlines would be forced to reconsider this bullshit or go bankrupt!

      it's not a war on terrorism, and it's not about safety. it's a war on personal freedom, and these searches aren't meant to prevent terrorist attacks, they're meant to stop drug trafficking. why do so few people realize this?

    • 1 year ago
  • good_stuff
    • 0
      good_stuff  

    • Very well put article and summary. Our security measures entail completely reactionary tactics. The terrorist are just moving it from their shoes, to their underwear, and will soon just sew bombs into their body.

      I think the DC subway bomber is the new thing for Terrorists. We've beefed up security at airports so well that it isn't worth tageting. Subways and public areas are going to be the new front, but who knows maybe they'll come up with an creative attack that we have never even imagined possible yet. Almost anything can be used as a weapon if one is so inclined. We'll soon only be able to use sporks for fear of terrorist killing with a butterknife.

      Maybe the solution is to start training all US citizens in hand to hand combat so that they can better foil terrorist attempts in the future.

    • 1 year ago
  • ras_menelik
  • SuperGayJesus
  • Dmerza1989
  • Andrew_Douglas
  • treewolf39
    • 0
      treewolf39  

    • This is a great issue for "We the People" to take a stand on. These image machines may be useful in a certain situation but really do not make air travel more secure. I hope many use alternative forms transportation on November 24th. The only thing corporate powers listen to is the reduction of cash flow.

    • 1 year ago
  • EmperorThan
  • Vierotchka
  • Paratus
    • +2
      Paratus  

    • There are a couple of ways to respond to this. One would be to REALLY act like you enjoy it. Ask them to scratch the rash a little to the left. Flatulence would work also. Another would be, and I like this one, to call over a police officer and ask that the TSA screener be arrested on a sex offense charge. The other would be just to hit one as hard as you can. I like this one better than the sex offense charge. As long as they have the support and encouragement of the state they will continue to do what they do with impunity. When they fear the repurcussions more than they like their job things will change. Now if you do this it will ensure that you will have a pretty good fight on your ands as the rest of the TSA goons will jump in but consider it a training exercise if you choose this. It may also ensure you a jail stay but since the thugs have to go home at some point one can always find one at a convenience store and demonstrate some reverse hands on. The world is full of opoportunities.

    • 1 year ago
  • Billy_Tarter
  • chloroplasts
    • +3
      chloroplasts  
    • Billy_Tarter:

      No kidding...I don't get why the spammer(s) keeps trying. If anything it's making me want to buy those products less. Unless that's the point....it's reverse ad campaign from competitors!!

    • 1 year ago
  • chloroplasts
    • +5
      chloroplasts  

    • Let me get this straight...I'm not allowed to be naked in public yet the TSA can essentially take a naked picture of me (exposing me to radiation for almost no productive reason) and then molest me if I refuse? And on top of all this no one's paying me for it?

      I don't care how "professional" the TSA is, no one but my doctor or my significant other has any reason or permission to feel me up. These extra measures aren't going to protect us from terrorists, they're just one more step toward indoctrinating the public to submit to privacy invasion. Not to mention the profit motives behind the company who makes the body scanners...

    • 1 year ago
  • juicie
  • juicie
    • +2
      juicie  

    • Ben Masel was passing out some t-shirts with the 4th amendment written on it. Vote for that dude for Senate if you live in Wisconsin.

    • 1 year ago
  • juicie
    • +2
      juicie  

    • It wasn't enough to let them see our naked image... they can't help themselves to grope our creases. Wait till they get hollowed out strapons and suddenly there are a lot of mules with ronjeremies making the perverts blush as they are waved through.

    • 1 year ago
  • Billy_Tarter
  • chloroplasts
  • madjik68
  • juicie
    • +3
      juicie  

    • Hide your kids, hide your wife.....for real though you need to escort you teenage daughters.

      My aunt's company had a policy of saving costs by only purchasing a one way ticket for stays that we indefinite. The one way ticket gave them probable cause to strip search her.
      When the female examiner said, "OK, now I am going to touch you."
      My aunt replied, "If you touch me I will hit you!"
      "If I am already naked, why do you need to touch me?"

      They stopped sending her on one way trips.

    • 1 year ago
  • Varex_Sythe
    • +3
      Varex_Sythe  

    • I wonder, what's the worst that could happen if I opted to just strip naked and let them observe right there that I have nothing dangerous on my person?

    • 1 year ago
  • TheEmpireGuy
    • +2
      TheEmpireGuy  

    • National Opt Out Day is on November 24th, one of the busiest holiday travel days of the year.
      Let's band together and send the government and the TSA pigs a message.
      TSA should not be allowed to do to people what others would be arrested for.
      No one is above the Law.

