TSA: Perv scanners now fully banished from US airports The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it has completed the process of removing all security scanners capable of creating detailed images of passengers' bodies from US airports. By Congressional mandate, all scanners using so-called advanced imaging technology (AIT), which rendered fliers' nude bodies in …
It means that the unattractive majority can go through without turning the stomachs of the unfortunate operators, but the pervs still on duty can get their jollies with the aforementioned "test" button (I wonder whether the (in-the-)raw images get saved when you hit "test", or the outline-with-icon one). No prizes for guessing why the Paris icon...
Cynical, moi?
Oh come on now. That wouldn't have worked. When's the last time you saw a politician spend that kind of cash on something with actual use to the actual population? Those big numbers are ONLY for useless stuff.
Cause that's all your money is to these people. Big numbers with no actual humans behind them.
You should be right. I wish you were right. (i.e. don't shoot the messenger)
Sadly nobody* is actually worried about the body count. They are only worried about the perceived body count.
Some would argue that the public gets what it asks for. Others would say the public gets what the media asks for. Either way the politicians will spend money on whatever ups their profile in the public eye.
* there are a small number who care.
You don't even need to spend the money on roads. There was a study that claimed the increase in driving due to hijack fears/security hassles already upped the death toll significantly.
The more worrying one is the increase in food contamination/poisoning since the food safety inspectors came under DHS and were reassigned from checking food plants to searching for terrorists.
Correct. Because of the fear of flying after 9/11 Americans took to the roads. The increase in road deaths was more than the number who died in 9/11 it's self. The real victory for terrorists was the road deaths, not the 9/11 deaths. Americans basically killed themselves in Al Qaeda's behalf.
"Because of the fear of flying after 9/11 Americans took to the roads."
Actually it's not "fear of flying" it's "bloody ANNOYANCE with flying."
Pros for road trips: Plenty of legroom, no screaming babies, your choice of good meals when you want them, no luggage charges, not being rootered by the TSA or having luggage go missing. Stops to stretch legs and kick some footbag, check out interesting roadside things. Car rental and fuel cheaper than air tickets and doesn't rack up miles on our car. Choice of music on a good system instead of earplugs. Carry more than 4 ounces of shampoo in original bottles, nail clippers, and other deadly items without hassle.
Cons for road trips: Takes 50% longer to get there. Can't drive over water (where's my flying car, already?).
Nobody much is afraid of terrorists in the air except misguided politicians. Nope, we're simply avoiding the unpleasantness that is modern air travel.
A: "You don't even need to spend the money on roads [in order to reduce unnecessary deaths]."
B: "There was a study that claimed the increase in driving due to hijack fears/security hassles already upped the death toll significantly."
Can somebody please explain how statement A has any relation whatsoever to statement B? As far as I can tell they have precisely the opposite general theme.
C: "The more worrying one is the increase in food contamination/poisoning since the food safety inspectors came under DHS and were reassigned from checking food plants to searching for terrorists."
The more worrying what? Has this got anything to do with the article? Why are we jumping wildly between unrelated and dubious facts? What are you on?
Then other people came along and said that they agree with this comment...? What exactly do they think they are agreeing with?
(Walks away shaking head)
They didn't provide additional safety worth the hazard of being irradiated by an undisclosed amount of X-Rays. For the machines to show as detailed images as they were, the radiation hazard was much higher than claimed. It wasn't too cool that they not only didn't provide dosimetry to the TSA manning the machines, but actually discouraged its use.
It's only prudishness if your a TSA employee who got the job first come first hired with no background check whatsoever and wants to get their own custom porn for free. To everyone else who has to deal with these unvetted monkeys it's only a welcome bit of sanity.
I wonder if anyone has done a study of how many lives have been saved by the TSA? IE Actually catching terrorists getting on planes, the role they were created for.
Not criminals on warrants, not drug smugglers, actual terrorists
I suspect the answer is "not many."
Actually that was one of the key points of getting rid of the scanners. They statisically proved that the scanners cause more cancers (because you are regularly radiating a large population of people) than people die from terrorist attacks. Bruce Schneier is a great and logical read on the subject.
The TSA was nothing more than a kick back scheme. Reenforcing the plane doors was all it has taken to prevent another 9/11.
The biggest thing I wish more people did was write to there politicans and actually took note of how they voted.
"Reenforcing the plane doors was all it has taken to prevent another 9/11."
Cockpit doors were already strong enough to stop the terrorists (and the people trying to stop them, as it turned out). They're of no use whatsoever if the flight crew open them because the hijackers are killing people in the passenger cabin.
