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EPIC Files Lawsuit To Suspend Airport Body Scanner Use
nacturation writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a petition for review and motion for an emergency stay, urging the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to suspend the Transportation Security Administration's full body scanner program. EPIC said that the program is 'unlawful, invasive, and ineffective' (PDF). EPIC argued that the federal agency has violated the Administrative Procedures Act, the Privacy Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Fourth Amendment. EPIC cited the invasive nature of the devices, the TSA's disregard of public opinion, and the impact on religious freedom."
Add the embrace of these devices to my list of disappointments in the Obama administration. Not that I'm surprised -- he telegraphed himself very plainly on civil liberties when he backtracked on FISA -- but I'm still disappointed.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
I'm glad to see not everyone is taking this issue laying down. Seems like technology is getting more and more invasive as time goes by. Pretty soon everyone is going to be tracked even in there own home. Some already are!
~Bchickens
or having you genitals felt up. Seriously that's their policy. They think if they subject everybody to public humiliation that people will opt for private humiliation instead.
Personally, I'll go for the public. If they're going to be obnoxious, authoritarian jerks, they should be forced to do it where everybody can see them. I'll act like I'm gay and I enjoy it. I will act like I think they're gay, and they enjoy it. I will turn the humiliation tables around and ask them if they like feeling people's balls and vaginas up in public, if it turns them on.
If enough people take my stance on it, they will quit this garbage in a hurry.
Yeah, all you scaredy cat cowards people who think that somehow this will come back on me and make my life miserable. You know what, up yours. It's people like you that've gotten us where we are, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. For once in your life, show a little backbone and self-respect.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
He may look like Wilt, but he plays like Neville.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Something that amuses me about you Americans is that most of your internet media outlets like /. are so rabidly against the Republicans, but instantly run to the defense of your party of Democrats. Surely they do wrong things, too?
Even the Air Marshall on planes have been shown to be a over priced ineffective program that is nothing more then a ego feed for people like you who feel the need to have a false sense of security. The full body scanners are the same. Cost a lot and don't really have any effect on security.
Your right, flying is a privilege, but your argument is straw man at best. That is like saying if a restaurant want people to take off all their clothes to enter it should be done because it's a privilege not a right to eat there.
Hijackings used to be about money. Passengers would sit them through and get let go when it was all done with a pretty good chance of making it.
Nobody holds to that illusion anymore. Myself (and I'm sure many others) would curb stomp to death anyone who tried to hijack a plane I was on, or die trying. That, and the staff and pilots are better prepared for this now.
These things are just unnecessary.
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
If you dont like it, then dont fly.
"Hey boss, rather than take the 5 hour flight across country to meet with that critical customer in person and sign off on that that big $$$ deal, I'm going to take about 50 hours to drive one way and about the same back. I won't be able to do any work during the trip, but hey, you'll pick up the expenses for this won't you?" .. Yeah as if that will work.
Oh and by the way, you may not have noticed but there are some places you can't get to without flying .. pro tip - take a look at a world atlas and look for all those places separated or surrounded by water
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Um, *everybody* has a right to privacy, not just some special cases.
PS: The machines won't stop anything, explosives fit inside body cavities just as well as heroin/cocaine does.
No sig today...
You do realize that, under Obama we signed into law the expansion of gun rights in national parks [rawstory.com] (was outlawed, now legal)?
BTW, not to reply twice, but I visited Mammoth Caves National Park a few weeks ago and that policy really isn't all it's cracked up to be. They've got huge "No guns allowed" signs on all of the buildings, cave tours, etc. Hooray for the 2nd amendment, I'm now legally allowed to carry my gun in the parking lot at a National Park.....
Of course they don't actually enforce this policy with metal detectors so in reality it's a victim zone not a gun free zone. I'm sure the guy planning on committing a crime is going to be deterred by that sign on the front door.....
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Some rights are so obvious the protection thereof just did not occur to the Founding Fathers. They just never imagined the right to vehicular travel could be infringed, would become licensed, and subject to for-all-practical-purposes strip searches.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
I think part of the concern the GP was expressing is because it isn't just a privacy concern for cross-dressers and pre-op transsexuals, it's a safety concern. Those individuals' personal safety depends on their ability to pass as their preferred gender, and forcing them to submit to what amounts to a strip search destroys that ability.
Having read the article posted on the subject a week ago (that I won't link because somebody else already has), I think it's a legitimate concern. It mentionned one person having been arrested after taking a swing at a TSA officer who made a joke about the size of his penis as he walked through the scanner. That isn't exactly the level of professionalism I'd trust for a significantly more sensitive situation like a transsexual....
Groundless stripping & groping normal innocent citizens who just want to fly isn't a power granted government.
Had the Founding Fathers imagined infringement of the right to vehicular travel, no question they would have included it in the Bill of Rights - and realizing they may have missed some, they DID include the catch-all 9th Amendment.
And they DID include an explicit denial of warrant-less searches by government agents, which is what this case is about.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
Funny you should mention California there and blame the Democrats for gun control. Check your history about Ronald Reagan and the Mulford Act.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
I'm not against these types of screenings at all. I would prefer them to pat downs or strip searches.
Lets face it. People have to be screened before the board a plane and I prefer the safety that these provide vs being a victim of someones terror. (being blown up, or being touched by a security officer)
Then refuse to be a victim YOURSELF. The authorities cannot (some would argue will not) stop every possible threat. If we can't keep drugs, shivs, shanks, cellphones, and zip guns out of prisons what makes you think we can stop threats with less than prison level security at airports?
Chap next you tries to light his shoes on fire? You punch him in the skull holler for help and don't stop until he stops being a threat.
Achmed starts acting funny and pulling something out of his ass? You do what you have to do to stop the threat.
Someone mugs you and seems to want more than your wallet? You fight, stab, kick, and shoot until he stops being a threat.
Fall down and get injured? You had damn well better be able to patch yourself up enough to get to where you can get professional help.
You may be comfortable being a victim and relying on centralized services to be there all the time and be omniscient. I am not.
Since when did your right to that comfy, warm, snuggly, "big-brother is watching out for you" feeling trump my right to privacy and freedom from unreasonable search? Don't like the risk of someone sneaking a weapon on board the airplane? Don't fly. Flying on an aircraft isn't a right...
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?