Here’s what we’ve got: 70 airports, 400 body scanners, and over 900 complaints to the ACLU in the last month from airline passengers subjected to the Transportation Security Agency’s new invasive screening procedures, which force people to choose between an x-ray body scan and a pat down so, uh, thorough that it’s reminiscent of sexual assault. Via Raw Story:
A former Army veteran and sexual assault victim was forced to endure a TSA pat down because of her panty-liner, according to her email to a popular women’s health company.
… “[The TSA agents] were doing their job, they were as delicate as they could be, etc., etc. But what ultimately happened is that I was subjected to search so invasive that I was left crying and dealing with memories that I thought had been dealt with years ago of prior sexual assaults.”
“These new scans are so horrible that if you are wearing something unusual (like a piece of cloth on your panties) then you will be subjected to a search where a woman repeatedly has to check your ‘groin’ while another woman watches on (two in my case – they were training in a new girl – awesome),” she added.
Meanwhile, here’s what our own Dear Science says about the full body scanners, and why you should opt out…
X-rays count as ionizing radiation; they’re high enough in energy to rip electrons off atoms and cause all sorts of damage. When those atoms are in your DNA, the result can be mutations. It’s like the difference between being shot by a rubber bullet and a real bullet.
The manufacturers of the X-ray-based scanners claim that the dose of radiation is small, akin to the cosmic radiation one would receive on a cross-country flight or in a chest X-ray. They further claim that these machines deliver only a small, short burst of wimpy X-rays that are able to enter only the layers of the skin—and no further. These arguments are both unproven and unconvincing at this time.
More horror stories over here (or if you’ve got a horror story of your own, lodge it).
If I was Osama Bin Laden, I’d be laughing my ass off right now. Instead, I’m just disgusted and embarrassed for my country.
This Draconian albeit effective solution is making the rounds:
The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners at airports.
It’s an armored booth you step into that will not X-ray you but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your person. They see this as a win-win situation for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It also would eliminate the costs of a long and expensive trial. Justice would be swift. Case closed!
You’re in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system: “Attention standby passengers, we now have a seat available on flight number 6709 to America . Shalom!”
@2 funny, but dumb
Please stop making this debate about the “science”. Is this going to be another global warming “debate”? None of those scientists who wrote the letter are actually radiation biologists. Also, their arguments don’t really make sense — they compare the dose of the low energy backscatter to regular x-rays and say the low energy is a higher dose because it doesn’t go *through* the skin and therefore all the dose is taken at the skin. That’s just stupid b/c the high energy also hits all the skin, so the dose measurement would take that into account — and the low energy dose would still be less (because it’s low energy).
Also, those four all work at the same institution. So rather than this being a clarion call from a variety of scientists who would know, it’s four guys that got all riled up in their hallways and decided to write a letter (and also telling is the number of leading scientists at the same institution who did NOT sign that letter. Don’t tell me they wouldn’t’ve had the opportunity).
It’s really not that big of a deal to be felt up by a professional. If you have problems with that, THEN YOU HAVE PROBLEMS, NOT EVERYONE ELSE. I am all for sensitivity, but if you were raped so bad that a TSA agent cant haphazardly pat you down, then you were rapped really bad, and part of that rape is gonna have to be about coming to terms with random people touching you in an official capacity.
Don’t want to sound callous, but when I read all these reports of abuse by the hands of the TSA I also read tons of stories about pissed off travelers that want to stir up shit and have no scruples.
Nobody should get the backskatter, the radiation combined with the TSA’s ability to keep your image secure makes it a pretty obvious bad choice. When getting the pat down, if it isn’t quick, clean and with an open hand, request you be re-patted by a professional.