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Full Body Scanners Installed In 10 US Airports
Lapzilla brings word that airports around the US are beginning to use a new type of body-scanning machine which records pictures of travelers underneath their clothing. The process takes roughly 30 seconds, and the person viewing the pictures is located in a separate room. We've discussed similar scanners in the past. From USAToday:
"[Barry Steinhardt, head of the ACLU technology project] said passengers would be alarmed if they saw the image of their body. 'It all seems very clinical and non-threatening -- you go through this portal and don't have any idea what's at the other end,' he said. Passengers scanned in Baltimore said they did not know what the scanner did and were not told why they were directed into the booth. Magazine-sized signs are posted around the checkpoint explaining the scanners, but passengers said they did not notice them."
Gross.
Second thing:
Wonder if it would be legal to sell a line of rubberized scan-proof lingerie?
"Auntie Mandy's No-Scan Panties: The TSA won't see your va-jay-jay today"
"Bodacious Ta's Rubber Bras: If the TSA wants to see your nipples, make 'em buy you dinner first."
"Mr. Happy's Super Sleeves: Take a 'tripod' through the TSA scanner."
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
Government-sponsored voyeurism has reached a new low. Who are we protecting ourselves against again?
I don't fly any longer.
There are other reasons as well, but in a nutshell, the entire process has gone so far downhill I'd rather drive, even all the way across the country.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
D*mn, I guess not. If only these scanners took less time.
Silence of the Lambs style human skin suit. A man needs his privacy.
If you didn't come to party don't bother knocking on my door. Prince '1999'
This being the USA, land of the self-rightous puritans, there is some hope that this will finally make people stop behaving like sheep.
Fake elections, illegal wars and torture are fine. But now they want to see our wimmin naked! That's going too far!
Wouldn't this fall under the auspices of unreasonable search and seizure? It seems to me this manner of search invades personal privacy for no other reason than everyone is a criminal in the eyes of the TSA.
I would hope that this matter gets brought up in SCOTUS
I recently saw signs for this when going through LAX - but the serurity point I wnt through did not have them installed yet.
The sign I read had one line at the bottom that said you could opt/ask not to go through the screening process. It did not say what horrid, annoying or time conuming process was the alternative.
Like so many other times when dealing with law enforcement, simply say "no, I'd rather not."
I wanna see sample pics of what the output looks like. If they are pretty good and these machines become more popular I expect leaked videos/pictures in a torrent source near you!
FTA
"The scanners bounce harmless "millimeter waves" off passengers"
What the fSck does that mean? In the many years I studies physics, there were no particles I knew of that created something called "millimeter waves". Marketing 1-0-1: tell people it's harmless.
The correct words they meant to use were: "backscatter radiation". Those are photos, baby. Granted, it is a very low dose, but the biological effects of radiation are extremely complex. Even though there are some documented cases where low radiation doeses can have beneficial side effects, almost all cases of increased exposure to radiation are harmful to some degree.
Might as well be hammer and sickles. Or swastikas. Socialism, here we come!
of our money. Where is the approval process? Who said this was a good thing worth every penny?
Remember those guys who said they were allergic to WiFi?
I think I've come down with an allergy to Millimeter Waves. Hell, I wonder how they deal with clausterphobic people - it sure as hell is still a closed and confined place, even if it is clear glass.
I say, fake a panic attack in the device, then collapse. Sure its a spectacle, and sure it will delay your departure, but think of the stories you'll tell later!
People bitch and moan about airport security yet they keep voting for people who give them bigger and more intrusive government.
US Congressman and Presidential Candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) voted against the DHS / TSA nonsense. Why did he receive as few votes as he did?
Libertas in infinitum
...airports around the US are beginning to use a new type of body-scanning machine which records pictures of travelers underneath their clothing. The process takes roughly 30 seconds, and the person viewing the pictures is located in a separate room. So, basically, it's like one of those "private rooms" in a porn shop. Except, the slide show pictures come every thirty seconds and you could get anybody from the hot blonde who is heading to Florida with her friends to...well...this guy (possibly NSFW).Probably the most embarrassing thing that would be revealing some of the locations of body piercings.
Cancer, etc?
What happens if the operator of this machine detects some disease of a passenger? May be cancer in early stage? Or tuberculosis? Should he notify a passenger?
This isn't an X-ray machine, or even a Z-backscatter machine. It's a millimeter wave device. TSA has a web page for the thing. It's not as detailed as a Z-backscatter image.
Here's the product page for the ProVision scanner. It's made by Level 3 Communications.
This thing was first announced last year, so the story is out of date.
http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2008/05/you-asked-for-ityou-got-it-millimeter.html
I'm looking forward to go tomorrow to the naked bike ride, where I'll have thousands of people look at me wearing only my bike on the street.
From the article:
...
Schear, the Baltimore security director, said only 4% of passengers decline.
"Most passengers don't think it's any big deal," Schear said. "They think it's a piece of security they're willing to do."
