Backlash Against Airport Body Scans!

[Chris411]

This is a subject that made headlines a while back in US and more recently in Europe but seems to be quietly going away. This is another thing imposed onto us and which will soon become part of our "normal" lives. It is no wonder when one reads below that almost all travelers are choosing to submit themselves to this new type of scanner and radiation.

Please share with us your experiences, views, any health implications you may have read about, the privacy issues associated with this scanner, etc.

I live in Europe and these scanners are slowling being introduced in our airports as well. I personally will try to fly as little as possible but unfortunately not all are free to make their own choices as flying may be part of their work assignments.

We may have the option to opt out of this scanning procedure for the moment but the time will come when everybody that wants to travel by air (will these scanners come into the train stations, ferry harbours, etc?) will have to submit him/herself to this humiliation in the name of safe flying.

Welcome on board!

http://www.naturalnews.com/030100_na...s_airport.html

How to opt out of the TSA's naked body scanners at the airport
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Originally published October 19 2010

(NaturalNews) I encountered my first airport naked body scanner while flying out of California today, and of course I decided to "opt out" of the scan. You do this by telling the blue-shirted TSA agents that you simply wish to opt out of the body scanner. Here's what happened after that:

A TSA agent told me to step to the side and stay put. He then proceeded to shout out loudly enough for all the other travelers and TSA agents to hear, "OPT OUT! OPT OUT!" This is no doubt designed to attract attention (or perhaps humiliation) to those who choose to opt out of the naked body scanner. I saw no purpose for this verbal alert because the same TSA agent who was yelling this ultimately was the one who patted me down anyway.

For the pat down, first I was required to walk through the regular metal detector. From there, I was asked if I wanted to be patted down in a private room, or if I didn't mind just being patted down in full view of everyone else. Not being a shy person in the first place, I told the agent I didn't need a private room.

He then explained to me that he was going to pat down my entire body, including my crotch and my buttocks, but that he would use the back of his hands to pat down the crotch and buttocks areas. This is probably designed to make the pat-down seem less "personal" and more detached. That way, air passengers can't complain of being felt up by TSA agents who might get carried away with the pat-down procedure. He asked if it hurt for me to be touched anywhere, and I told him no, at which point he proceeded with the pat down.

It was a well-scripted pat-down, covering all the areas of my body, including a mild crotch sweep (it wasn't especially invasive or anything, as doctors will do far worse during a physical exam). He swept my arms, legs, hips, back of the neck, ankles and everywhere else. To the TSA's credit, this guy was fast, efficient and only used a light touch that was in no way disturbing. But it did take an extra five minutes or so compared to walking through the naked body scanner.

Speaking of the naked body scanners, as I was having my crotch swept by the back of the hand of this TSA agent, I was observing other air travelers subjecting themselves to the naked body scanners. They were told to walk into the body scanner staging area and then hold their arms in the air in a pose as if they were under arrest. They were told to freeze in this position for several seconds (perhaps 10 seconds) during which they were being blasted with ionizing radiation that we all know contributes to cancer.

The TSA, of course, will tell you that these machines can't possibly contribute to cancer. But they said the same thing about mammograms, and we now know that mammograms are so harmful to women's health that they actually harm ten women for everyone one woman they help (http://www.naturalnews.com/020829.html). So I'm not exactly taking the U.S. government at its word that naked body scanner radiation is "harmless."

As these air travelers were being scanned, their naked body images were appearing on a screen somewhere, of course. Some TSA agent was examining the naked body shape and contours of all these people, and even though we were told by the TSA that the image viewing machines cannot store images, we have since learned that the machines actually do have the capability to store those images (http://www.naturalnews.com/029378_f...). In addition, rogue TSA employees could simply use their cell phones to take snapshots of what they see on the screen. There are no doubt rules against such behavior, but it's bound to happen sooner or later.

Meanwhile, my own security screening was proceeding fully clothed. I don't want to broadcast my naked butt cheeks on the TSA's graphic monitors, thank you very much!

Very few people opt out of the naked body scanners
The most fascinating part about this entire process was not the verbal broadcast of my opt out status, nor having my crotch swept by the latex-covered back hand of some anonymous TSA agent, but rather the curious fact that I was the only one opting out. Although I must have watched at least a hundred people go through this particular security checkpoint, there wasn't a single other person who opted out of the naked body scan.

They all just lined up like cattle to have their bodies scanned with ionizing radiation.

To me, that's just fascinating. That when people are given a choice to opt out of being irradiated, they will choose to just go along with the naked body scan rather than risk standing out by requesting to opt out.

You see, I'm not convinced that the TSA's naked body scanners enhance air travel security at all. Previous security tests conducted by the FAA show quite clearly that the greatest threat to airplane safety isn't from the passengers but from ground crews, where bombs and other materials can be quite easily smuggled onto planes.

But even though naked body scanners may not enhance air travel security, they do accomplish something far more intriguing: The successful completion of an experiment in human behavior. If you were to pose the question "Will people line up like cattle to be electronically undressed in front of government security officers?" The answer is now unequivocally

Most people, it turns out, will simply do whatever they're told by government authorities, even if it means giving up their privacy or their freedoms. Almost anything can be sold to the public under the guise of "fighting terrorism" these days, including subjecting your body to what is essentially a low-radiation CT scan at the airport!

I don't know about you, but I don't think I should be required to subject myself to ionizing radiation as a condition of air travel security. Of course, the more technically minded readers among you might counter by saying that high-altitude travel is, all by itself, an event that subjects you to low levels of ionizing radiation (which is true). But that's all the more reason to not add the body's radiation burden any more than necessary. Americans already get far too much radiation from CT scans and other medical imaging tests (not to mention mammograms). Do we really need to dose peoples' bodies with yet more radiation every time they board an airplane?

