The TSA search policy is unwarranted, unjust, and humiliating (Boston Globe)

[somone]

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/11/19/invasion_of_privacy/

Invasion of privacy
The TSA search policy is unwarranted, unjust, and humiliating
By Tom Keane

THREE MINUTES at Logan Airport ruined my day. I arrived at the airport Monday for a flight to Detroit. I went through the security drill — shoes, belt, and coat off, laptop out, liquids in a baggie, pockets empty — but instead of the customary path through the metal detector, a Transportation Security Administration employee shunted me off to a new machine. It was one I had heard of but never passed through — a whole body imaging machine, the virtual strip search. I obediently positioned my feet where told, raised my hands as instructed and then, in a moment of sudden rebellion, objected.

“You want to opt out?’’ a guard asked. “I don’t want to go through that,’’ I said. From several TSA employees came cries of “Opt out!’’ “Male opt out!’’ I was pulled over to the side and told I would be searched.

The TSA has just recently implemented what it euphemistically calls an “enhanced patdown.’’ The agent firmly ran his hands over my entire body, head to toe, front and back. He rubbed his hands over my buttocks and in between. He put his hands in my pants and ran them all around my waist. From behind, he ran his hands along my legs, all the way up my thigh as high as he could go and onto my genitals. Then he moved in front of me and then did the same thing again. Remember the question once asked of candidate Bill Clinton: “Boxers or briefs?’’ My TSA examiner knows.

I have never been sexually molested or raped, so I have no idea how my experience compares. But I walked away feeling invaded, sickened, and humiliated. During the long drive after I landed, those three minutes kept obsessively turning over in my mind. Late that night, in a strange hotel room, I suddenly woke with the panicked belief that rough hands were prodding my body. That time, it was only a dream... The fatuous logic from some is that the searches aren’t coercive at all: if you don’t like them, then don’t fly. So, for example, those who must travel for work and reject the new searches can always just quit their jobs. It’s the classic Hobson’s choice — a choice that is really no choice at all...

[Celtic Raven]

1. K&R nt

[LibDemAlways]

2. Dupe

[LibDemAlways]

3. This kind of a first person account is sickening, but

Mr. Keane is performing a vital public service by relating his ordeal. The more bad publicity TSA gets, the louder the public outcry. The greater the outcry, the more people who will say, "Screw it. I'm not flying until this shit stops." The minute it starts seriously affecting the bottom line, the airline CEOs will be in front of Congress begging for some changes and a return to sanity.

I sincerely hope Mr, Keane can get beyond this, but i have a feeling it's going to haunt him for a long time.

[awoke_in_2003]

14. I work for a Berkshire Hathaway company...

our executives do not fly on private jets- they fly commercial (and coach, by the way). When people like these start bellowing something might happen.

[truth2power]

4. And yet there was a poster here last night who was arguing that very thing, if you don't like

the searches, don't fly. Problem solved as far as that poster was concerned.

I was appalled. There is no defense for such a position. "Fatuous logic" Mr. Keane calls it.

I cannot get the thought out of my mind that DU is infested with trolls and operatives.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. It is amazing to behold

I agree.

[avaistheone1]

8. Rest assured

DU has more than its share of trolls and operatives.

[hatrack]

6. Read my email & bank account? Sure! Lock me up w/o an attorney? No problem! Tap my phone? OK!

Pat my crotch?!?!?!?

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nashville_brook]

7. if you've nothing to hide, then you won't mind the "love pats"

(i just grossed myself out)

[biermeister]

9. Text of HR 6416 just introduced in the house

please pardon the formatting-

111TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 6416
To ensure that certain Federal employees cannot hide behind immunity.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 17, 2010
Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To ensure that certain Federal employees cannot hide behind
immunity.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Traveller
5 Dignity Act of 2010’’.
6 SEC. 2. NO IMMUNITY FOR CERTAIN AIRPORT SCREENING
7 METHODS.
8 No law of the United States shall be construed to
9 confer any immunity for a Federal employee or agency or
10 any individual or entity that receives Federal funds, who
11 subjects an individual to any physical contact (including
contact with any clothing the individual is wearing), x2
rays, or millimeter waves, or aids in the creation of or
3 views a representation of any part of a individual’s body
4 covered by clothing as a condition for such individual to
5 be in an airport or to fly in an aircraft. The preceding
6 sentence shall apply even if the individual or the individual’s parent, guardian, or any other individual gives consent.

[truth2power]

10. Good! It'll probably be DOA, though. eom

[ProudDad]

11. Don't forget to let your favorite EX-airline to know how you feel about this

And then give them this name and number for them to call:

Secretary Janet Napolitano (traitor to the People of Arizona)
Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

Citizen Line

* Operator Number: 202-282-8000
* Comment Line: 202-282-8495

[Swampguana]

12. Too invasive

This is not how it should be. I've had the same done to me when I last traveled and it made me feel the same way. I believe this needs to change, the sooner the better.

[Cobalt-60]

13. How about a flyer's' strike?

The lack of visible opposition to this fascist trash from the airlines makes them complicit.
Many fliers don't have a choice about flying. But they do have a choice of airline.
One should be selected and boycotted into bankruptcy - killed - as an example for the others.
I haven't experienced the horror of commercial air travel in 10 years, so I don't know which one of the major carriers deserves it most.
But I'm sure frequent travelers do.
Pick an airline and kill it as an example for the others.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. this wont take long to happen...

" It won’t be long, no doubt, before celebrity scans start making their way around the Internet."