I wonder how many of these opt-outs are going to end up on the no-fly list.
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Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
121–130 of 185 posts
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#122Earlier 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 Sydney-LAX last month and no extra security at the SYD gate. In past years doing the same flight there has been extra security, liquid checks, and random pat downs at the gate, and only for US bound flights.
It seems as though the other countries/airlines/airports are either ignoring the TSA requests or there has been a change in policy, given the amount of people who have been saying the same thing.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The TSA is obviously staffed by bureaucrats who are simply following bad rules. This should call for a restructuring of the organization, not a lash out against The TSA or (worse) The Government. Let's figure out what is wrong with the process, and how we can fix it. Enough being scared and pointing blame.
How about disbanding it as a waste of tax money, and as an unnecessary institution ill-suited to being part of a society dedicated to the idea of individual liberties?
If the TSA is disbanded, then how do you suggest handling airport security? Who is in charge of it and who is responsible?
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#124"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" - Mahatma Gandhi
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#125What? I wasn't aware you needed to be irradiated just to enter into the US, even without planning to take any more flights. What is the rationale behind that?
This is exactly the question that they should have to answer before a judge. Laws at minimum must have a rational basis, there must exist some scenario in which the law makes sense. Irradiation before a flight may protect against terrorist attack. Irradiation after the time of danger has past makes no sense at all.
Is this a law, though?
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#126I 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…
Yes, he was purposely making trouble to test a theory that they don't have specific procedures in place, and that the laws contain holes that you can get through. You might say the law says you have to go through, but in this case nobody could come up with a law that says that. The guy himself asked how this conflates with his constitutional rights - also laws - and how the contradictions are resolved.
Like it or not, this kind of behaviour either strengthens the laws or removes poorly designed ones. Either way, it's important that people do this on a regular basis because laws and procedures are very rarely correct.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#127Except 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…
The "less clothes" approach may be more interesting than it appears at first glance.
Sam Wolanyk is legal rights activist who recently won a suit against the City of San Diego for failing to respect his right to openly carry a handgun in public: http://www.responsiblecitizensofcalifornia.org/profiles/blog...
He's a sharp guy who seems well aware of the relevant laws. He seems to have set up his arrest quite consciously. He may prevail here.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#128Except 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…
About five years ago I was going through airport security one morning after a healthy night of drinking. A metal buckled belt help up cargo pants that seemed to have every pocket full of some kind of metal debris from the night before. Barely thinking, I reasoned it would be easier to drop my pants into the bin going through the scanner, especially since I was wearing boxers and had to take my shoes off anyway. Of course, while I was putting my pants back on TSA pulled me aside, yelling in my face, almost keeping me off my flight. I never understood why they would get so upset when I was just making their job easier.
It was a work trip, after being released I got a kick out of my boss telling me while she was going through security she heard the lady next to her exclaim "that guy just took his pants off!" to look up and see it was me being pulled away by the TSA.
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#129If I am understanding this correctly the TSA/Customs officials could submit you to a backscatter/pat-down BEFORE you clear customs and the Constitutional argument evaporates. I imagine that would require an overhaul of the layout of many airports, but perhaps if enough people make a fuss like the author then someone will push for it. Does anyone know of a reason they couldn't do another security screening after you land and just before you clear customs ?
Re: Re-entry to US without backscatter or pat-down
#130Others have hinted at this, but when I read this story, I had a big "HUH?" moment. I just returned into the USA last week at SFO, and I can assure you that I didn't go through any kind of security screening upon re-entering the USA.
The USA, unlike many other countries, requires that you clear out through Customs at your first point of entry. This is an operational issue, because after that, you are mixed with domestic passengers. Clearing through Customs requires that you pick up your checked luggage. As such, you are no longer "sterile" from an airport security perspective (you could have pulled a box cutter out of your checked luggage, for example). This means that, if you plan to continue on as a domestic passenger, then you have to be re-screened for security, just like someone walking in from the street.
What boggles my mind is that the folks who set up this airport require non-passengers to go through TSA security, just to walk out of the terminal. Not only is this a waste of time and money, but it also introduces people with no legitimate reason to travel into the terminal. Put another way, if I WANTED to pass through a TSA checkpoint at most airports without a ticket for onward travel, I would be turned away.
In summary, I guess I can understand why this guy thought that he was being screened to re-enter the country, when in fact he was just the victim of very, very poor airport design.