X-ray backscatter security scanners

[Biciclista]

ps opting for a private room would make it WORSE for me too!

[KnottedYet]

I fly probably once every month or two.

Every time I've told the dude who checks ID (before the screeners) that I've had skin cancer and cannot go through the backscatter, he (or she) has directed me to the line with only a metal detector. I've never been asked to show my surgery scars or any other "proof." (though I'm ready to whip off my shirt if anyone wants to see them) I've offered to go through the "medical needs" line, but I've never been directed there.

I've only been patted-down once.

The pat-down itself was not that bad. Roxy, I've got issues, too. Therapy helped me a lot for things like pat-downs and medical exams. Consider asking your doctor for a prescription for a couple valium pills. I've used them before the kind of things that do set me off, and they work great. Just enough to take the edge off but no sense of inebriation or being spacey. I couldn't tell I'd taken anything, other than the fact that I didn't have a panicked freak-out like I'd expected. People with me can't tell I've taken anything, either.

I like valium. You can get a prescription for only 1 or 2 pills. You don't even have to take them. Just knowing you have them if you need them is a huge relief.

[Pax]

Roxy - In a former life I was a LEO and have done thousands of pat downs; done properly it's very quick and professional. The groin touch (if done) is to check for a "padded feel" so it's just a light bump with the side of the hand. An officer who does dozens of these a day should be VERY smooth and quick.

I actually did a demonstration speech in my college speech class, showing how they're done. People were amazed at how minimal the touching part was.

[channlluv]

Well, I woke up practicing what I would say to the pat down agent, just like ny biker suggested, and I feel better about it today.

It just occurred to me that I have no trouble getting naked for my sports therapy massages. Those aren't invasive, though, and my perception of these pat downs is that they're invasive. So I need to change my perception.

This woman is just doing a job. That's all it is. Although, Pax, some of the YouTube videos I watched seemed a little excessive on the rubbing.

Knot, thank you for the suggestion of telling the ID checker about my history of skin cancer. I can for sure do that. And I will check with my doctor about the valium. I've taken it before for dental work. I get wiggy in that chair, too.

Jess, congrats on getting through the machine without setting them off. Is that part of the therapy, getting stronger so the metal rods and such aren't as detectable?

pll, I'm going to ask the agent to change her gloves, too.

What do you guys think about the violation of our Fourth Amendment Rights to no unreasonable searches of our persons? I've been doing a lot of reading the last couple of days online and there's a lot of outrage about it, but it doesn't seem like anyone can do anything about it. I've written one real-mail letter to Barbara Boxer (my Senator), one email to the White House comment line, and one phone call to a sympathetic but unmoving TSA agent through their national contact line.

What has to happen for these machines and enhanced pat downs to go away? Is our collective ego so big that we can't take a lesson on security from Israel?

Is this really what the Nazis did to the German people before they started carting off whole neighborhoods to the internment camps? I read that somewhere. I can't remember where.

Someone on the boards here said something about our own government terrorizing us more than Al Queda ever dreamed. There's a lot of truth in that.

Roxy

[Trek420]

Is this really what the Nazis did to the German people before they started carting off whole neighborhoods to the internment camps? I read that somewhere. I can't remember where.

No, it's really not.

Oy . As the child and grandchild of survivors I feel one shouldn't compare anything with the Holocaust other than other genocide.

I personally feel atrocities like the Sudan, the killing fields of Cambodia, the decimation of Native American peoples are the same. Numbers may be less or even more such as the numbers killed during Stalin's Russia.

Others feel passionately that nothing should ever be compared to the Holocaust and that doing so trivializes the death of over 6 million killed because of who they were.

I'm sure we feel as I do that we should know history so we never forget and never let this happen again. I recommend you start with a reliable source and not some forum. You'll never learn anything on a forum I recommend starting:

http://www.ushmm.org/genocide/

[OakLeaf]

we should know history so we never forget and never let this happen again

... and an important part of that is not forgetting the other 5-7 million people killed by the Nazis ...



