TSA: Let us Take Nekkid Pics of You Or You Get “Bad Touch”
According to (CNN Employee Rosemary) Fitzpatrick, a female screener ran her hands around her breasts, over her stomach, buttocks and her inner thighs, and briefly touched her crotch.
“I felt helpless, I felt violated, and I felt humiliated,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that she was reduced to tears at the checkpoint. She particularly objected to the fact that travelers were not warned about the new procedures.
What I really like is that they’re giving us a choice.
“passengers who opt out of advanced imaging technology screening will receive alternate screening to include a thorough pat-down.”
So basically, either we get pics of your private bits, or we get to touch them.
(btw – if you’re not at work, you may want to search for “TSA body scan invert”)
Jeffrey Goldberg had a nice article about this, too, yesterday.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/10/for-the-first-time-the-tsa-meets-resistance-updated/65390/
Basically, the TSA wants people to go through the back-scatter machine, and since they can’t simply mandate it, they’re intentionally making the pat-downs less desirable (more intrusive) to “encourage” a decision they prefer.
I have to think at some point this turns into a massive class-action law suit because it’s clearly malicious and an egregious violation of privacy (and decency!).
The TSA is doing a good job meeting their mandate of, “make people hate us deeply.”