The pat me downs from TSA

[jee]

We discussed this in the cd pron thread earlier in the year.... but now it seems to be reality and really really scary

In the three weeks since the Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints, traveler complaints have poured in.

Some offer graphic accounts of genital contact, others tell of agents gawking or making inappropriate comments, and many express a general sense of powerlessness and humiliation. In general passengers are saying they are surprised by the intimacy of a physical search usually reserved for police encounters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/busin ... urity.html

[hamin_aus]

Meh... Americans and their problems.
This is only a problem in the US and the UK and they have blown it completely out of proportion.
I have been thru customs and security in 6 different countries and no-one has even so much as looked at me funny.

I think the problem in the states is not the fact that they have stricter search rules, but that they hire imbeciles to do the security work and don't give them proper training. I have heard a few stories from people who have travelled to the US about Forrest Gump types working security and having a God complex...

I hope they get sued and lose a few hundred million dollars. Maybe that will instil some common sense in them - but I doubt it.

[Nuke]

I thought Jamin would enjoy the pat down searches?

[Monty]

TSA confiscates heavily-armed soldiers' nail-clippers
Here's an anonymous account of a US Army soldier returning from Afghanistan who watched as his buddies -- who were all carrying high-powered rifles, pistols, etc -- were forced to surrender their nail-clippers and multi-tools:

So we're in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that they're going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:

TSA Guy: You can't take those on the plane.

Soldier: What? I've had them since we left country.

TSA Guy: You're not suppose to have them.

Soldier: Why?

TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.

Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I'm allowed to take it on.

TSA Guy: Yeah but you can't use it to take over the plane. You don't have bullets.

Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here. I'll buy you a new set.

Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]

This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns-but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/19/ts ... -heav.html

[jee]

I remember when we went to Belgium through Frankfurt they would not allow us to take our bottles of water (that we just got from the previous flight) - even when we drank infront of them. So I made every one wait until i had finished my bottle of water.

[jee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhkQoiaf7Uc

and he is one angry man..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo0XRpk6tIM&NR=1

[jee]

http://floydreports.com/obama-gives-a-p ... lims-junk/
you know, i think i prefer a leader who believes in showering over this bunch of nanas.

[Sakura454]

We discussed this in the cd pron thread earlier in the year.... but now it seems to be reality and really really scary

In the three weeks since the Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints, traveler complaints have poured in.

Some offer graphic accounts of genital contact, others tell of agents gawking or making inappropriate comments, and many express a general sense of powerlessness and humiliation. In general passengers are saying they are surprised by the intimacy of a physical search usually reserved for police encounters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/busin ... urity.html

They are breaking the privacy code but on the other hand with all the terrorist activities going on it might be necessary to be a bit harsh just to make sure people are kept safe. I do think that the people commenting should be dealt with harshly. You can think whatever you want but don't humiliate someone.

[doo_much]

The objective of the terrorist is to terrify...

It seems as though they'r being quite effective in the USofA?

[rustypup]

on the other hand with all the terrorist activities going on it might be necessary

:/... this is the same attitude driving this insanity... you honestly believe this is about security? now that's funny...

[Anakha56]

jee & Tribble methinks you should get a job at TSA purely because of this article:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news ... mpaign=rss

"Going commando" on the TSA
By Nate Anderson | Last updated 44 minutes ago

On November 11, the relentlessly upbeat Transportation Security Administration (TSA) blog discussed the newly "enhanced" airport security pat-downs that would soon be coming to a groin near you. "It just makes good security sense," said TSA's "Blogger Bob." His commenters did not concur.

"The next time I fly, I'm wearing my trusty kilt," said one—and we're assuming that he's a true Scotsman.

This was an idea too good not to receive wider exposure (no pun intended), and it was naturally soon paired with the idea of a "National Opt-Out Day" to take place this week on November 24, the day before Thanksgiving. The idea is for a mass opt-out of the new AIT body scanners that can see through clothes, with participants choosing instead to have the more invasive pat-down.

The goal, as one website organizing the event put it, is for families to end up the next day "around the dinner table, eating turkey, talking about their experience—what constitutes an unreasonable search, how forceful of a pat down will we allow on certain areas of our body, and that of our children, and how much privacy are we will to give up for flying? We hope the experience then propels people to write their Member of Congress and the airlines to demand change."

But other groups are just as interested in humiliating the TSA agents doing an unpleasant job, hence the kilts. James Babb, a cofounder of We Won't Fly, encourages people to get a pat-down on November 24 and "wear the kilt. Leave your phone on record. You could be the next YouTube star. These (TSA) people need to be humiliated. What they are doing is inexcusable."