Can we all say "baaaa?"
-- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
Gotta give those TSA pukes a little thrill. Or maybe I'll go through wearing a wig and a dress. The female screener will REALLY enjoy that. I wonder if anyone ever rubbed one out as the passed through the metal detector?
I'm just trying to make travel more enjoyable for everybody.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Let's try it out on some Muslim babes!
I don't support Ron Paul precisely because I am well-informed about his positions and the policies he advocates.
Ocean liners might be great for transatlantic crossings (well.. they were, anyway, until the queen mary stopped doing that), but your friends will never let you travel that way.
Somehow, you're going to end up drinking drugged milk yet again, and have to cut yourself down from the tree after you wake up.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
While 1000s of Americans are jobless the business of fear keep making big $$$.
Serves you right American fucking pigs. Hope you all get raped in the ass in the false name of freedom.
Viva Canada!!!!!
Cool!
How about the officer watching remotely sits in one of these things so all passengers can look at who is looking at them. I bet they'd get a ton of applications for that job...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Ok ~30 sec per person. That's 1 hour to pass security for 1 757 ~120 people. How many planes an hour does an airport serve? How many people? How many security lines do you ever see open? 2, 3? And they are placed at the busiest airports. And lastly the article says, 38 machines in 10 airports, thus just short of 4 systems per airport. That's 480 an hour.
Enjoy.
This is exactly what they want EVERYONE to think. But the truth of the matter is, no, you DON'T have to go along with it. People need to wake up and stop being a bunch of ignorant sheep in the face of all of this. Refuse the scan, refuse the pat-down, refuse to even fly anymore. Prices are going up and so is the amount of bullshit they make you go through to squeeze yourself into a cramped metal tube with not but a package of stale peanuts as food.
Really, why is all of this crap even necessary? All it does is create more headache for everyone involved. I'm not saying we need NO security, but this is honestly going completely overboard. Metal detectors? Good idea. Keeps people from bringing certain bad things on planes. X-ray luggage? Also good, for reasons stated above. Air marshalls? I'm not keen on the idea of firearms at 35,000 feet, but someone in law enforcement is a good idea if someone gets a bit drunk or stupid. Re-enforced cockpit doors? Should have been done a long time ago. That's just common sense.
Beyond that, I don't really see any of it as more than an excuse to spend vast sums of money. Air travel is still one of the safest (albiet nowhere near the most comfortable these days) ways to travel. The only reason incidents get so much media attention is the number of people killed in one event. Wait a couple hours and the number of deaths on the highway will take the lead once again, however. Bombings went out of style in the 80's, and you can forget about any more hijackings. After 9/11, do you REALY think passengers are going to stand for that sort of crap anymore? Not a chance. We're throwing money at phantoms, here. Attacking air travel is pretty much dead these days, but not because of any new security measures. All the same, I think I'll take my chances on the highway. At least nobody is going to attempt coercing me into a full-body scan and cavity search just to get into my car.
One final aside:
Wasn't the whole mantra several years back one of "We musn't change our way of life, or THEY will have won."? Now look at us. We allow draconian measures to be passed in the name of "security". We freak like children with imaginary boogeymen under our beds when someone even THINKS the word "terrorist." We happily give up privacy because we are sold on the illusion that it's for our own good and it will only effect those who have nothing to hide. We have become completely paranoid and changed the way we do pretty much anything, out of fear that we will get hit again. I'm sorry, but isn't that the very goal of a terrorist act? To have us do EXACTLY what we have done in the past seven years?
Society has become so caught up in going apeshit trying to prevent THEM from winning, that the exact opposite effect seems to have occured. Eight years ago, almost nobody had ever heard of the names being tossed about on the news. Now, it's foremost in everyone's mind. Their goal wasn't to savagely murder thousands of people, that was just the tool they chose to use. No, their real goal was to make themselves known, and us frightened. I hate to say it, but they succeeded.
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
I'm getting tired of the terrorism arms race. We don't really get anywhere in the end, other than inconveniencing innocent people and wasting tax dollars. What's worse is that it's not even a symmetrical arms race. We re-up our side many times in-between each successively more advanced attack attempt by the enemy.
If I were Al'Queda, do you know what I would do? I would just keep coming up with nifty ways to hide a knife or a bomb that are novel, and send people through airport scanners using these ever-changing techniques and looking suspicious, just to be sure that every one of them are caught anyways. The net result would be that every caught "terrorist" results in the US wasting more money and pissing off more citizens in a futile attempt to improve security against each new method. What easier way to inflict pain on the US is there than that?
New methods that beat the current system are always easy to invent at any given point in time, especially for someone with money and determination on their side. The article says these things can't see through skin or rubber. Like all systems, this new one is fallible too in many ways.
The correct way to combat air terrorism is a 3-pronged approach:
1) Stop pissing people off. I'm *not* a terrorist apologist. Far from it - terrorism is always wrong in my moral book. But you can go a long ways to towards preventing it by not pissing off large groups of angry people to begin with. By this I mean improve our foreign policy.