      Here is a link to the website - http://www.optoutday.com/

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
  • chloroplasts
  • JanforGore
    • +13
      JanforGore  

    • So while the TSA wastes time patting down grandmothers, "terrorists" will only find more creative ways to avoid it... like take a train.

    • 1 year ago
  • thetrimsmith
  • ctbballfan
    • -8
      ctbballfan  

    • I can go thru TSA security 6 to 10 times a month. I have zero problem with anything being done today. I find them well trained and getting better, quite professional and handle the clueless deftly. Some people want to be protected from "them" as long as it doesn't inconvenience "me." They can screen me, pat me down, go thru my bag of soiled clothes - just be polite, efficient and keep me safe.

    • 1 year ago
  • Debra_
  • Saladin
    • +13
      Saladin  
    • ctbballfan:

      It never ceases to amaze me how well "Spanish Inquisition" logic works on people.

      "If you have nothing to hide, then there will be no problem."

      Yeah, as if an unelected, uncontrolled, authoritarian body run by fucking idiots isn't going to, at some point, fuck with people and completely get away with it.

      Isn't it odd that despite all of these added security measures, all recently foiled terrorists managed to get on the plane with their bombs or weapons?

      Don't run on automatic, think about this for longer than ten seconds.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • Debra_
    • -12
      Debra_  
    • JanforGore:

      You would probably know. You're more of an authoritarian nazi than anyone else here, when it comes to dealing with somebody that has a different viewpoint.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +10
      JanforGore  
    • Debra_:

      You don't have viewpoints. You just hate. But by all means keep coming at me with it and I will just hand you your a** as I did when you infected my other threads on Monsanto with your Fascist-Eugenist bile.

    • 1 year ago
  • Debra_
    • -13
      Debra_  
    • JanforGore:

      "hand you your a** as"

      You need to grow up. You just came on this thread to bicker with me. And no, your repeating your caveman fear of modern agriculture don't prove anything, except how out of touch you are.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +10
      JanforGore  
    • Debra_:

      If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. Don't come here all half cocked and then whine when you get it back. I also came in here to do what I do in every thread, and unlike you it isn't to post without first thinking. But to respond to you, your so called "viewpoints" on the Constitution are ill informed and downright ignorant, and your "viewpoints" on agriculture are nothing short of Machiavellian.

      And there was no fighting on my part. I asked the question in regards to your ill informed comment regarding the government depriving Americans of their civil liberties to "protect them.":

      Isn't that what Hitler told the Germans when he built the death camps?

      Where you see fighting there is only in your own mind because you can't face the fact that you are no better in your thinking.

    • 1 year ago
  • Debra_
    • -13
      Debra_  
    • JanforGore:

      The heat? I can't take idiocy, which is why I have difficultly reading your posts.
      And don't pretend you just came on this thread to ask an innocent question. (Because you talk about nazis on every post right)

      Your views on the constitution and agriculture are severally outdated, You have to acknowledge that.

    • 1 year ago
  • TheEmpireGuy
    • +7
      TheEmpireGuy  
    • Debra_:

      Protecting and groping are not the same thing. The government can protect me without invading my privacy.

      Like stopping our unjust and unnecessary wars which I described in a section at the end of the article. Or did you not read the article? Would not surprise me.

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
  • thelastwheeler
  • Stever_B
  • Stever_B
  • coolplanet
  • Christopher_Luce
    • +2
      Christopher_Luce  
    • ctbballfan:

      The point is the government can not keep you safe. All of these ridiculous things they do are only to create the illusion of safety . They know darn well that there is little that they can actually do to stop a determined man from trading his life for yours.

      All of this airport stuff is government grandstanding. They want you to focus on their efforts to secure air travel, so you dont think about the fact that they only check one out of 10 shipping containers. Or the fact that anyone can sneak across our borders.

      I fail to see how airport security can keep you safe when terrorists can simply sneak in stinger missiles and shoot your plane down from the ground.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  
    • Debra_:

      Well, if you can't take idiocy I don't know how you live with yourself. Taking away my freedom is not protecting me, it is EMBOLDENING them and taking resources off apprehending TRUE criminals and not only that it is declaring to them, "YOU WON." And again, it does NOTHING to stop a terrorist attack. They will simply find another way if they are that intent and as a matter of fact have already done so by dragging us into a trillion plus deficit making war that will now be the burden of our children. There is no "protecting" going on when some TSA goon can feel me up for no other purpose than to get his jollies over thinking he/she is actually doing their patriotic duty by making a profit for the maker of the scan machines. So in answer to that intrusion on my privacy I WILL NEVER FLY IN THIS COUNTRY AGAIN. Then for sure I will be "protected." But it will be MY decision. Got that?