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg had a similar take: "It's a one-word idea: Kilts. Think about it—if you're a male, and you want to bollix-up the nonsensical airport security-industrial complex, one way to do so would be to wear a kilt. If nothing else, this will cause TSA employees to throw up their hands in disgust. If you want to go the extra extra mile, I suggest commando-style kilt-wearing. While it is probably illegal to fly without pants, I can't imagine that it's illegal to fly without underpants."

The idea here is that "opting-out saves you exposure to radiation, and allows a federal government employee to share in your humiliation." Fed-up TSA agents may join the public in demanding that this approach to security be scrapped, or at least modified.

The kilt-wearing idea has spawned a variety of even more inventive ways to humiliate the TSA, several involving excrement, bodily fluids, or Viagra, most of which sound unpleasant both for the patter and the pattee.

How the TSA handles a true Scotsman

Are these the sort of situations covered in TSA pat-down training? We hope so, if only for the sake of all those TSA agents who will face the kilt-wearing crowds this week. But TSA won't actually say how it handles a "true Scotsman" during a pat-down; we asked and were told that this is a "specific security procedure" and thus cannot be discussed.

So we went to Reddit instead. "You will be taken to a private area with a witness (another TSA of same gender or a police officer) and you will be given a plastic/paper sheet/blanket to hold around your legs, you will then be asked to lift your kilt to a certain height, still completely covered by the sheet you are given, and then the patdown will be performed," wrote one commenter, who may or may not have any idea what he's talking about.

While we're waiting for that first viral video of a kilted pat-down to make someone a star, TSA head John Pistole would like everyone involved in opt-out day to know just how "irresposinble" they're being.

"On the eve of a major national holiday and less than one year after al Qaida's failed attack last Christmas Day, it is irresponsible for a group to suggest travelers opt out of the very screening that may prevent an attack using non-metallic explosives," he said in statement sent to Ars. "After coming to TSA with 26 years of intelligence and law enforcement experience at the FBI, I understand the serious threats our nation faces and the security measures we must implement to thwart potential attacks. This technology is not only safe, it's vital to aviation security and a critical measure to thwart potential terrorist attacks."

Though given the TSA's penchant for trying to stop the last terrorist attack, we're more than a bit concerned about what happens when a miscreant decides to smuggle a plastic explosive onto a plane by stuffing it in a body cavity.

Have fun ladies!

[Prime]

ANOTHER GREAT IDEA FROM AN AVERAGE JOE! WHY AREN'T PEOPLE WITH COMMON SENSE LIKE THIS IN WASHINGTON ?

Here's a solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners at the airports:

All we need to do is develop a booth that you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have hidden on or in your body. The explosion will be contained within the sealed booth.

This would be a win-win for everyone. There would be none of this crap about racial profiling and the device would eliminate long and expensive trials.

This is so simple that it's brilliant. I can see it now: 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..."

Best idea ever

[Tribble]

@Anky - so you think it would be thrilling to meet guys in kilts do ya?

[rustypup]

@Anky - so you think it would be thrilling to meet guys in kilts do ya?

he has a terrabyte or 2 of red-bearded men in kilts and not much else...

not quite the creepiest thing i've ever encountered, but it's damn close...

[Anakha56]

Um Tribz no! Hence the reason why you and jee need to get the jobs there .

@ rusty at least its not 2 terbytes Eskimo pr0n that you have...

Back on topic...

http://it.slashdot.org/story/10/11/24/1 ... s?from=rss

Next Step For US Body Scanners Could Be Trains, Metro Systems
Posted by timothy on Wednesday November 24, @09:47AM
from the how-to-radicalize-americans dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Hill reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists will continue to look for US vulnerabilities, making tighter security standards necessary. '[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,' Napolitano said in an interview with Charlie Rose. 'I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime.' Napolitano added she hoped the US could get to a place in the future where Americans would not have to be as guarded against terrorist attacks as they are and that she was actively promoting research into the psychology of how a terrorist becomes radicalized. 'The long-term [question] is, how do we get out of this having to have an ever-increasing security apparatus because of terrorists and a terrorist attack?' says Napolitano. 'I think having a better understanding of what causes someone to become a terrorist will be helpful.'"

I really dont see a need for visiting America except maybe for GGW...

[Tribble]

I would have too much fun - no one should enjoy their jobs that much.

[Anakha56]

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_150_ ... -invasive/

#9.