Airport Body Scanners..

[Al_Davis 28]

Here in the USA, now that more and more "Real" Americans are subjected to the Body scans, there has been an out cry. Google,"If you touch my junk, Ill have you arrested" and you'll see for yourself. And now we're hearing of TSA, and other forms of that agency, abusing the use of machines. In London Heathrow, some security people copied and passed around images of a well known Indian actor. http://simurl.com/raptun . Another case took place in the states when a pilot was passing through security with his 18 year old daughter... http://simurl.com/zaplus . I knew this was going to happen. Question is, does it bother you? What should be done, if anything?

Edited November 22, 2010 by Al_Davis

[MM 6,562]

I just went through one for the first time at SFO last month, and it took a lot longer than the usual procedure of the metal detector.

 

The TSA guy kept telling me to hold my arms in the air, then said, empty your pockets.

 

I had no metal objects in my pockets. I had one of those plastic brushes for cleaning between your teeth.

 

Okay, back out and remove the plastic tooth cleaner. Back into scanner. Raise your arms (reminds me of being arrested at gun point).

 

Okay, take off your belt. As I exited and handed my belt to the guy (all leather with a small buckle), I stupidly said "so you think I have an exploding belt?". Luckily they didn't pick up on that, but it was getting annoying.

 

Once again into the scanner. Hold up your arms. I'm looking at the guy and said, "Why don't I just take off all my clothes, it'd be quicker". Finally, I got the go ahead.

 

I hate them. You didn't give a choice for that, so I didn't vote.

[nkped 1,208]

Flew out of SFO in July and all of the screeners in sight were from a private company rather than TSA. Their uniforms looked a lot like TSA but different badge and shoulder patch. I mention that because of the people in the U.S. who think they will get a less onerous security regime if their airport opts for a private security contractor instead of TSA.

[laffnliv 78]

I voted for the scanner. It pays to advertise..........

 

Little Roy

[The Jock Bomb 0]

If these stories are true it is a disgrace such a piece of equipment is in use. It is an even bigger disgrace security staff are using it for their own means. Quite obviously they saw a star and got him in the scanner.

 

We do need security at airports, that much is for sure, but many of the checks and restrictions do nothing for the safety of the flight. Much like the ban on liquids.

 

I voted for the scanner. It pays to advertise..........

 

Little Roy

[baht_miser 9]

I don't mind being scanned, if it will be quicker. Otherwise the pat-down is no big deal. I just want to get there. I hate going through security though.

[nidnoyham 30]

I used to get scanned every time I went to work at LHR. The scanners job is as boring as fuck. No offense. but it would drive anyone with a sense of ambition and job satisfaction crazy. It is easy work and S.E. Asians seem to cope doing it.

 

Workers witnessed the tighter screening year by year. From a plastic photo card to an electronic swipe card. From being allowed to carry a small knife, to not. Everyone working on air side aprons had to wear metal toe caps, so off went the alarm.

Blokes came in complaining about having their bollocks felt while being frisked. Your day could get a bad start, before you even clock on for work. ( no Villa, there aren't any vacancies )

 

This is something the entire planet will have to live with for ever. Not unlike the threat to out buses and trains, from our neighbours. It ain't going away, profiling passengers is not allowed- don't ask me why, so just count to ten....

 

Oh and don't say to an Agent " Do I look like a Terrorist ? " They have heard it a thousand times before and might just be in the mood to give you a hard time.

[joekicker 53]

I used to get scanned every time I went to work at LHR.

 

The backscatter "full frontal nudity" scanners are quite new and only even arrived at Heathrow for tests in January of this year. I doubt you got in one "every time [you] went" (past tense) to work. I've never heard of an airport using them for employees, seems weird as all getout. They are still in short supply and pretty well dedicated to passengers at almost every airport they're currently deployed.

 

.

[MM 6,562]

I received this email from the ACLU.

 

Dear ACLU Supporter,

 

Tell Secretary Napolitano to implement security measures that ensure passenger privacy.