2) Focus on smart human intervention. There has been some DHS focus lately (I'm not sure how much) on training psychological profilers to patrol airports undercover. This is likely far more effective than anything the TSA screening stations are ever likely to do, and much less susceptible to the arms race problem.
3) Stop trying to turn your own population into sheeple - teach them to be observant, responsible, and empowered. A citizenry which is self-confident and alert is a great watchdog against all kinds of bad events. A citizenry who gets treated like cattle (as in, current TSA practices) act like cattle: they keep their head down, don't observe and react to strange events. They just start assuming the Nanny State must be taking care of things for them, no need to be vigilant.
Anyone bets on how many days it takes to get the first video posted on youtube?
Does this mean that scanners no longer affect just heads and computer systems? If that is the case...we are all DOOMED!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081455/
What ever happened to freedom from unreasonable search and seizures by governmental bodies (TSA)?
I mean seriously - what has happened - have we slid down the slippery slope, or been boiled to death one degree at a time?
I'm just waiting for a clothing manufacture to come out with millimeter wave blocking clothes or underwear. Need a little metallic weave in the cloth to do the trick.
..........FULL STOP.
Let's take the downward trend of the overall airline experience and extrapolate.
In ten years, this is what it will be like to travel across the country by airplane: Buying the ticket online for $400 or so, plus a $200 security fee tacked on for every flight segment. All fares will be nonrefundable and nontransferable, and being late for your flight means automatic forfeiture of your fare and ticket, as there will no longer be an option to wait "on standby" for another flight. Then you'll show up at the airport, where the first thing that happens is that you're put through one of two processes. Most people will go through a general process, which will be as follows: You get in line at the check-in, where you are questioned as to where you live, where you work, where you're flying, the purpose of your flight, what you're carrying in your luggage and on your person, and why. During this time you will present ID and be photographed and fingerprinted; these will be input into the agent's laptop, which will immediately search through a computer network of known terrorists, known criminals, known fugitives, people who are delinquent on child support payments, people who owe taxes, people who have been arrested in the last five years (even if not charged or convicted), people who are on the sex offender registry, people who haven't showed up to jury duty, people with bad credit, people who didn't register with the Selective Service System, people of other than Mexican origin who are in the country illegally, or people with unpaid parking tickets on their record. A match on one or more of these results in your being taken to a special room for additional questioning, which will mean one of three things: Either you will be denied boarding privileges without a refund of your fare; Or you'll miss your flight because the questioning will take so long, without a refund of your fare; Or, if you're very, very lucky, you might still make your flight, but this will occur less than one percent of the time. If you survived the questioning, you go to the next step, which is to be weighed; at this point, you'll pay a dollar for each pound that you weigh, plus a hundred dollars per checked bag plus a dollar per pound of that checked bag's weight plus fifty dollars for a single carry-on and twenty-five dollars for one personal item, plus a dollar per pound of those items' weight. Then it's time to actually check in and get your boarding pass. Checking in will be free, but to obtain your boarding pass, you'll have to pay a ten dollar printing fee. The routing labels placed on your luggage will cost five dollars each, and tags to put on your bag with your name and address will be a dollar each. Now it's time for security, which happens in several stages. First, you'll bring your checked luggage to the TSA luggage scanner, where they'll pile up bags for flights that are about to take off somewhere on the side while scanning and pushing through the bags going on flights that aren't taking off for another two hours. One out of every ten bags will be chosen randomly and moved to a holding area where it will be held for a month, and then the airport will try and search for the owner, a process that won't succeed very often. Of those bags that are not randomly selected, each bag will be scanned electronically, and following that, each bag will be opened not to perform a physical search, but for the sole purpose of wrinkling up clothing and moving breakable objects such that they'll be more likely to break during transit. Then the bag will be passed on to the baggage handlers, who according to the 2013 Airport Security Passenger Luggage Contents Protection and Loss Prevention Act will be required to produce proof of at least two felony convictions in order to be eligible for the job. The same act will give all baggage handlers the right to take and keep any items they find in luggage which they like. Now that you've handed off your bag (and don't know if you'll ever see it again), it's time for security. You will not be allowed to bring any ge
McCain/Palin '08. Now THAT's hope and change!
It would be pointless to use one of these on a nudist, correct? So why doesn't everyone become a nudist, them their attempt to invade our privacy will be thrawted by our shamelessness.
I mean - what's to stop a hijacker from hiding a ceramic knife up his rectum? or C4... this and metal detectors wont find it. Can we expect cavity searches next?
..........FULL STOP.
stop it.
I personally can't wait until they store the naked body scans on file and use them in conjunction with biometrics. After all, why not? When have government agencies not wanted to collect all kinds of information on us and use them for purposes other than originally intended? And by agreeing to go through the scanner you're consenting to the scan being used for security purposes..
How much lower can a country get than pseudo-stripping its tourists and citizens in the name of faux security?
