21–30 of 445 posts
The next time you see a cop, take a photo. You are bound to get in trouble for that pretty soon as the cops don't like it and many don't seem to be aware that it is perfectly legal to do so. I wonder if it would help? You would be harassed a lot but you would prevent photographing cops from becoming de facto illegal.
Can someone please explain what's wrong with going through the machine? If it means not having my balls squeezed, it sounds pretty good to me.
I don't trust them to not save the images, I don't trust them to not get hacked, and I don't want some random black hat to have images of my body over time.
I was a hair's width from turning around and flying from Gatwick instead at a few hundred bucks cost (nothing compared to observing my rights) - but the engagement was too important.
Don't give up. You lost once . That doesn't mean you have to lose again.
I had a similar experience when traveling to the US with my German girlfriend (I am from the US). What I found even more disappointing is the way that other passengers negatively reacted to her choosing to opt-out and wait for the "pat down of shame". I would be happy to see in the US a better public awareness of the amount of personal rights that we're forfeiting by simply passing through an airport.
But what to do instead? Leave a day early. Take a train. Maybe even find a co-rider heading your way and split the cost of a cabin car. Then relax and enjoy your trip. Chat with some other travelers in the lounge car. Have a nice meal in the diner car. If you don't have to be there yesterday and you are not going over an ocean, you can't beat a train.
Of course, in the States, the a$$ holes are winning there too as they won't let us build better trains (cough florida caugh hyperloop cough) and they have forced all passenger rail to go through Chicago when crossing the middle of the country. Honestly, how do they get away with this sh*t?
1. My subtle way of fighting back is trying to keep my face off cameras everyplace I go. I stopped going to stores like Home Depot who have you on a cam the minute you walk in. 2. I'm glad you held out as long as you did.
when are we going to learn to assume other people are probably somewhat rational beings and not crazy zombies walking around?
We lose our rights by not asserting them and fighting abuses like this in court.