 

 

Planning to fly this holiday season? You've probably already braced yourself for long lines, delays and extra fees just to check your luggage.

 

Unfortunately, you can also expect another hassle at the airport this year. 70 airports around the country are now using controversial body scanners—also known as "naked scanners." These machines use low-dose radiation to produce strikingly graphic images of passengers' bodies, essentially taking a naked picture as passengers pass through security checkpoints.

 

Yes, authorities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) say you can opt out of the naked scan. But doing so will subject you to new and highly invasive manual searches of your body, including your breasts, buttocks and inner thighs.

 

All of us have a right to travel without such crude invasions of our privacy. Tell DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to put in place security measures that respect passengers' privacy rights.

 

The government is also violating travelers' privacy in another way: by searching and seizing the laptops and other electronic devices of international travelers. Never before in history have customs officers been able to routinely pour through a lifetime's worth of letters, photographs, purchase records and other data. This enormous invasion of privacy peers into people's lives in a way that has never been done before.

 

There's already an outcry building over all of these new searches. In fact, travelers and the ACLU have pushed back before against invasive screening, and the TSA quietly retreated back to a lighter touch. But if we want to stop these invasive practices, we've got to put our voices together.

 

Tell DHS to rein in these invasive, out-of-control searches and to implement security measures that ensure passenger privacy.

 

The ACLU has prepared a useful guide to help you navigate your options at the airport. It details ways to protect your privacy during air travel. It also describes how to file official complaints about any TSA trouble you encounter. View it here.

 

If you think your rights have been violated while you're traveling, please let us know about it. Just fill out this form online to share your story.

 

You shouldn't have to check your rights when you check your luggage. With the holiday travel season fast approaching, we need to make sure that security measures are in place that actually make us more secure without compromising passenger privacy.

 

Please write Secretary Napolitano today.

 

Thanks for speaking out,

 

If you do want to complain, go here

[joekicker 53]

If you do want to complain, go here

 

I'm going to complain at the airport. Every time. I'll take the full body grope. Of course not everyone is chosen - few are called, just 10 per cent I hear. Totally random. Why look for terrorists when you can employ tens of thousands of people in a huge bureaucracy with many chiefs and deputy chiefs all accumulating more power and benefits looking for weapons? Here, watch, I'm going to profile: That six-year-old kid dragging the Barbie bag is not a terrorist. Call me a racist, but she really, really isn't a hijacker. Six-year-old girls aren't strong enough to take over the cockpit, okay? There. I profiled. Sue me.

 

This is a typical case of a government agency digging in and becoming irreplaceable by become bigger and more authoritarian. These humourless TSA alleged "people" hired from the back of a pizza box have never-- and I want to emphasise that -- HAVE NEVER caught a terrorist. Not one. Not ever. I understand there has to be a show at every airport so that Auntie Em will think she's safe. Fine. Maybe total nut cases are deterred from carrying their pet bottle of gasoline into the airport (or maybe not). Fine. But the airport security theatre got ridiculous years ago. Any luck, this will be the tipping point, although I tend to doubt that they'll turn down the heat on us frogs in the pot, frankly.

 

You realise these things cost billions of dollars, right? And all they will do is maybe find the nail clippers the guy forgot to take out of his pocket, which the metal detectors and wands would find anyhow if they could find enough people for TSA able to be trained in using them. Tens of billions for machines to do what any semi-trainable monkey could do, really.

 

EDIT I finally found the ACLU guide to US airports referenced in Martins post. This page here has some text and also some PDF booklet links.

 

EDIT. Very cooL "My Ding-A-Ling" singalong

 

 

.

Edited November 21, 2010 by joekicker

[nidnoyham 30]

The backscatter "full frontal nudity" scanners are quite new and only even arrived at Heathrow for tests in January of this year. I doubt you got in one "every time [you] went" (past tense) to work. I've never heard of an airport using them for employees, seems weird as all getout. They are still in short supply and pretty well dedicated to passengers at almost every airport they're currently deployed.

