I agree entirely with the author's cause and I believe that the guilty-until-proven-innocent mindset of present airport security is wrong and should be unconstitutional. However, upon reading the article I very much got the impression that the author was refusing to be scanned or searched just to make trouble. When asked why he was refusing to be searched, his answers (in his own writing) seemed to be along the lines…
Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
91–100 of 185 posts
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#92When you arrive from an international flight at Atlanta airport, you have to go through security to get out of customs because there is no direct exit out to the street. In other words, when you arrive and go through border control and customs, the only way to get out of the airport is to go through the other terminals. I wonder if the same applies at Cincinnati/N. Kentucky airport.
This makes a lot of sense. Had someone with authority said "Sir, unfortunately, the way the airport is laid out, you must enter the secured area of the airport in order to leave, and therefore we have to put you through our screening process." then there would be no trouble. Equally less troublesome would have been if the TSA had simply realized this and told the police "No problem, he's not connecting anywhere - ple…
He can still ask to be escorted through the secured area --- which is what seems to have happened.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#93Except he'll probably get a surprise $10k fine (civil lawsuit) a few months from now. For anyone else trying to prevent a gate-rape freedom-fondle, do not try the "less clothes" approach, this one ended with an arrest: http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&... There is also some documentation now that the scanners produce TWENTY times the claimed radiation level: http://holt.house.gov/index.php?opti…
> Except he'll probably get a surprise $10k fine (civil lawsuit) a few months from now. It's actually $11k apparently and I hope someone with the money, time and energy does get brought into one of these suits. I hope it happens soon so it can gain the media attention that this whole thing is getting right now. But considering this man was escorted out of the airport and told he is free to go, I can't see how they co…
It's actually $11k apparently and I hope someone with the money, time and energy does get brought into one of these suits.
I actually joined the ACLU recently precisely because they're the kind of organization with the deep pockets and infrastructure for running suits like this.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#94Kafkaesque to say the least
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#95For every idiotic law there will be a Rosa Parks. Now, of course there is a huge difference between state sponsored racism and the TSA policies but I'm very happy this guy decided to test the limits. If you have some spare time next time you land in a US airport ;)
>Now, of course there is a huge difference between state sponsored racism and the TSA policies
Is there? Now instead of disregarding the rights of a portion of the population, we're disregarding them 'equal opportunity' style.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#96Does anyone know why the TSA even gives you the choice to opt out of the backscatter machines? You can't opt out of the metal detectors. It seems like the default policy would be for the new machines to be mandatory as well.
It's a slow-boiling sort of thing. Here was their plan:
1) Implement the backscatter machines with a non-invasive opt-out. Most people won't opt-out, but those that do won't complain, because the opt-out is painless.
2) Now that you've had backscatter machines for nearly a year, make the opt-out much more invasive. The complainers will be seen as crazy, since the Backscatter has been something we've been tolerating for a year and people won't understand the difference between "normal patdown" and "invasive patdown"
3) Come 2012 or 2013 or so, Backscatter machines are deployed pretty much everywhere, the opt-out goes away entirely. Anyone who hates the Backscatter has either stopped flying due to the patdowns or already been broken in by punitive molestation and PR pressure.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't been through a TSA checkpoint when landing in the US, but it might depend where you fly from. The airport I usually enter the US from, Schipol (Amsterdam), has the backscatter machines installed at the gates (not the terminal checkpoints)... it is clear that they are only used to meet USA conditions. It might be that flying from a country that is not bowing to pressure from the TSA requires a security scan…
I recently (in the past month) flew back into the US from a couple of places: Guadalajara --> Houston: no security besides customs & immigration São Paulo --> Houston: no security besides customs & immigration Brussels --> JFK: no security besides customs & immigration (sort of off topic, but the thing that's been really annoying me lately is when you are forced -- due to the airport's layout -- to leave the secure a…
I flew Mexico City-SLC this month and there was no security beyond customs and immigration. My memory of IAH last year from Mexico City is that full TSA screening was required, but that was before backscatter machines.
One more data point. These may be useful for someone looking to enter the USA on a direct flight.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing that came out in this blog post -- it seems there may be a policy that the TSA employees are specifically forbidden to wear radiation dosimetry badges. What!? How in the world is this a sane policy? Who is this policy meant to protect?
I was under the impression that all of the "x-ray" scanners aren't x-rays. Instead they are high frequency (100GHz+) back scattering machines. The ones in the MKE air port are L3 ProVisions which fit the description I was aware of ( http://www.sds.l-3com.com/products/mmwave.htm ). No ionizing radiation means no "x-rays" etc. I haven't been subjected to them yet, but before I walked into the airport I made my decision…
There are 2 classes: millimeter wavelength machines and x-ray backscatter machines. These are definitely backscatter x-ray machines.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing that came out in this blog post -- it seems there may be a policy that the TSA employees are specifically forbidden to wear radiation dosimetry badges. What!? How in the world is this a sane policy? Who is this policy meant to protect?
If a lot of TSA employees wore dosimeters, chances are there would be at least one false positive and the media would latch onto it.
I work at a nuclear reactor, and for the type of dosimeters we wear on the job (thermoluminescent dosimeters), there's no chance of a false-positive, as far as I'm aware. The only thing that can cause the crystal to lose electrons is ionizing radiation in a certain energy range. As long as there were procedures to ensure that the badges are only worn on the job, false positives shouldn't be an issue.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#100The trouble with the Internet is that it's so hard for the government to keep secrets anymore. It's exciting to see in real time how American citizens are working together to challenge and change unreasonable government policy. First by broadcasting government abuse and now by documenting successful tactics.
And with every challenge, others become more and more confident in trying the same.