http://www.examiner.com/essex-county-conservative-in-newark/airport-security-debate-heats-up-nj

Best quote from the article:

We have open borders and we have no idea who’s coming in and out of our country. Yet when American citizens try to travel, the TSA is actually groping people’s genitals, buttocks and breasts, including children.

It’s about time legislators stood up to this.  When the Nude O Scopes were initially introduced there was some back lash from Utah’s Representative Jason Chaffetz, but they were never successful in penetrating the federal machine.  If the state of NJ with its major Continental hub in Newark can make a stand against these machines their may be some hope in other states.  I doubt it though.

The article also talks about pilots can take down the plane even without any weapons.

why would a pilot be subject to such a scan? Any pilot can destroy his aircraft in any of a hundred ways by virtue of his access to the controls, to say nothing of the axe that every airliner carries in the cockpit. (History records one instance of a copilot who deliberately ditched his plane, an EgyptAir flight, into the Atlantic Ocean, despite the strenuous efforts of his captain, who probably never realized until far too late that his own copilot was committing murder-suicide.) Thus a pilot, though trusted to fly the aircraft and to cut his way out of the cockpit with an axe if necessary, is not trusted to refrain from carrying explosives or small weapons hidden on his person or in his flight bag.

I am glad there is all this groundswell against TSA and I like talking about it, but I also can’t wait until I have time to blog about more important travel issues again.

Apparently November 24th has been dubbed National Opt-Out Day.  The day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days so screening normally results in extremely long lines.  To add insult to injury many people are urging everyone to opt-out of the body scanners in favor of the pat down.

The goal of National Opt Out Day is to send a message to our lawmakers that we demand change.  No naked body scanners, no government-approved groping.  We have a right to privacy and buying a plane ticket should not mean that we’re guilty until proven innocent.  This day is needed because many people do not understand what they consent to when choosing to fly.

I agree with the cause obviously, but I’m a little hesitant about their choice of date.  Sure, that is the busiest travel day in the US, but most people reading about this are probably people who are either big into civil liberties or are regular travelers.  I know I will not be traveling on Nov 24.  If I go anywhere by plane I like to fly on Thanksgiving itself.  Flights are empty.

At the same time I understand that in order to invoke change there needs to be a big impact so if the body scanners are in full force at airports across the country and even 20% of travelers who should be going through it opt-out then that will keep the secondary screeners pretty busy.

So if you are in a line with a Millimeter Wave or Backscatter machine and you get asked the magic question “Do you have anything in your pockets?” Respond with a quick “I opt out.”

What do these machines look like?  The ones I’ve seen most often are the Millimeter Wave Machines (ABQ, IND, quite a few others).

The other is the Backscatter which uses “low” radiation.  This is the machine used in CLT

I know I’m late to this since they are supposed to be starting soon.

Before the opt-out pat-down involved the palm feeling torso, extremities, and such, but changing to the back of the hand to inspect the breasts and groin area.  In reality they barely checked the groin area, but unless a cavity search is done it is possible to conceal explosives in body cavities.  The thing is that even the Nude-o-Scope can’t detect items in the body cavities (the tampon paradox).  The new pat-down will use the front of the hand to search these areas.  Now I run into the issue of getting a pat-down during that time of the month wearing a sanitary napkin.  I wonder if I will get a strip search for wearing a sanitary napkin or if I will need to prove that it actually is required at that time.  Who knows.

It’s almost tempting to wear a sanitary napkin each time I go through a checkpoint just in case I get a pat-down to see what they do.  If anything, it does give me a layer of protection from the hands of the TSA agent.  I would imagine most of them will hate doing this just as much as any of us should hate receiving it.

As always I will continue to have it done in public.  People deserve to see is going on.

I hadn’t been posting much about the TSA recently (which led to me not posting anything recently) due to the fact that the search terms that get people to the site tend to deal more with Hilton or Delta.  This is now changing and more of my visits are from people googling about opting out of body scanners.

As a whole I still have very modest traffic, bud does this mean we are getting more groundswell against TSA and the body scanners or just that since they are heading into more airports that more people are looking?

Just some food for thought.

I’m sorry for my haitus.  I was between internets while getting Time Warner’s new Signature Home installed with 50 mbps downstream, 5 mbps upstream.

I’ve had 2 more opt out stories recently.

CVG:

This was in the everyone but Delta terminal.  There was only 1 line open and they were randomly sending people through the Nude-o-Scope so I had no way to attempt to avoid it.  Of course I magically got chosen (they had been alternating, but I got chosen immediately after the person in front of me).  I got the “Do you have anything in your pockets” question and responded “I’m not going through that.”

The opt-out lady quickly positioned me in a way to face my stuff and  I was quickly on my way.

SAN:

I was in the line that was supposed to be for Experts, but really there was a couple 6 people in front of me who didn’t realize you couldn’t go through the Walk Through Metal Detector with a walker.  Why they were in the Expert line and not the (also open) line for people who need more time I don’t know.  When I got in the line the nude-o-scope was not open, but by the time it was finally my turn to go through the metal detector suddenly the nude-o-scope was opened.  I knew it was coming when I was putting all my stuff through the X Ray and heard “Do you have anything in your pockets, a watch, or belt?” The “anything in your pockets should be a dead ringer that you’re not going through a metal detector.  When I hear that line I instantly go into “I am not going through that” mode.  I don’t say “I opt out” but just “I’m not going through that.”