 

.

 

I was not concerned with the type of scanner, more with the interaction between the scanner and the scanned. It is a potential flash point, that needs a certain amount of patience. Only you as the scanned, will be subjected to inconvenience if you start to mouth off. Death, taxes and security, are the non avoidable things in life.

[Al_Davis 28]

I was in Indianapolis airport heading to the beginning of security check. My friend and I were talking the entire time when a TSA asked me to "step over here please". As I looked to see were I was going, I could see he was going to send me through the body scanner. Why didnt they asked my buddy to come through the machine as well? So I go through and gather my stuff when I look behind me to see the next person going through was a very Hot blonde. Mid twenties, thin and a average size chest. I think I must have been the buffer so that it would not look so obvious that the TSA just wanted to see this chick naked. I have friends that work law enforcement and I know how they were in high school and if giving a chance to abuse this body scanning machine, they would.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Al_Davis

[MM 6,562]

EDIT I finally found the ACLU guide to US airports referenced in Martins post. This page here has some text and also some PDF booklet links.

.

 

That's a handy link. Thanks.

 

Fucking Nazis. It's time to push back on this invasion of our persons.

 

As you said, in all their history, they have never ever caught a terrorist. It's simply a way to cow the citizenry by a bureaucracy gone berserk.

[Lantern 193]

Loads of good info here.

 

http://www.schneier.com/

[joekicker 53]

I was not concerned with the type of scanner, more with the interaction between the scanner and the scanned.

 

What is going on the US and on the news right now is the "new" full-body, fully revealing backstatter machines. BECAUSE they are full frontal nudity, there is quite an uproar, and in order to try to control the masses, the airport security idjits have mandated that if you refuse the x-ray, then you WILL be fully, humiliatingly groped including ... well, everything. On Wednesday US time, the busiest single day of the flying year in the US, there will be a show of civil disobedience called Opt Out Day where all participants will insist on the time-consuming groping, in an effort to bring the waiting security lines to a virtual halt.

 

We'll see how that goes. Frankly, I hope it's a massive success and there are disruptions at every airport, and I only wish I could be flying in the US on that day to try to take part. There's no excuse for using these machines on the general public except as a high-spending, power-accumulating role for the bureaucracy. Nor is there any excuse at all for full-body groping of random passengers.

 

First they came for my shoes, and I was silent because I wore flip-flops......

 

As you said, in all their history, they have never ever caught a terrorist.

 

... out of 7 billion with-a-"b" attempts.

 

.

Edited November 21, 2010 by joekicker

[MM 6,562]

Good luck and god speed to those who opt out, miss their flights, get their privates manipulated, and take a stand for individual privacy.

[Al_Davis 28]

"..............First they came for my shoes, and I was silent because I wore flip-flops......" LMAO!

 

I feel the government should have consulted Israel on this matter. They seem to be the most hated people of the Muslims and they dont have these problems. Is it that they employ higher qualiity people to secure their airports? More intelligent but at the same time with enough common sence to see the nascar mother from the midwest and her 2 primary school daughters are no threat to anyone. In the mid to late 80's, at the height of drug smuggling, it was blacks and latinos being singled out and pulled aside. Now that America is fighting its fears and the threat of terrorisim by Muslims with a certain look about them, why cant we use those same rules of profiling as were done to the "brown" people? Hell, most those Blacks and Latinos were Americans where as Muhamed abdul ali Shakur hasim Al nasar and his fellow dance partners arent.

At first, I didnt mind the scanners but the more I think about it the more I realize whats been given up.

[joekicker 53]

Rub a lamp, Al. You've got more chance of Jason taking you to the Super Bowl. The thing is that this huge group of mostly mental midgets and rejected Wal-Mart applicants is specifically set up, specifically trained... well, ordered NOT to think or have common sense, let alone use it. That is one of the primary errors.

 

.