I encourage everybody - especially tourists - to stop travelling to countries that violate your rights through the use of scanners, fingerprinting and other invasive technologies.
Where possible, take the trains.
At least these machines have the potential for yet another Pr0n site on the internet.
I wonder what happens if you wear RF shielded clothing and go through one of these? Do you get the rubdown treatment like when you don't bring ID? I'll have to place an order to the folks at lessemf.com and try it out next time.
By doing so the boarding procedures will be slower, more people will prefer other ways to travel whenever possible, layoffs in the air travelling industry ... nice.
Looks like a very good advancement.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
Can this machine see also swallowed bombs?
Or should we also have an X-ray body scanner?
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
If you want to see my ass that clearly, I'll gladly show you in person by dropping my pants right there in front of everyone... but you'll then have to kiss it in front of everyone to pay for the privilege.
I can't really judge the matter without a sampling of pictures now can I?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Its not that revealing... I've repaired a Rapiscan system and when we tested it I was the test dummy and you couldn't really make out my bits and kibbles. It would make me feel more secure having one in the airport than to not have one. This will aid in safer travel, sure it wont eliminate risk, but it is a tool. In the world of anti-terrorism and force protection, thats all you really have is tools to prevent, but not eliminate.
Anything that makes air travel less appealing and other forms moreso is a positive force in the long run. The rising fuel costs make trains more appealing than cars and the rising PITA factor makes anything more appealing than getting on a airplane in this country.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Maybe a day of protest, where all participating travelers, regardless of body type disrobe completely while standing in the screening line would get some attention to what is going on.
To me, the guy who is apparently seriously behind the times, the exciting part is the millimeter-wave radar. Now, how long is it going to be before I can get armor that can tell me what caliber of gun I'm being shot with?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Why did you not also quote the VERY NEXT SENTENCE FTA?
Here peabrain, I'll save you the trouble:
"Passengers scanned in Baltimore said they did not know what the scanner did and were not told why they were directed into the booth.
Magazine-sized signs are posted around the checkpoint explaining the scanners, but passengers said they did not notice them."
Didn't notice all of the signs around the checkpoint....hmmm just like 6 year olds.
"How does a passenger refuse the scan if they're not told what's going on until after the fact, or given the option of refusing the scan??
They (and YOU) can start by pulling your heads out of your rectums and PAY ATTENTION to what's going on around you.
Yeah, I know your type:
'Me!Me!Me!-Gimme!Gimme!Gimme!'
That's what is wrong now:not scanners in airports per se, but idiots like you who DO need a nanny. You have brought the whole deal on all of us.
*sarcasm* Thanks, asshat!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
They say you can opt for a pat-down instead of this scan. If enough people really dislike it, and it may be that ACLU types are joined by religious types with modesty objections here, it can be easily defeated. If enough people opt for the pat-down, the lines will move too slow and the airlines will put pressure on the government to get rid of these scanners.
So, are people worried enough about this to ask for the pat-down? Judging by the comments of that woman in the article who said you have to submit to stuff like this in "this day and age" I would guess not.
These measures spread fear, humiliate people, and breed distrust and suspicion. So do the constant "threat level orange" announcements, announcements that you're the eyes and ears of the state, and that you should watch your fellow citizens. People who are afraid and humiliated vote for "strong leaders" that promise to keep them safe, and a general feeling of distrust prevents civic organizations and organized political opposition.
The administration's political consultants and propaganda machine figured this out; in part, that's how Bush got through his mid-term election.
A side benefit to the administration is that all this gadgetry is enormously expensive and allows them to funnel R&D money and lucrative contracts to their friends in industry.
...from the terrorists. But I do feel more afraid of the government. In fact, almost... terrified. How ironic. Call me stupid, but I always thought our government was a democracy of and for the people. Which people asked for this, again? I don't recall anyone putting this to vote.
If the American people would prefer to go back to the way things were, regardless of whatever perceived threats there may be, then who is the government to tell us no?
The path to enlightenment is truly through homemade drugs!
So what does a bio-mech tattoo look like to these scanners? I sure as hell hope they don't think I embedded a bomb in my arm... Oh well, I guess I'll get a new tattoo next around my belly button that says "Such This" and has an arrow pointing down.
Seriously, anyone want to place bets on how long we have before the penis "enlargement" industry starts mentioning this in their spam?
ExTEND YUOR "MEMBER"! Did you hear that hot airport security worker snickering and pointing at your tiny P3N!S when they scanned you?????
Buy now!! Upto 8 inchs loonger!!!! http://as09s8asdfasl.djssef909.com/
The girl in the picture seems to like it very much.
--> Insert Funny Sig Here
Ya kno'... mil-meter...
Its tham tiny things they use in that Urp country to measure thangs. Much smaller than inches.
'Mercans are used to inches of waves, which goes to show that tham there mil-meter waves are harmless.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
It's no more a violation of privacy than having your bags xrayed.
