X-ray backscatter security scanners

[OakLeaf]

I would think anything with a chamois would raise the same issues as sanitary pads and incontinence products. Which I would think have to come off, since they just present as pads on the scanners, and they can't tell what's in them by touch. I wonder about breast cysts on a grope-down, too.

Someone outfitted in cycling gear probably looks so bizarre in an airport that they wouldn't fit any profile but isn't the plan to eventually put everyone through the X-rays?

[jessmarimba]

I missed this whole thread yesterday b/c I spent most of the day flying.

I think this entire thing is bull...

What is to stop these hypothetical terrorists from just picking an airport that doesn't have scanners (many say on their websites if they do and what they have)? Or just choosing the lane that doesn't have one? DIA (Denver) has, at the security checkpoint I went to, just two scanners (wave millimeters, not x-ray). Once the guy checks your ticket you could pick from 6 lanes, so I picked one without the machine. Austin-Bergstrom Int'l didn't have them at all. Even if people DON'T get patted down, those machines take way longer than metal detectors, and I keep ending up with weird anomalies and getting felt up anyway. Also overheard from a woman in the bathroom, if you have your period and you're planning to fly, don't go with a pad. It comes up as a red flag and makes the pat-down a huge pain.

BTW, I think the x-ray machines are the ones with the flat panels - the wave mm are the ones where you stand in the circular transporter thing and the walls circle around you.

I hope they reinstate the process that allows people to pay for a massive background check to get clearance to skip all of this crap.

[pumpkinpony]

Also overheard from a woman in the bathroom, if you have your period and you're planning to fly, don't go with a pad. It comes up as a red flag and makes the pat-down a huge pain.

That brings some nasty thoughts to mind. Would they make you take it out and show it to them, right there in public?

[Irulan]

We should all just fly naked.

[Norse]

We should all just fly naked.

But according to the SD article posted by pumpkinpony, TSA doesn't like that either. They INSIST on groping/molesting you or taking a naked picture of you. This is all so stupid anyway and will not prevent a single terrorist attack. Question: How many acts/potential acts of terrorism as TSA prevented? Answer: A big fat ZERO! The terrorists ARE laughing at us. They have succeeded in having our own government take away our rights and dignities.

[Tri Girl]

agreed, NG!

[tongue_tied]

I fly from O'Hare all the time. Several times a year. Never have had to go through the x-ray machine. Always wear a thumb ring, watch, and bra with underwire through security. *knock wood* Always get through without setting anything off.

HOWEVER, at a much smaller airport in Asheville, NC, I practically had to take every single thing off.

[OakLeaf]

Would they make you take it out and show it to them, right there in public?

You have a right to a private screening (but they'll probably hassle you if you ask for one), and reportedly they've made breast cancer survivors take off their bras and show them their prostheses.

As I posted before, same thing with incontinence pads ... which people don't even have the option of using something internal the way menstruating women do ...

[zoom-zoom]

You have a right to a private screening (but they'll probably hassle you if you ask for one), and reportedly they've made breast cancer survivors take off their bras and show them their prostheses.

As I posted before, same thing with incontinence pads ... which people don't even have the option of using something internal the way menstruating women do ...

But wouldn't tampons and menstrual cups also show as anomalies? Seriously, this is starting to really p!ss me off. I fly to Vegas a week from this Friday and back the following Tues. At this point it is likely I will have my period when I leave. Now I don't know how to deal with that. Last thing I want is to have to remove a tampon or menstrual cup in front of anyone. No one should lose their right to privacy during an already miserable situation.

[MomOnBike]

I'm kind of sensitive to this for many reasons:

1) Whatever happened to the 4th Amendment? You know, the one that says:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

(bold mine)

This seems like a textbook case of unreasonable search of my person. Any legal beagles here that have an opinion?

2) I just finished radiation for breast cancer, blast it all. I really don't want or need any more.