Edited November 22, 2010 by joekicker

[joekicker 53]

LATER:

[T]he Obama administration's top transportation security official on Monday urged passengers angry over safety procedures not to boycott airport body scans.

... With the Thanksgiving travel rush less than 48 hours away, (John) Pistole implored passengers Monday not to take delaying actions or engage in boycotts of body scans, actions he said would only serve to "tie up people who want to go home and see their loved ones." (AP)

 

Yeah, right. You stupid people, it's all YOUR fault, WE are going a bang-up job and YOU stupid airline passengers are just going to mess it up because you hate The Children ™.

 

No wonder airlines need barf bags.

[MM 6,562]

And after all I described in my last experience, the topping on the cake was when I looked over at the scanner operator, and she was laughing and holding two fingers an inch apart. Hey, it's shrinkage. It's cold in SF.

 

 

How can this stand?

[js007 795]

Last January, I was scanned by one of the full body scanners. The whole process took about 15 seconds. Then, I was on my way. What's the fuss?

[MM 6,562]

Last January, I was scanned by one of the full body scanners. The whole process took about 15 seconds. Then, I was on my way. What's the fuss?

 

The fuss is that I was held up in the scanner for a couple of minutes, where before there were scanners, I was through the metal detector in 5 seconds. Multiply that by the thousands of people going through the airport and you have a big backup.

 

It might get faster when everyone understands that absolutely everything in your pockets has to be emptied out, even plastic items...something I didn't know. I might get through faster now that I have been conditioned to sheepdom like they want.

 

Or, maybe you didn't have such a cunt operating the machine as I did.

 

See, the fact that you got through in 15 seconds does not negate the fact that many people are delayed by the new system, for whatever reason, nor does it eliminate the fact that they are looking at your private parts without your consent.

[MM 6,562]

From http://justgetthere.us/blog/archives/DISIN...ving-Color.html

 

How much are we willing to give up for safety?

 

It is important to stress that this is a low resolution image. Airport screeners will have access to huge high definition images that, once inverted, will allow them to see every minute detail of your body.

 

The inversion trick doesn’t work for all the sample images produced by body scanners, but with or without its application, every image will still show details of your sexual organs. Even without being inverted, the images already break child porn laws in the UK.

 

Reassurances that airport screeners won’t be abe to save the images will provide little comfort to parents who know that the crystal clear image of their naked son or daughter being ogled by a TSA thug can merely be snapped with a handheld camera for their enjoyment later.

 

Apologists for the scanners have routinely described the images they produce as “ghostly” or “skeletal” in an effort to downplay the intrusion of privacy they really represent.

 

As we reported yesterday, claims that the body scanners did not provide details of genitals were disproven after a London Guardian journalist who was present at a trial for the machines earlier this week reported that the devices produce an image which make “genitals eerily visible.”

 

German Security advisor Hans-Detlef Dau, a representative for a company that sells the scanners, admits that the machines, “show intimate piercings, catheters and the form of breasts and penises”.

 

Indeed, as was admitted when the scanners were first being rolled out over a year ago, they don’t function properly if areas of the body are blurred out.

 

A report from October 2008, when the naked body scanners were first being introduced at Melbourne Airport in Australia, detailed how the X-ray backscatter devices don’t work properly unless the genitals of people going through them are visible.

 

“It will show the private parts of people, but what we’ve decided is that we’re not going to blur those out, because it severely limits the detection capabilities,” said Office of Transport Security manager Cheryl Johnson.

 

“It is possible to see genitals and breasts while they’re going through the machine,” she admitted.

 

TV news reports have been deliberately misleading viewers by blurring out faces and genitals of people in images produced by the scanners. When it comes to the real thing, your sexual organs and those of your children will be on full display to officials sat alone in back rooms, and with a simple inversion trick, your daughter’s naked body in full living high definition color will be there to be enjoyed by screeners.

[jasonbalmer 2]

[Al_Davis 28]

Notice how the artist really made an effect to draw these two TSA employees as Gay as he possilbly could LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2010 by Al_Davis