Or are you scared that someone will find out you've got knees in your trousers, or other human body parts. The scans produced aren't exactly colour photographs.
Look on the bright side if an image of you from the scanner becomes public you'll be able to sue for a few hundred thousand dollars.
As for knowing why they should - you may have heard of this thing called hijacking, it's popular with the dissident crowd. Illegal narcotics? Ringing any bells with you?
I'm sure everything would be much safer under the scheme of bury-your-head-in-your-arse and don't check anyones person or baggage as they go on board instead just assume that the countless terroist groups worldwide prefer to attack powerlines.
Sheesh, nobody cares if you have a small penis, OK.
Seen any Star Trek? Federation is a classic socialist utopia.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Anyone else reminded of concentration camps by these photos?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I have a silver belt buckle that always sets the darn thing off. Though it isn't at waist height, with me being a short bastard and all.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
...diapers... that would be more embarrassing :)
...(pats subject down...)
squeek....
"Hey Johny, the man I'm seeing on the screen now hasn't got any penis!"
squeek...
"Erm... maybe he's a she ?"
squeek...
"No no, pat him down, no risks"
squeek...
"Sorry sir, please stand over here, just have to pat you down..."
"Sir, sorry to ask, but are you a woman ?"
"No... I am wearing "... whispers..."diapers"
"Ah, in that case, you're good to go"
squeek... (loud voice)
"No problem Jack, the dude is wearing diapers !"
FTA: "You probably could find very common materials that you could wrap around you that would effectively obscure things," Siegel said.
So it's useless? Somebody help me understand...
No sig today...
Scared much?
These scanners will do nothing to stop airplane hijackings, which is a vastly overblown event in the first place. Far from being "popular with the dissident crowd", hijackings are extremely rare events. You are more likely to be shot in a drive by shooting in the US than be on a plane that is hijacked.
Armored cockpits and air marshals on each flight are a much sounder strategy for handling all incidents that occur in air. Believe it or don't, there are solutions between being a complete slave to the man like yourself and the total anarchist that you incorrectly paint those whom you disagree with as. Only presenting the extremes as possibilities certainly hurts your credibility even further.
If you are that scared and/or want your privacy and rights violated so much, then there is an opportunity for an airline to step up and cater to your needs. For the rest of us, we'd rather live in a sane world with realistic risk assesment. I don't see why we all need to put up with systems that only function to address your personal issues.
I do hope that you volunteer for extra screening every time you go through security. I'd hate to think that you'd pass up the opportunity for a friendly pat down. Worse yet, it'd be a real shame to find out the hard way that you are a terrorist.
Dennis Kucinich objected to these measures too. The good thing about Kucinich is you get all of Ron Pauls concern about civil liberties and opposition to intrusive police state tactics, without is fanatical ideas about cutting off foreign civilian aid and emergency assistance programs, that you know, keeps children here and in other countries from starving to death.
Perhaps more relevant:
You can still sneak a snuke up your snizz.
Good one!
So if I prefer [my local] society as a whole to have a greater control over corporate activities - such as mass transit - then I'm a "slave to the man".
...
Ha ha.
What does having a marshal and locked cockpit achieve - one definitely dead guy for every hijacking attempt* and (at least) one dead stewardess to convince the pilot to open the cockpit door.
I'm not particular scared incidentally of hijacking. We don't allow the proliferation of small arms over here (UK) so drive by shootings are far less likely here. Getting hit by a car is a problem - that's why I choose to be a "slave to the man" and use pedestrian crossings or (shock!) look both ways before crossing. I know taking precautions against death marks me as a complete sheep but, you know, I quite like being alive. I'm sure you 'stick it to the man' by crossing busy roads at there most dangerous points without looking
---
* if he's armed, well either he'll be shot before he has chance to reach his weapon (remember you don't want body checks for concealed weapons) or he'll be beaten to death or shot with his own sidearm.
Oh really, this is the final straw. Let me tell you a story... back in 1978 when I was born in sunny London the USSR was in full swing. As a kid in the 80s I was scared of those guys, really. Duck and cover, fallout... the usual stuff. Oh, and I really liked American TV. In fact, when I was a teenager I wanted nothing more than to go to the USA. Mr T was my hero. America was free, full of good guys like the A-Team. That's what I used to think of the USA.
And now? How things have changed. A month ago I was let through the EU border and into the Ukraine with a just a passport. Into the former USSR without a hassle. The USA, however, has gone from being the land of dreams for many into our worst nightmares. Now I am expected to give my all personal details to foreign power with no way to access the data at a later date, get strip searched at the airport, have my phone and laptop riffled through and even confiscated and then be treated with suspicion and contempt by the locals as I might be a terrorist.
I am not saying that the USA has dramatically transformed, but the perception of it certainly has. Basically, the US government is now making a trip to the USA so painfully unpleasant, that they're killing off the tourist industry. Well done! I'm guessing that lots of wealthy Germans, Brits, French etc will not be spending their cash in Las Vegas or Florida this summer. Another kick in the balls for the American economy. In fact, getting into demonic commie China is a lot easier than the USA, a guess we can go there - soon even vacations will be made in China!