3) Speaking of radiation, people are getting radiation in their reproductive organs. This cannot be good for eggs, sperm or developing fetuses.

4) I am not a touchy-feeley type of person. I don't have any desire to be groped. Nor do I wish my daughters to be groped. If I had sons, I wouldn't want strangers messing with their intimate parts. Just. Don't. Touch. Me.

</rant>

Sigh. We bought tickets to Seattle before this was announced. I really want to see my daughter, so I will go, but this will be the absolutely last time I fly.

I'm so old that I remember when we used to feel sorry for the poor Russians because they didn't have the freedom to travel at will in their own country. My right to travel has just been curtailed. I really don't like it. (Hmmm, I guess my rant wasn't quite over, sorry)

[GLC1968]

I'm kind of sensitive to this for many reasons:

1) Whatever happened to the 4th Amendment? You know, the one that says:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

(bold mine)

This seems like a textbook case of unreasonable search of my person. Any legal beagles here that have an opinion?

2) I just finished radiation for breast cancer, blast it all. I really don't want or need any more.

3) Speaking of radiation, people are getting radiation in their reproductive organs. This cannot be good for eggs, sperm or developing fetuses.

4) I am not a touchy-feeley type of person. I don't have any desire to be groped. Nor do I wish my daughters to be groped. If I had sons, I wouldn't want strangers messing with their intimate parts. Just. Don't. Touch. Me.

</rant>

Sigh. We bought tickets to Seattle before this was announced. I really want to see my daughter, so I will go, but this will be the absolutely last time I fly.

I'm so old that I remember when we used to feel sorry for the poor Russians because they didn't have the freedom to travel at will in their own country. My right to travel has just been curtailed. I really don't like it. (Hmmm, I guess my rant wasn't quite over, sorry)

The argument is that you give up that right when you opt to get on an airplane. It's not all that different than giving up the right to bear arms on an airplane.

I'm really torn about this whole issue.

I know that the terrorists are totally laughing at us. Hell, most of the world is laughing at us...terrorists or not. This procedure is not doing anything but potentially making the public FEEL that flying is safer than it really is. And yes, both machines (backskatter and mmwave) pose potential health dangers.

On the opposing side, flying is not a right, it's a privilage and as such, is subject to certain terms...and those terms can change as the industry sees fit. Again, not all that dissimiliar to getting a licence in order to drive... I don't like it, but then, I don't have to fly, either. But of course, TSA is not really the 'industry' but a function of the government and that's where my greatest frustration lies.

[jessmarimba]

I don't find flying for work a privilege. I find it a pain in the...ask. I will happily drive anywhere I can for vacation.

But seriously - it would take some government minion about 5 seconds to google enough about me to know where I am about 95% of the time, know all of my acquaintances, and probably track down my flight patterns. I'm obviously not in cahoots with any terrorist organization. If you want me to feel safer flying, show some indication that you're putting some thought and effort into your security measures.

The TSA to me seems to be the (typically American) Wal-Mart approach to security.

[shootingstar]

Somehow I get this powerful feeling that U.S. federal security checks are abit different than Canadian process for each country's respective domestic flights.

What I have noticed are (seemingly) random selected passengers at the Canadian airports where I've been this year several times over a span of 7 months, is that some individuals are checked more thoroughly with a hand-held scanning device which is presumably is more sensitive than full-body scanning. All passengers get the full-body scan anyway as we walk under the um....x-ray arch security scanniing gate.

[badgercat]

This blogger (who had the advantage of plenty of free time) managed to avoid both the backscatter and the pat-down: http://noblasters.com/post/1650102322/my-tsa-encounter

[blackhillsbiker]

I'm with MomOnBike. There's cancer in my family history, and I have touch issues! I'd be more than willing to submit to a background check. They can go through my luggage with a fine-toothed comb, and I would wear lycra if that would help. Given the choice, I'd probably still take the scanner. The prospect of being touched all over by a stranger is more than I could take.

Deb