/hijack

[pll]

Roxy: You do not need to tell the TSA folks anything about your health. You can opt out without explanation. At least in O'Hare, there are prominent signs stating you may opt out of the back scatter. I opt out not because of a health issue, but because I do not trust the TSA to competently maintain and handle those machines. In a hospital, they are attended to by specialists and not used nearly as frequently. The TSA won't even allow their personnel to wear the badges that track their exposure to radiation.

It may help to crack a joke if you are apprehensive. I don't find the pat down particularly invasive. The TSA person always tells you what she is about to do, and does it quickly. Not the most comfortable event ever, but a lot less invasive than most doctor/dentist visits.

[channlluv]

No, it's really not. ...

I'm sure we feel as I do that we should know history so we never forget and never let this happen again. I recommend you start with a reliable source and not some forum. You'll never learn anything on a forum I recommend starting:

http://www.ushmm.org/genocide/

Thank you, Trek, for your understanding. I certainly meant no offense, but I think you know that. Thanks for the directions, too, to the appropriate source material. I've realized that people who are trying to express something with great passion tend toward the bombastic in comparing their drama with other historical events of much greater magnitude. I'm sorry I let that seep into my post.

I appreciate all the other good points made and opinions shared, too.

I do love the variety on this board.

Roxy

[pll]

Hmm Snap... Borderline. Something like that won't help those who are anxious about these pat downs and looked for reassurance in this very thread.

[Veronica]

Is our collective ego so big that we can't take a lesson on security from Israel?

Given the numbers of people who travel here in the US I suspect we would need to get to the airport a DAY or two ahead of our flights to get interviewed by the well trained agent to see if we are terrorists.


And how many well trained agents would there need to be at every airport? How much money are those well trained agents going to get paid yearly? What funds are going to be used to pay them?

Israel as a country is like 1/10 the size of California. How many major airports do they have? Fewer than California I suspect.

What you are suggesting would be a huge undertaking and a massive financial burden on someone - either the travelers or the taxpayers.

Veronica

[OakLeaf]

I don't think opposition to racial profiling - or other profiling based on appearance - has anything to do with "ego."

It does seem to me that people profiled as most likely to be terrorized, not terrorists - in particular elderly white females - are disproportionately selected for extra screening. I could go on about why I think that's the case ...

[Veronica]

Are those just the ones that get written up in the news though?

I am sure, as with every profession, there are icky people. But to just assume that they are all icky... That's like saying all teachers are in it for the three months off and because they couldn't a real job. All lawyers are scumbags and ambulance chasers. All IT people are geeks and can't get a date.

We know those generalizations aren't true. Teachers only get two months off.

Veronica

[pll]

Given the numbers of people who travel here in the US I suspect we would need to get to the airport a DAY or two ahead of our flights to get interviewed by the well trained agent to see if we are terrorists.


And how many well trained agents would there need to be at every airport? How much money are those well trained agents going to get paid yearly? What funds are going to be used to pay them?

Israel as a country is like 1/10 the size of California. How many major airports do they have? Fewer than California I suspect.

What you are suggesting would be a huge undertaking and a massive financial burden on someone - either the travelers or the taxpayers.

Veronica

I beg to differ. The TSA tries to replace intelligence with mechanical checks and technology. TSA security protocols are entirely reactive: take the check on shoes or the liquids issue... Those backscatter machines were not free (they run at the tune of $100k to $200k per machine, not considering training and maintenance costs, assuming, even hoping, they spend on that at all). Perhaps that money, now lining some company's pockets, should have been used in training of the huge number of staff members the TSA already has in place. Or to train sniffer dogs. Instead of smart profiling, they terrorize people and they have the perpetual and misused threat of adding people to the no-fly list. Does anyone honestly feel safer since the TSA was created, seriously? Air marshals were a good idea -- I think that was an Israeli practice. Taking our shoes off, carrying ZIP lock bags... not so brilliant.

[emily_in_nc]

We are flying to Belize tomorrow morning (out of Charlotte), and I'll be interested to see if we get asked to do the backscatter x-ray. We haven't flown since the new regulations. If I am chosen to have the x-ray, I plan to opt out, as I've had so many x-rays in my life that I don't want any more radiation.

I don't think the pat-down will bother me, as long as it's done quickly and professionally. But it would be great not to have either. We'll see!