I told you all I was abducted by TSA agents!!
It would only be useless, if it were intended as a device to detect weapons etc. It is still extremely useful as security theatre. And additionally it's an interesting way to test how much people are prepared to put up with under the banner of fighting the terrorists.
Everytime some random new inconve^H protection from new threat is added to airport security, that assumes that until now, that threat has been completely open.
So were are the thousands of evil terrorists that up until now used ceramic, ivory or plastic knifes to hijack planes and kill thousand of innocent citizen each day ?
As repeatedly written by other
Every time the population shows signs of scare, every time the government manage to cut away one more peace of personal freedom or privacy, the terrorists have managed to inspire terror and have won.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Nobody
Two weeks!
[twitch]
*BOOM*
I was flying out of Schiphol recently when I realized how nice it was over there. They had bag scanners at every gate. Their security people made pleasant conversation with everybody going through the line. It was like we weren't being packed onto a steel tube by anti-social cretins who couldn't pass fourth grade english.
It was nice.
Later, I flew out of Dulles. They siphon everybody going through the airport into one or two lanes. The screeners do not converse. They screech: "MOVE ALONG, SIR" "TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF!"
Listen, let's not pretend that TSA isn't a complete and total clusterfuck. There's no reason to be screaming at me. The security checkpoints are just bizarre anymore. They change the rules every so often, or don't follow them consistently from one airport to the next, and then act all indignant when I don't know what they want from me before they yell. "TAKE YOUR LAPTOP OUT OF THE BAG, SIR" funny, the TSA says laptops don't have to come out of bags anymore. Maybe that's changed? Maybe you're a mongoloid?
I hate to admit it, but the USA has ballsed it all up. If overly intrusive, endlessly inconvenient searches minimize the threats of terrorism, you'd expect Amsterdam to have all of the terrorists flying through. I can't remember one hijacked flight leaving Schiphol. Not one.
"I hope I don't make a mistake and manage to remain a virgin." - Britney Spears
I was reading on the TSA site that these things use low level RF frequencies to produce the images. Now if the conspiracy theorists are right, this would go hand in hand with the metaplan to get everyone tagged with RFID chips. When you consider the implications of future mandatory RFID chips and devices like these installed everywhere... that slice of freedom we all like to think we enjoy gets smaller everyday. After reading the article, I would say the government has done a fine job of practically making everyone sheep. When people stop questioning and simple think "these days you have to go with it" then the ruling elite have obtained their goal of pacifying the masses into mindless wage slaves.
What about CGI KP? Manga?
Heck a mother was arrested for a picture of her baby daughter in the bath!
When this thing was being developed, officials were saying that you would have the option to be scanned by hand if you objected to being seen semi-undressed by this machine. As all such promises by governments, it was apparently just another lie. I personally will object due to religious reasons to going through one of these machines and refuse to go through. As sexually loose as most people are today, however, most people won't care.
Drive, take a train, ride a bike, horse or walk. But when it becomes necessary to do so, so that one may live in the USA, then restrictions on that activity essentially infringe on our rights.
Obviously some lose this right because they are a menace to others (drunk drivers, etc).
As someone else pointed out, the TSA is my problem, since it is a governmental agency.
..........FULL STOP.
Why not have these scanners linked directly to your doctor's surgery? Then you can phone them up, something like this:
"Hello, I'd like to book an appointment with Dr.Hu for next week please."
"No, need, Mr.Zen, you only have two days to live. We got your airport scans."
My web domain.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The acceptance statisticts they collect suggest that most people prefer to be scanned when the alternative is a stripsearch. What their statistics don't count is how many people choose to travel by other means rather than big aircrafts (there are so many ways to get wherever you want to go: private plane or heli if you have one, rail, bus, private car, or even by walking, and in the near future maybe even by using a private spaceplane if you can afford it). If security theatre and paranoia continues, people will just stop paying for air travel and seek other means to move. We had no airplanes in 500 BCE, 1600 CE, or 1800 CE and yet economy funtioned so well. Unless you are in an emergency, there is rarely a real need to use an airplane, especially if you embrace telecommuting. While I agree that terrorists should be eradicated, I do not think that eroding our freedom-loving culture is the way forward. Except from that, it's also extremely costly: Terrorists surely laugh as our economies burn millions of dollars or euros in an attempt to protect ourselves, while they can do lots of damage to us simply by spending a few hundreds or thousands. Basic economic theory suggests that we need to find cheaper ways to protect our lands, or else we are screwed. Big spending doesn't seem the right way, and I think that if we don't want to risk future terrorist attacks we should invest in decentralisation (it gets harder for the terrorist to attack if there are no big concentrated targets). So, instead of continuing to build huge airports and massive airplanes, start investing in lots of small airstrips all over the rural and urban communities and develop small flexible planes carrying just 10-15 people each, or even flying private cars. If there is mass production of small airstrips and private planes and sufficient demand to support it, the prices will be cheaper than the airfares we pay today, and thanks to decentralisation terrorists won't be a problem for air travel anymore.
