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TSA Body Scanner Opt-out No Longer Guaranteed (slashgear.com)

codguy writes: Up to now, airline passengers have been able opt out of the TSA's Advanced Imaging Technologies (AIT) whole body scanners, and request a physical pat-down for their security check. But ProPublica journalist Julia Angwin points out that a rule change on December 18, 2015 now allows the TSA to compel some passengers to use these scanners instead of giving them a pat-down. The updated rule says, "While passengers may generally decline AIT screening in favor of physical screening, TSA may direct mandatory AIT screening for some passengers," (PDF source). Of course, the criteria for when this can happen is completely unspecified, and one can easily imagine them abusing this by deciding to compel anyone who requests a pat-down to go through the scanners for some reasonable cause from their perspective. Guilty until proven innocent?

8 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Hyberbole much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Jerk. This is like saying if you don't like a law, leave the country. Wanting to go see grandma does not equal wanting to get skin cancer and nowhere on an airline ticket does it say you will be forced to endure radiation and the sharing of nude photographs with TSA perverts.

  2. Re:Hyberbole much? by BostonPilot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At first I was going to flame you a bit for saying that by purchasing a ticket I'm waiving my rights to not be unreasonably searched. But I'm really just tired of the whole police state thing. I just won't fly commercial. It won't change anything - there are too few people who are willing to be inconvenienced in order to preserve our rights, so Police State wins, I lose.

    I'm really tired of this crap.

  3. Re:Just build a wall, ok? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just build a wall, ok?

    Get it over with.

    The wall is already built. You'd have to be batshit crazy insane to want to go to the US of A.
    It is in all but name a technological dictatorship predicated on the worship of the dollar.
    As for the whole thing about freedom, land of brave, american dream etc... it never meant anything at all.

  4. Re: Hyberbole much? by armada · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm with you. I have been opting out since day one. Should I be required I will simply, and calmly refuse. If they do not allow me and my family to board then I will demand a refund from the airline since I agreed to a screening but not an irradiated, 95% failure rate one. They will have to issue a refund or book me on a later flight. If not, I will issue a chargeback on my card and sue them and the TSA, and FAA, for any damages. If enough of us stand up there is a chance, if everyone continues to be spineless sheep then we are screwed. Disney just installed metal detectors at parks, work that one out and you will see where we are headed as a society. Stand the hell up for yourself and others!

    --
    "This message was sent from an Apple //GS"
  5. Re:Hyberbole much? by kilfarsnar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Guilty until proven innocent?"

    No, not at all. You waive your rights when you purchase your ticket, which is a voluntary act. By purchasing your ticket, you are agreeing to the conditions attached to it, which include submitting to a search. If you don't want to be searched, don't buy a ticket, and find another way to travel.

    Oy. I really can't stand this argument. Yes, it's voluntary; just like having a bank account and a computer and a credit card and a job and a home are all voluntary. Maybe when people buy houses they should all be required to have surveillance cameras installed. Buying a home is voluntary, so if people don't like being watched they are free to simply not buy a house. Why not just search everyone walking down the street? After all, it's completely voluntary to walk down the street. No one is forcing you are they?

    But what am I to do to visit my aunt in France? Should I take a steamship? What if I'm flying for business and I don't want to go through the scanner? Should I quit my job? I mean, having a job is voluntary right? No one is forcing me to keep my job. The thing is, while many things are technically voluntary, they are also required to participate in the modern world. That's why the voluntary nature of these things is irrelevant. The point is whether these rules are proper and constitutional. I happen to think not. I know the Supreme Court has removed my rights at border crossings. But I don't have to like or agree with it. That, after all, is voluntary.

    --
    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  6. Re:A pat-down won't find an SD card, body scan wil by kilfarsnar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A pat-down probably won't find an SD card with encrypted data -- a body scan probably would.

    What's your point? I have several SD cards that are encrypted. They're in my laptop bag and get scanned every time. Why would I try to hide them? They're not illegal.

    They're encrypted. Just give it time.

    --
    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  7. Re:ive kept similar rules for travel. by mrchaotica · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Returning to LA from Ohio on a business trip I was detained after an explosives detector found something on my hands. I was led to a small concrete room with two bluecoats and my carry-on was privately searched. I explained a bar of soap, and they packed everything as they found it and sent me on my way. Another time, I decided to exit the very tedious screening line to get a beer at an adjacent microbrewery in the portland airport. Big mistake. I was detained by police and questioned for leaving the line. I told them the line was boring, and I wanted beer. After refusing to answer a few questions about religion and my laptop password, my laptop was confiscated and i was free to return to the pub. I rescheduled my flight, shared a laugh with the bartender, and re-entered the line only to be followed by the cops again to my gate. My laptop was returned, along with an apology and some rambling nonsense about muslims. They didnt crack a smile until I asked how many beers the average muslim drinks in a day.

    Wait a second, you call that kind of jackbooted totalitarian shit productive? What the fuck is wrong with you?!

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  8. Re:Just build a wall, ok? by rtkluttz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Exactly. The USA has lost. I went to an NFL game and had to have all my shit searched. I protested as an American. Any idiot knows (which means most of America is BElOW idiot status) that it is just security theater. Any terrorist with bad intentions would get more victims detonating in the packed security line than they EVER would detonating inside the stadium. The stadium spreads everyone out and the traffic jam they create to finger our asses puts us way closer together just asking for it. It is just security theater designed to make the dumb ass public feel warm and fuzzy while we give up our constitutional rights to have our ass fingered. I though America was about doing the right thing not being scared little dumbasses who won't help Syrians in need because some of the are terrorists with bad intentions. Hell some of US are terrorists with bad intentions. Help people, don't give up your freedoms for the illusion of security have a damn spine like a real American. Get a spine and realize there are only 2 choices. Let the government be worse than the terrorists EVER could be or accept that not giving up your freedoms means we have to accept that an occasional terrorist is going to get through. It cannot be stopped 100% with ANY amount of loss of freedom so why give up any that our family lines fought and died to protect. Our government uses terror more than the terrorist do... just to a different end, and that is to control the sheeple who want warm fuzzies.

    --
    Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.