The biggest change since 9/11 is that passengers won't sit still and let a hijack continue - but that is strictly a western thing, because chinese passengers have been known to kill attempted hijackers since the 1980s (in one case a businessman bludgeoned a hijacker to death with his mobile phone, because he was furious that he'd be late to his destination)
The terrorists won, by providing an excuse for the state to curb our liberties and surveill us for no good reason. We're only a couple of minor steps away from the way things were in the old eastern bloc in a number of areas. (And for all that americans rave about their freedoms, they are some of the most restricted people in the western hemisphere)
"max dead = ~350
open the doors, max dead = ~3,500"
Actually rather more if they'd got to the Pentagon, which United 92 targeted.
But it gets very hard when you have to put into practice the principle that "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
« chinese passengers have been known to kill attempted hijackers since the 1980s (in one case a businessman bludgeoned a hijacker to death with his mobile phone, because he was furious that he'd be late to his destination) »
And then people wonder why the Chinese are taking over the business world. That's quite the attitude, that is. :)
[ Wonder what would have happened if he found out the Captain was flying on a low cost index ]
"Bruce Schneier is a great and logical read on the subject."
True. He really should have been allowed to testify before congress, but the TSA got him blocked from doing so because he was involved in a lawsuit pertaining to the machines. I assume they didn't notice the irony.
But until such an evaluation is done the USG can claim "We don't know."
It might also be interesting to find out how many peoples address and credit card details have been stolen from the membership lists of people on "fast track" clearance schemes whose details were held on laptops stolen from inside the secure employees only area of airports.
And how much stuff has been stolen as a result.
The shoe bomber and underpants bomber were caught. Granted it was long after they had boarded and the flight was aloft but it does indicate they aren't really interested in taking the plane anymore just blow it up to grab some splashy headlines and prove they beat TSA. Of course they probably get more headlines if they fail to blow it up since they can milk it for months instead of just a quiet NTSB announcement some time later.
Sorry, the answer is not "not many." The answer is "zero."
In fact, the TSA goons have a negative rate of saving lives. Just ask Rigoberto Alpizar's family. You can't ask Rigo himself because the TSA killed him and then concocted a scenario to excuse themselves.
This would be why my $1600 airfare from the US to the UK this year includes $800 of security fees, taxes and fuel surcharges. In America our government feels obligated to protect us from the remote chance of terrorist activity ... and charge us for it.
Unfortunately you're far more likely to be shot by some nutcase in the US who's off his meds than by a terrorist.
"Unfortunately you're far more likely to be shot by some nutcase in the US who's off his meds than by a terrorist."
True.
But you will be shot by an American nutcase, probably with an American mfg'd gun bought in the US.
And Americans, (or at least the American gun mfg's who sponsor most of the NRA) are happy* with that state.
*except of course the victims of the (roughly) 1 mass shooting a year that's taken place in the US since 1983. But they're dead, so they don't count.
This debacle is costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. So who is the genius at TSA who said “Let’s take naked pictures of people and their kids” and who is getting fired for buying these things in the first place?
If you want to express your disgust with TSA and this costly violation of your privacy you have a few weeks left by posting your comment at www. regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=TSA-2013-0004-0001 (remove space after www.)
Are foreigners allowed to comment?
I used to be a moderately frequent visitor to the US, mostly business, occasionally pleasure.
I've not been to the US for a while. Specifically, not since any pleasure (or even business value) in the trip was outweighed by the pain of the security theatre (at both ends, US and UK). Apparently you can't even clear US Immigration in Ireland (Shannon?) to avoid the queue at the US end, like I used to in happier times.
That's my comment.
« That's my comment. »
And mine is, I have been avoiding the US since 2001, not even for transits (which are apparently the same hassle as actually trying to get into the bloody place). Only the Brazilians manage to be anywhere near as arsey.
Nice people, don't get me wrong, but their borders need some rethinking to say the least.
This post has been deleted by its author
“I’m a police officer. I help train other police officers. When we search someone, we assume that the person who searches us may have a knife or something else they can use to harm us, so we search properly. And yes, this means that you have to take a firm grip of somebody’s groin, yes, this means that you search even the parts that are less comfortable to have searched, and yes, this means that you’re probably going to incur a couple of sexual harassment accusations along the way.” I nodded at the security guard who had searched me. “This fellow here did by far the most useless search I have ever been subjected to, and if I wanted to, I could have smuggled half a dozen knives onto the flight. I don’t have a problem with being searched at all – in fact, if you guys think it’s necessary, I’d be the first to admit that I look a little bit suspicious before I’ve had my first cup of coffee in the morning – but if you’re going to stroke me gently in front of hundreds of people, you’d better buy me a fucking drink first, is all I am saying.”
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/10/search-me/
Long before these millimeter wave devices were even designed, Sandia National Laboratories found that millimeter wave radiation cause DNA mutations in vivo.
That was brushed under the rug as the scanners were ordered by a man who had interest in the company that was the prime vendor and the fact that explosives cannot be detected at all by the device, only a strange void, such as a diaper.
Honestly, this bullshit makes me sorry I wasted nearly 28 years of my life defending the nation. We've begun the process whose end point was fully described in Nineteen Eighty Four.
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