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TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

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Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#101

Post by tsaoutourpants »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #4
tylermenezes wrote: post #3

The term "security theater" has been tossed around a lot, but I think it's pretty clearly coming to that. Asking the mainstream media not to cover something like this is completely indefensible from a security standpoint - what, terrorists only learn about security flaws from TV?. It's pretty patently only about keeping their budget. Also, just going to throw this out there, but it is fairly possible that the email i…

It's incredibly suspicious to allude to an e-mail from the TSA, but not actually include a copy of said e-mail.

Second source confirms in comments! SmarterTravel March 8, 2012 at 3:34 pm | #11 Reply | Quote | Edit We were also “strongly cautioned” not to cover the story. We did anyway at SmarterTravel: http://tinyurl.com/7te5wj8

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#102

Post by sdfjkl »

todd3834 wrote: post #96

For someone who clearly values security, I am surprised to see him running Internet Explorer :-/

It's MS Exchange's web-frontend (OWA), which doesn't play nice with most browsers (last I checked it degraded into some "basic functionality" mode when using anything but IE, although that was a while ago). FourTen Technologies is his company and seems to be mainly a Microsoft shop based on their staff's skill set (ASP, .NET, COM, MSSQL, AD) and portfolio: http://www.fourtentech.com/about/whoswho/

Amusingly their portfolio includes a major project for the NYPD building a automated surveillance network designed for (amongst other functions) "detecting unauthorized individuals in secure areas of the financial district" -- http://www.fourtentech.com/mcs-nypd.html

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#103

Post by jcampbell1 »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #88
tptacek wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hinting that media cover or not cover any story is so far beyond the purview of the TSA that no competent journalist would consider taking them seriously, making this a comparatively mild nightmare. The Supreme Court can't "slap them" for anything; someone with standing would have to bring a case, and for that case to have merit, some journalistic outlet would have had to have its discretion actually impinged by the…

There might be a suit brought on behalf of one of these reporters and/or their employer arguing that the implication of consequences from such a powerful entity without a court order constitutes illegal interference with their business, possibly entitling them to some damages, and more importantly, establishing some very important precedent which might prevent the TSA from ever attempting such a stunt in the future.…

You are not familiar with Sovereign Immunity. No lawyer in the world salivates at the thought of suing the federal government.

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#104

Post by chc »

tptacek wrote: post #99
InclinedPlane wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think your observations back up your conclusions with regard to public support for the machines. The choice people have is between these scanners and a highly intrusive "pat down" which typically includes some TSA agent's hands on your junk. That's not much of a choice.

If you'd like to make that argument, you can, but it doesn't rebut the poll data that shows a clear majority of Americans favor the machines. (I would prefer they did not, but you can't always get what you want.)

It kind of does rebut the poll data. I bet a majority of Americans would rather be smacked in the face with a brick than shot in the face with a rifle, but it would be a pretty big distortion to rephrase that as "A clear majority of Americans favor getting hit in the face with bricks."

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#105

Post by akavi »

aroberge wrote: post #31
bpd1069 wrote: post #16

Overlay a thin layer of material over the metal plate (the dark/black region in the images) that has a regular repeating pattern (think checkerboard) that shows objects suspended beyond the body's silhouette. Problem solved.

Why do you think it is black in the first place? Think physics and X-rays, not computer screen...

Have the backgroundpattern made of alternating pieces of absorbent and transparent material, then. (I assume the machines work by measuring obstruction of rays. If they work by reflection of rays, then replace "absorbent and transparent" with "absorbent and reflective".)

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#106

Post by haroldp »

zotz wrote: post #86

"Totalitarian democracy is a term made famous by Israeli historian J. L. Talmon to refer to a system of government in which lawfully elected representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, have little or no participation in the decision-making process of the government." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarian_democracy

See Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managed_democracy

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#107

Post by marshray »

Retric wrote: post #100
reidmain wrote: post #95

Security through obscurity. Doesn't work on the Internet. Doesn't work in real-life.

Passwords are Security through obscurity. That does not make them useless, just vulnerable.

A password is a best-effort attempt at implementing the theoretical construct of a 'cryptographic shared secret'.

Passwords are from perfect at that of course, but it's not correct to call them 'obscurity' either.

The distinction between security and obscurity derives from Kerckhoffs's principle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerckhoffs%27s_Principle

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#108

Post by protomyth »

mrb wrote: post #58

The government supporting the TSA, despite its People pushing against it, is a prime example of failure of democracy in the United States . The People elected a government who does not what they want! Some countries hold referendums to vote on controversial topics. It would be a great solution to hold one in the U.S. at the federal level asking a very simple question: "Should the TSA be shut down? Yes/No". Direct dem…

Some states have had good luck with referendums (ND), but I am not sure a federal version would be all that good. I'm one of those that thinks the 17th Amendment made it harder for the federal government to be accountable to the will of the people in the states. It seems like Senators are not as responsive. I don't think repealing it would help these days since people expect to directly vote for office holders (electoral college aside).

It would be interesting, since travel distances are not really the issue, if each state was represented in the Senate not by 2 Senators but by that state's Governor. Seems like you would get a much better response.

Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

#110

Post by sitkack »

tptacek wrote: post #99
InclinedPlane wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think your observations back up your conclusions with regard to public support for the machines. The choice people have is between these scanners and a highly intrusive "pat down" which typically includes some TSA agent's hands on your junk. That's not much of a choice.

If you'd like to make that argument, you can, but it doesn't rebut the poll data that shows a clear majority of Americans favor the machines. (I would prefer they did not, but you can't always get what you want.)

Favor the machines over a pat-down. They would actually _prefere_ neither.
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