Slashdot Mirror
The Ineffectiveness of TSA Body Scanners - Now With Surveillance Camera Footage
McGruber writes "Jonathan Corbett, the subject of the earlier Slashdot Story: 'The Ineffectiveness of TSA Body Scanners,' has an update for us. His video showing him wandering through a nude body scanner with undetected objects is now complete with the feeds from TSA's security cameras at the checkpoint."
How'd he get the security camera footage?
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
Lol, nice. Of course the software the L3 scanners use doesn't show any 'nude' pics anymore, the TSA just gets the warning from the software if it thinks there is a weapons with a generic outline of a human form with an arrow. They used to keep the nude images in a remote room but the last software release I am aware of ditched that too. Ironically, when the software was updated the worry was that it would be less effective and it seems they might be correct. However, were I planning to smuggle something on the plane myself I would hardly count on the scanner not picking it up.
I mean America was always kind of overrated but Sept. 11th really finished it off. Now the constitution is just an annoying old scroll that congress has to work around rather than an important document to be valued and upheld.
After watching the original video some months ago, I had my first confrontation with the nude body scanners in May. I initially wasn't sure if opting out would be easy or hard, but when I saw the woman in front of me (with a toddler in her arms) have the cardboard cutout in front of the "out of service" metal detector moved, I thought "Well, it's just as easy as asking for that."
However, when I requested to not use the scanner, I wasn't allowed to walk through the metal detector despite asking for it (it worked; I saw the lights flashing on it). I was told to wait where I was for a pat down. When the TSA worker walked me to the screening area, he politely told me what he was going to do before he did it, and proceeded to feel along my arms, waistline and chest/back. However, when he went to do my legs, he went straight up from my ankles to my crotch, squishing my genitals into my perineum (I was wearing loose sports shorts). I jumped up a flash of panic, and he told me to stay still, because he was going to do it again on the other leg!
I've traveled across the globe and gone through many security processes (including Israel, where I was subjected to a strip search), and this was by far the most invasive, mortifying experience I've ever had. I found myself sitting by my gate feeling ashamed of what just happened, and suddenly I I understood where those cheesy-seeming accounts of molestation/fondling victims really come from. I've never understood, until now, just how it feels to be groped unwillingly, and how those emotions feel exactly as they are described by sexual assault victims. It's a sick feeling you get in your stomach when someone does something to you without your permission, and you are helpless to stop them. I learned that from the TSA.
I'm not comparing the magnitude of my experience to those of rape victims or children that have been abused, but just the fact that going through a security screening at an American airport jars memories of those horror stories is enough for me to take action and support Jonathan Corbett's cause, and I hope you do, too. The TSA has other methods for security, and is choosing to continue with these naked pictures/shameful patdowns despite public outcry, and it wouldn't be American to not do something about it.
I have gone through TSA's rigamarole before the pat down/body scan. Let me tell you those scans of your carry on - they're pretty much useless. I had blades, screwdrivers, wire, circuit boards and a 1lb bag of Peanut M&M's go though without a hitch.
Within the past two months I accidentally:
- Flew with a pack of fireworks (forgot I had them in one of my bags). Opted out of being irradiated and got swabbed for the explosive detector machine. Nothing.
- Flew with a non-disposable safety razor with spare blades. Disposables are OK, but the ones with the removable blades are not, with good reason. They are just a step down from boxcutters used on 9/11. My carry-on got X-rayed, and i guess they didn't see them.
I think there must be a better approach to airline security.
also, this from 1997:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1997/03/31/NEWS10592.dtl
Not that I necessarily doubt that the video is genuine and shows what it claims, but he went to all the trouble to execute this, record handheld video, obtain the security camera footage, and sync it all together, but he doesn't once show us what he is supposedly sneaking through, other than a mostly unidentifiable glance in the security footage. He should have kept his camera filming the whole time while he walked into the bathroom, went into a stall, and then pulled out what he showed the camera. As it is, this could just as easily be a hoax. That "object" we see in the security cam footage could just as easily be a piece of fabric
What is this guy trying to accomplish other than ensuring eventual double scanning?
It's like driving through a DUI/DWI checkpoint drunk to make a point. More checkpoints.. yay? I mean these things are supposed to be deterrents.
You can't cry "naked body scanning" and at the same time say that is not acting as a deterrent, right? What is the logic, someone can see my naked body in high def and count my pubes, but I can try to bring a prohibited item through anyway? Well, duuuuuuuuh, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to stop you. How much confidence did this guy really have, what was the metal object anyway?
You can watch any prison show and learn a million different ways to make a shiv out of stuff on hand, it's not like specifically stopping small hunks of metal are really worth much. BUT, thanks to this guy they'll probably make you walk through the metal detector in the video TOO, just so some asshole doesn't get too confident.
Did anyone find the video a little hard to watch? I understand the effort and it's a valiant one, but with trying to watch the videos to see whats going on and the creator going on at quite a brisk pace to his speech, I found it a little more then disjointed. Explain the video so I can REALLY tell what is going on in each step (the graphics are not really that explanatory) , then go on your rant of what the TSA refuses to fix about itself. Both together are a little confusing.
Can't the TSA just have the people scanned twice? The 1st scan has the person facing the scanner to get the view as shown in the videos, and then the 2nd scan with the person turned 90 degrees. This would make it much harder to get something through the scanner without it showing up. Of course the body is usually wider side to side than it is front to back, but looking at the different body types that go through the scanner now, I don't think that would be an issue for most people.
This method would take twice as long to process a person, but is still faster than a pat-down and more secure than a metal scanner. Better yet, place the metal scanner at the exit of the Body Scanner as well as using the 2 scan method and it would be all the more secure.