This was my third opt-out and the first time the lady seemed apprehensive to let me look at my stuff.  I positioned myself looking at my stuff and she was trying to reposition me so I’d be looking towards the Nude-o-scope.  I said “I would like to keep an eye on my stuff” and then she understood what I was doing.  She did her thing but instead of letting me gather my stuff while waiting for the explosives test I had to stay in place until the explosives test was completed.

I am still trying to avoid these things at all costs, but today’s circumstances led me to the machine.

• I was running late leaving my house today due to laundry issues
• I realized about half a mile from my house that I didn’t have my wallet and I had to turn around and go back
• I hadn’t printed my tickets at home (just checked in and printed to PDF)
• the Airtran kiosk takes 5 minutes to locate a PNR

All that transpired and I went to the C check point with about 30 minutes before scheduled boarding so I had a bit of time.  The C check point had about 40 people in line while the D check point had 4 so the were urging people to go over there.  Since I don’t use the elite line while flying AirTran (whether the TDC would stop me or not is not something I’d like to waste time to find out) I decided to go to D.  D is the farthest from AirTran, but all other checkpoints had about the same queue length as C.

I got in line at D and quickly noticed where the body scanner is.  It is the second line from the left of 4 total lines.  The left-most line was moving fastest so I entered it.

The lady in front of me was taking forever to clear the WTMD (belt, hitting the side, who knows) so while I was waiting behind her the lady manning the body scanner asks me if I have anything in my pockets thinking she means just things that would set of the WTMD I say “no” although I have my boarding passes and ID in my pockets.  She then determines I should go through the nude-o-scope instead (why me?  why not the lady who took 3 times to clear the WTMD???)

I politely said “I will not go through that thing”

She says I don’t have to, but I will get a special screening.  I have to wait for about 3 minutes for my special screener, officer Miller, to arrive.  In that time the lady manning the WTMD motions me through so I go through.  The lady manning the body scanner (who had since closed it off anyway) asked me what I was doing.  Well…your coworker let me through I thought, but instead I just made the VERY VALID claim that I was keeping an eye on my stuff since it had long since cleared the x-ray and I had no line of site from where they had me waiting.

Finally Officer Miller arrives and explains front of hand, back of hand, etc.  She was professional.  I wasn’t thinking and assumed a position not looking at my stuff and she quickly turned me around so I could watch my stuff.  She told me right away that I had the right to request a private screening.  Heck no!  If you are going to grope me I’d prefer to be where I have witnesses if  I need them.  She was thorough but not inappropriate so it wasn’t an issue.  There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but since I was approaching 15 minutes before boarding and I had to walk to the opposite end of CLT I didn’t say anything.  The screening ended after massaging my feet (do the body scanners really see the bottoms of my feet?  If not then why are you touching my feet) and taking one of the explosive detecting wipes to my ID, BP, and officer Miller’s gloves.  I came out clean and they let me go.

I wish I had remembered the name of the lady who pulled me aside and forced me through the ordeal.  I paid attention to the TDC and the secondary screener, but missed the other lady’s name.  Her ego was crushed when I didn’t want to play her game and even though she shut her machine down and I cleared the WTMD without an event I still needed to waste 2 officers’ time with my secondary.

This is from courthouses, not airports, but still interesting.

c|net

William Bordley, an associate general counsel with the Marshals Service, acknowledged in the letter that “approximately 35,314 images…have been stored on the Brijot Gen2 machine” used in the Orlando, Fla. federal courthouse. In addition, Bordley wrote, a Millivision machine was tested in the Washington, D.C. federal courthouse but it was sent back to the manufacturer, which now apparently possesses the image database.

from TSA through cnet

I’m sure many out there hear “the [TSA] MMW machines are not storing images” and assume that applies to all MMW machines deployed.  I don’t recall such a claim from the courthouses and I haven’t been to any courthouse to know what they claim, but still something to think about.  Apparently if you are storing images and you send the machine back to the manufacturer they get all the images as well.  I work for a company that provides databases for hospitals.  When we get a database from a client if what we are troubleshooting is not directly related to the patients in the database we make them delete all of that data before submitting the database to us.  Also we must comply with HIPAA as far as that data goes.  It seems like a similar arrangement was not made between these clients and the manufacturers.  How soon until the kiddie pictures make it up into the kiddie porn forums on Usenet?

A 70-page document (PDF) showing the TSA’s procurement specifications, classified as “sensitive security information,” says that in some modes the scanner must “allow exporting of image data in real time” and provide a mechanism for “high-speed transfer of image data” over the network. (It also says that image filters will “protect the identity, modesty, and privacy of the passenger.”)

TSA keeps insisting the machines are not set to store images…that the machines can but that option is disabled after installation.  If you just disable that feature why do your specs call for it?  Does it up resale?  Just like how I’d never use a fireplace in a house but if you don’t have a fireplace it can affect resale?  This isn’t just the ability to store images, it’s the ability to instantly distribute them across the internet.  If that is actually happening I’m sure someone is also working on hacking that network.