What would happen if i just took off all my clothes when I got up to the scanner and put them in that little shitty plastic bin.
Or I write TSA is 'tupidfuckingdouchebags' on my chest in magic marker.
Goddamn, I love how our country as a whole is some of the smartest fucking idiots on the planet.
Anyone else find the picture a little strange? They just happened to be checking an attractive woman, and the guy that appears to be near the monitor seems to be grinning a little to much.
As soon as someone decides that this is not for "security", but for prurient interest? My wife notes that attractive women, both younger and up to her age (including her) are far more frequently the ones chosen for "closer inspection".
Remember the boarding scene in Airplane II?
mark
Im sorry, I know this is like the third time Ive posted on this article, but it makes me so fucking mad. What I dont get, more than anything is why the god damn TSA exists. Hey, WE fucked up and let 9/11 happen.
OMG. Did he just say that? How un-american, what a terrorist.
Fact is people want to kill people. Fact is, the people that are supposed to protect our country, well, some of them fucked up. Whether it was Air Force, Air Traffic Control, the Army, whoever. Someone fucked up, didn't do their job right and let a bunch of innocent people get hurt.
How do we address the situation? Better defense? Maybe, but fuck, why dont we go ahead and harrass the shit out of everyone that flies, some hundreds of thousands of people a day, maybe more, in the event that one of them is a terrorist.
I have an uncle, replaced hip. Carries a medical card stating his hip is metallic. Got back room strip searched when the TSA couldn't find what was making the metal detector go off, despite him showing his card. I have a metal ACL brace, I wore it THROUGH FUCKING JFK. Metal detector goes off, hand wanded. Hand wand goes OFF.
TSA: Whats in your pants sir?
Me: ACL brace *I knock on the brace for effect*
TSA: Go ahead your clear.
IM FUCKING CLEARED?! He let me just cruise onto a plane departing New York City with a HUGE metal object in my pants he didn't inspect. Our harassment and security is up to the scrutiny and discrepancy of HUMAN BEINGS, some of which are total fuck ups and completely illogical.
Someone else said it and I agree. 9/11 happened, will there be more terrorist attacks? Who knows, probably. Will it be with another fucking plane? Probably not and if so, hey how about this. AirForce, Army, do your fucking jobs and keep us safe. And by do your jobs. I mean, yeah, if you have to, shoot down the fucking plane. Its fucked up to say that I know, but, if your are going to save the lifes of a few thousand people for the lives of a hundred or so, its worth it. Purely on numbers of course, which is what we all are.
The TSA is NOT going to keep America safe? Why? Because people can be insane, its their right, well not their RIGHT, but you understand. People are bat-shit crazy. Could someone today, right now, hi jack a plane or at least scare the shit out of everyone in the US.
They could, and they could do it by going on the plane with nothing but a tshirt and jeans, fuck it board shorts and flip flops.
Flight Attendant: Excuse me sir would you like a beverage?
Psycho Fucking Passenger: Yes, ma'am I'd enjoy a Coca-Cola classic, could I have a full can?
FA: Sure. *Gives can*
PFP: Drinks soda, goes to bathroom. *In bathroom rips aluminum can up to create a MORE FUCKING POTENT WEAPON THAN A FUCKING BOX CUTTER.*
Psycho fucking passenger leaves the restroom, grabs the first person hes sees, probably the back of the plane flight attendant, puts make shift knife to throat. Threatens to kill, looks for a child, swaps attendant for child. NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT FUCKING MIND WANTS TO SEE A KID DIE, THATS WHY A CRAZY ASS PERSON COULD USE IT TO GET INTO THE COCK PIT.
PFP: Kid dies, or open up the cabin.
Captain: No way
PFP: *Puts a one inch incision on the kid to show he means business*
Everyone on plane: *FUCKING LOSES IT*
Captain: *opens door* (OK maybe not, but at this point everyone in the US is completely fucking going nuts because it got this far, and TSA "did their jobs" => Imagine the chaos we'll have to deal with the next time we go to the airport)
Just suppose that psycho got into the cockpit. Its the end of january, over a football city, CRASH => the fucking super bowl. Two major major money making franchises destroyed. But you know whats worse than losing all that money or a couple of companies almost collapsing financially because of the WTC? Losing the 30000 attendees of the super bowl. Why? Because they are people, the same people we are treating like shit every time they want to fly somewhere.
We are focusing on the wrong people and the wrong place for securing our country.
Decline the scan, then when it comes time for your pat down, gay it up so much that you when in comes time for your pat down, gay it up so much that you make Carson Kressley look like Chuck Norris. Then make a joke about a full body cavity search.
You will be out of there in 3 seconds flat.