Am I the only one who's noticed that neither of his videos present any evidence that he actually walked through the scanner with the metal object? I am sure the system is not foolproof, but this guy has no evidence that he fooled it. Come on slashdotters, pay attention.
I hate the TSA as much as the next guy, but I watched the video twice and it doesn't show the guy defeating the scanners. It just shows him going through the x-ray.. It doesn't prove that he sneaked anything through...
This guy's smile is as frozen as the lady's on the delta pre-flight safety video.
Billions of dollars in technology thwarted by a $1 sewing kit probably made in China? I feel soooo much safer now.....
I am perfectly fine with body scanners. As long as all members of congress receive a full body cavity search before each session!! You know it's always a great idea to protect them and keep them safe. It's in the name of freedom. Let's call it the SB Ben Dover Bill.
Would you like Freedom Fries with that?
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Killing Bin laden and the few other head of disparate terrorism groups was only a Pyrrhic victory. The US slowly trend toward facism (especially in its promotion of violence and war) and lost its "bastion of freedom" shine (if it was ever anything but Fata Morgana). Now it is watched as disgust while it torture and slaughter civilians (yes no matter what word gaming you use, those terrorist are civilian and that is not even counting the "collateral damage" euphemism for "we slaughter innocent people and disguise it under a nice name so that the general public don't see the immediate impact of making up many family hating America)).
Protests are far more effective for getting changes enacted. Revolts, like we saw in the middle east last year, can produce change but they also result in many undesirable consequences. They are simply too destructive.
Interesting claim. I drew the opposite conclusion: Libya had a revolt, and was very effective at removing the oppressive government. Egypt had protests, and as of today, it seems that the Egyptian military (the real power all along) is going to be able to effectively stymie the whole "peaceful revolution" and retain power undemocratically. Bahrain had peaceful protests, and nothing's changed except their government just recently convicted & imprisoned some docs who were "guilty" of treating injured protestors.
It's unreasonable to expect that the entrenched interests will be willing to voluntarily cede power and the wealth they have accumulated. Libya may or may not emerge from their revolution as a healthy democracy, but one thing that can be said for certain is that Gaddafi and his supporters won't be hijacking their revolution.
Because they're dead.
It really is the only way to be sure.
It was quite effectively able to see him nude. Job done!
I case you missed it, there are several reports out that ask questions about the amount of radiation you're exposed to by those scanners - an issue that will rear its ugly head later when this radiation starts to cause health problems.
I'll have the pat-down, thanks. I may even ask them to do it again if I haven't managed to come during the process. After all, you are paying for it with your tax dollars, so you might as well get something out of it..
Because to be honest, I cannot tell the difference between the two parties which have a choke hold on American politics.
I wish there were third, fourth, and even fifth, viable political parties in the US. However it seems to me that the two who control it are more than happy to pass laws to prevent people from spending money on campaigns unless it is spent on them. Then to top it off they control most of the redistricting at the state level and where they don't do that directly they have sycophants in place.
Other party, I wish.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
There is no security. Between flights, planes are still cleaned by illegals.
The Keystone Cops have spent decades trying to stop people who just want to get high.
There is no way they will stop everyone who wants to die.
Maybe, just maybe, they should stop murdering children in other countries.
Meanwhile, every time I read another one of these stories all I can think about is Osama, grinning from beyond the grave and saying "mission accomplished".
'That goddamned piece of paper' as it was once referred to by Bush2. Or so I've read.
Get rid of the body scanners and pat downs? Great idea, lets just go back to where we were before and let terrorists just walk on board a plane with whatever bombs they feel like. Great idea! And don't give me the 'lets do the Israeli watch and profile' garbage. A single one of our airports does 4 times their volume per year. It just can't be done at that scale.
FFS the Aussies will be required to be microwaved from July 2012 on. Just wonderful. Let's see the Australian Prime Minister go through a Pornoscanner.
Meanwhile, from http://blog.tsa.gov/ , this is a classic:
"Always pack your expensive dive equipment and accessories in your carry-on luggage."
Why? Because if you pack it in your luggage it may not be there when you pick up your luggage on the other side.
Let's go another one:
"Always pack your dive computers and regulators in carry-on luggage because these items are sensitive and do not need to be tossed around under the plane by baggage handlers"
So, here the TSA is admitting to damaging customer luggage and luggage contents. Great.
and this little gem:
"Always pack any prescription masks with you in carry-on luggage. If you lose this item it could ruin your whole trip."
Yeah, if someone stolelife saving medicine from me because I got on a plane and was stupid enough to put it in my locked luggage because it will possibly be stolen by the TSA I'd be upset. Well done captain obvious.
Alright, let's go one more:
"Do not forget the most important item! Make sure you lock your baggage with a TSA approved lock. This will prevent anyone from removing items out of your dive bags. "
Meaning that only the TSA is allowed to steal from your bags..
Why does anyone put up with the TSA antics?
Seriously, why haven't 100+ people just walked into an airport with sledgehammers and "fixed" the pornoscanners?
What could the government do if everyone participated in the destruction of these machines?
This may not be entirely on-topic, but discussions of TSA agents and personal privacy tend to raise this question in my mind. There are some jobs where the people who most want the job are the people you don't want to have it. Arguably this may include anything in politics, for instance.
Regarding TSA pat-down or naked-scan agent, it occurs to me that the people who want that job are likely to be the people you don't want to have that job.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
all tsa "agents" need to be put on trial, like the nazis at nurenberg after world war 2!
even the tsa agents already in jail for other crimes should not be imune from facing charges for crimes against humanity!