      And oh, my "caveman fear" of modern agriculture is laughable coming from someone who wants us to live in a toxic monoculture world where Bill Gates and his Monsanto proteges get to tell you what to eat as a form of Eugenics to weed out the "undesirables" as you called them. You wouldn't know real agriculture if it came and bit you on your bum. Sustainable Agriculture IS modern agriculture as it will now save this planet from climate catastrophe and food scarcity. That is, when we rid the process of monopolistic machiavellian a&*holes who want to control our entire food supply. And I speak up for REAL FARMERS and food sovereignty, not Agent Orange makers who kill people and ecosystems for profit and anytime you want to go toe to toe with me on that topic, be my guest.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mark701
    • +1
      Mark701  
    • ctbballfan:

      Airline pilots are refusing these scans. That should tell you something. Getting your body blasted with radiation 6-10/month is something to take seriously ESPECIALLY if you're concerned about your safety. It would be rather ironic if in trying to protect yourself from terrorists, you died of cancer.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mark701
    • +2
      Mark701  
    • TheEmpireGuy:

      You are correct. This paranoia was enabled by the Bushies. Consider, we spent 45+ years under the threat of nuclear annihilation from the Soviet Union and the government was able to "protect" us while maintaining our rights under the US Constitution. Then the GOP slipped into power in 2000 and everything went to shit.

      Bush said something to the effect once that everything changed after 9/11. Ironically that "change" was the dismissive attitude of the US Government towards the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights and national and international laws. I have no love for Ronald Reagan but even he would have condemned the Bush/Cheney cabal for what they did to the country and the economy.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mark701
  • treewolf39
  • treewolf39
  • mindcruzer
  • Dmerza1989
  • Saladin
    • +8
      Saladin  

    • I've long been disgusted with the DHS and even the TSA before them. Up until recently, I've been pretty much alone in that notion.

      The security is bullshit. It's authoritarian, it's useless and its very existence should frighten you.

      I haven't flown for years and airport security is a big factor as to why. Now, it's just completely out of control.

    • 1 year ago
  • TheEmpireGuy
  • FtheBULLSHT
  • Saladin
    • +2
      Saladin  
    • FtheBULLSHT:

      Because it, demonstrably, never stops anyone from doing shit on airplanes.

      Think about every terrorist scare that's happened recently.

      ALL of them made it on to the fucking plane before they were caught! Even after these harsh security measures.

    • 1 year ago
  • TheEmpireGuy
  • Varex_Sythe
    • +6
      Varex_Sythe  
    • TheEmpireGuy:

      I think the problem is that the true inspiration behind such security measures are profits and power trips. Full body scanners don't pick any explosive chemicals that a metal detector would not. The only thing that they might pick up that a metal detector would not are ceramic weapons, and these days passengers are so paranoid on flights that a terrorist could have an AK-47 and the passengers would probably still swarm him/her and beat the terrorist to death.

      Full body scanners are expensive, so someone is making a profit by manufacturing these pieces of equipment and selling them to the TSA.

      People in the TSA also tend to be assholes. Not necessarily because they are by nature, but because the rules and guild lines that the TSA operated under have no consideration what so ever for the customers. TSA's rules don't need to be so dickish, but they are. A wonderful example of people who protect the public but are still... expected, to be polite and civil are police officers. And despite the trend of cops being dicks, there are still plenty of police who do their job effectively and politely. So a certain someone, or many someones, who are higher ups for the TSA are unprofessional assholes and at best need serious dicipline.

    • 1 year ago
  • coxian_armada
  • mastroiannic
  • Christopher_Luce
    • +1
      Christopher_Luce  
    • FtheBULLSHT:

      Because it doesn't work the only thing that really does is the passengers beating the shit out of would be hijackers. How many bomb plots were stopped by the TSA, and how many by passengers after they got on the plane?

    • 1 year ago
  • FtheBULLSHT
    • 0
      FtheBULLSHT  
    • Christopher_Luce:

      But they're using bombs instead of weapons (like box cutters which were used to hijack the planes on 9/11). Although still unfortunate it'd be better if a plane were to blow up than to be used as a weapon to fly into a building.

    • 1 year ago
  • FtheBULLSHT
  • Dmerza1989
    • +13
      Dmerza1989  

    • I also think it might help if we get a little sexual with the people fondling our sweet bodies. I cant wait to fly again so i can opt out and then publicly embarrass myself by saying "Come on big daddy give me all you got" and "Pat me harder! harder! harder!" and "Oh that's the spot" and then attempting to give them my number after.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • TheEmpireGuy
  • Dmerza1989
  • Christopher_Luce
  • bailey78
  • eden49
    • +5
      eden49  

    • ......mmmmm, let me think...gettin' blown up Versus pervin' on my vagina/tits/ass...

      ...I'm ready for my close up, Mr De Mille...(no brainer)...

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • hombre76
  • eden49
  • eden49
  • bailey78
  • eden49
  • bailey78
  • TheEmpireGuy
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