I had to go through the Lubbock TX airport. I was wearing a superqueer shirt, and when they pulled me aside, I was like sure honey, but are you gonna buy me dinner first? Blink-blink.... he chuckled nervously at which point I said, well if you want to do a full body cavity search would you mind if I brought BF in here to watch?
...are required to ingest saltpeter with breakfast every morning.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(remember you don't want body checks for concealed weapons)
Remember that opinion I pretended was yours earlier? Don't forget that you still believe it.
So they create this elaborate machine that violates peoples' privacies in the name of safety, and in the banner article explaining its purpose and future plans, they say that it can't see through plastic or rubber. Oh, what a grand idea! The people who you are actually trying to CATCH now have a way out, and every other Average American airline passenger is subjected to this for what?
Re the door: what about when the pilot has a heart attack (seems to be the most common problem), you just leave him to die
When are the laws going to change about having IMAGES of underage kids? Last I checked, kids fly too. After all, when the TSA says that toddlers can't fly because their name is on some watch list, I guess it's now ok to see/make/store naked images of under 18 year olds. Why hasn't anyone brought this up? I've seen the images of what this machine can do. Am I the only one that has this concern or is it no big deal?
The particles are called photons!
Total stalemate is only good for one election, and Congress still will get some of what they want done, think veto override.
Checkmate, stalemate broken.
Ron Paul would be a lame duck president, until you can replace Congress, you're wasting your time electing a decent person as president. Congress chews up and spits out decent folks.
damaged by dogma
Haven't you seen the old movie "Airplane!" from around 1980? Women passengers on their way to the airport gates walk past a security and a camera. From this angle you can see the male guard watching the monitor -- which shows the woman with no clothes on! Or Total Recall from 1990 (protraying the world nearly a century in the future), anyone entering the subway rail system freely walks past a large X-ray scanner screen, with security observing skeletons walking through. Attempting to bring a gun results in an immediate alarm. Of course, the guy from "A Fish Called Wanda" easily makes it through airport security with a gun..
Yeah, that's what that creepy doctor told me during my last prostate exam...
I think we've hit the peak and are irreversibly headed towards outright totalitarianism (and I'm not just talking about the US). We've given up our precious freedoms for counterfeit security. The only choices we seem to be left with are fascist totalitarianism or socialist totalitarianism. Frankly, I don't want either one.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
I have skin covering all the important parts.
It's electronic strip searching. How embarrassing!
If strip searches are not normal and are considered humiliating, how is this reasonable?
...in mid-transition, I find these scanners terrifying. I don't want some 24yo punk in the backroom going What the F*CK when they see my body scan.
But of course, when did the public ever consider us anyway? We trans don't exist, and we have no rights. We are the bottom class among the American caste system.
Camping on quad since 1996.
... you've already paid! Now if they ran you through security before you paid, they might lose some serious business.
These scans or X-ray ionised particle scans kill.
Over 10 years, a planeful of people will be dead, or have life threatening cancers, courtesy of these security scans. Or the cancers pushed forward a few years.
Any or all incremental radiation is dangerous - all cumulative radiation is dangerous, both detectable and non-detectable. In theory it is a little, multiplied by number of passengers flown.
With certainity, the new machines are killing people or giving them cancers - almost silently, and under the radar, while wiping out billions of dollars in GNP as valuable people waste productive time in stupid airport frustration queues. The people crunching the risk management numbers will have a lot to answer for. Meanwile certain oil producers will profit from the extra energy needed to run these machines, and the avgas consumed because of security theatre.
It's not wise to subject people to unnecessary x-rays. Such follys, will kill a planeload of people with certainty - think about it.
but you US idiots keep adding more layers to your country bullshit that makes me repeat myself over and over again - I am never coming to your country. I'm Canadian and all I can hope for is that Canada doesn't follow in your footsteps too much. The US is a fucking joke.
Add it to the list of personal pieces of data that can be mishandled, lost, stolen, and then end up on the web.
You may have stolen my identity, but at least I have my dignit...never mind.
Every time you try to stop someone smuggling drugs on a flight the terrorists have won?
To imagine body scanners only purpose is to capture terror activists with political agendas ("terrorists") is nutty. How many random shootings do you guys have in the US? You want gang members to pwn an airline route or the guy from "Falling Down" to decide death on an airliner is the way to go.
Yes people are more likely to die of prostrate cancer than die in a gas explosion, but I still think it's worthwhile to try and prevent gas explosions by having a building code and gas shut-off valves in houses.
Why don't we do something about this? We can email our representatives. We can boycot the terminals that are using this nasty equipment. We can email the TSA with what we think and why. What I don't understand is that we talk to everyone else about how much we don't like what is happening, but then go along with it. If all of us email in exactly what we think, then maybe we can stop this before it really takes hold. If it does take hold, I am willing to find a way to take it to the Supreme Court. I do think all this airline trash is getting way out of hand and is definately against our rights and freedoms as Americans.