Trusted traveler program?
I don't know why the TSA never pursued its "trusted traveler" program. I actually suggested this years ago, and there was word that the TSA was working on something similar. The way it worked was very different from the current system. Under the current system, every person entering an airport security line is assumed to be a terrorist, and it is only through the various security screenings that you are eventually deemed to be innocent. This is a "guilty until proven innocent" approach to air security, and it's the system in place all across America (and around the world) today.

Under a trusted traveler program, people who pass rigorous background screening procedures, criminal history checks and other similar tests would be assumed innocent unless suspected of being guilty. They might carry "trusted traveler" cards linked to a federal database so that their status could be verified as they pass through a security checkpoint. They might even have their fingerprint scanned at that checkpoint in order to biometrically verify their identity.

For whatever reason, the TSA is no longer pursuing any such trusted traveler program (at least not to my knowledge). Perhaps the agency just figures it can trust no one. Hence the need to have everybody line up in front of the naked body scanner machines and raise their arms in a humiliating "I'm being arrested" pose.

It's actually just like the scene from the movie called The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis. Remember the scene where the cops are searching the apartment block and they use an X-ray scanner to see through the walls? As they search the apartment building, they announce that all residents must face the wall and place their hands inside the yellow circles on the wall. This scene eerily resembles what the TSA makes U.S. travelers do right now.

And virtually no one protests. That's the really amazing part about this.

Seasonal flu shots offered at the airport, too
After completing my security pat-down, by the way, I entered the terminal where I walked by a kiosk offering a seasonal flu shot. There was a big sign claiming that the flu shot would prevent you from catching the flu, and a nurse of some sort stood right behind the kiosk, ready to inject you with a vaccine for just $35.

First the naked body scanners, and then the flu shot propaganda. It reminded me that the U.S. government really is trying to push people into self-destructive behaviors that will ultimately benefit the sick-care industry. After all, the more cancer and Alzheimer's disease people develop (from radiation and vaccines, of course), the more business gets generated for Big Pharma.

I know enough about health and freedom to avoid these little disease bombs, but most Americans don't know enough to resist the propaganda. They just allow themselves to be irradiated, injected and poisoned, and they think it's all okay because the government tells them it's good for them.

It's odd that people trust the government when the government doesn't trust them at all. If the government treats you like a criminal, a terrorist, a lab rat and a vaccine depository, doesn't that only prove they don't honor you as a sovereign individual?

And that sends a powerful message confirming that the U.S. government has forgotten it is supposed to serve the People, not rule over them.

Just wait and watch how this gets even worse. Today, you can opt out of the TSA's naked body scanners, but after a year or two -- once the sheeple get comfortable with giving up all their freedoms -- these scans will become mandatory. That's the day I give up air travel for good.

Gee, I sure will miss having my crotch swept by the latex-covered back hand of some anonymous TSA agent who's wasting taxpayer money by treating me like a terrorist.


Chris

P.S. To the administrators: Please feel free to relocate this thread if you feel necessary or if a similar thread has been already discussed on PA. Thanks.

[truthseekerdan]

What's going down there in the S.D. airport Fred?

In response to a video of a California man's dispute with airport security officials, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday it tries to be sensitive to individuals, but everyone getting on a flight must be screened.
The video, in which software engineer John Tyner refuses an X-ray scan at the San Diego, California, airport, has sparked a debate over screening procedures.

Tyner told CNN on Sunday that he was surprised to see so many people take an interest in his refusal and the dispute with airport screeners that followed it. But he said he hoped the video will focus attention on what he calls a government invasion of privacy.
"Obviously, everybody has their own perspective about their personal screening," TSA administrator John Pistole told CNN. "The question is, how do we best address those issues ... while providing the best possible security?"

Tyner, 31, said his hunting trip to South Dakota was cut short before it even started Saturday morning -- when TSA agents asked him to go through an X-ray machine.
Napolitano: We're just doing what's best TSA responds to body scan backlash

"I don't think that the government has any business seeing me naked as a condition of traveling about the country," Tyner said.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0NJ6qmQ0BZk

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/15...ity/index.html

[Swami]

A Full-Body Scan Shortens Life Span by 42 Minutes

The Food and Drug Administration has responded to concerns from medical researchers at the University of California, San Francisco by releasing a statement minimizing the dangers from full-body scanners. The devices are appearing in greater numbers at airports, courthouses and other locations. According to the FDA, you would only lose 42 minutes of life per scan if the scan resulted in the development of a fatal cancer, or about 3 days if you received 100 lifetime full-body scans. But the UC medical researchers point out that comparisons to radiation doses from airplane flights and chest X-rays are misleading, because the body scanners deposit their radiation in a more concentrated manner over a thin layer of skin. In addition, they express a particular concern about breast cancer risk.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/21...-by-42-Minutes

[Beth]

I was noticing this was getting quite a bit of attention today, glad to see it.

[loveandgratitude]

TSA Humiliation & Abuse of Airline Passengers Must End


http://educate-yourself.org/cn/kirwa...y13nov10.shtml

[John Parslow]

Hello all

There is one rather drastic solution that springs to mind. Do not travel by plane, I have not done so for nearly ten years although do I realize that for business executives this is totally impractical. If more were to take road/rail or sea options then the house of cards may start to get a bit shakey … Alternatively more should stand-up and be counted and refuse to go along with this charade!

Best regards. JP

[bluestflame]

then they'd just find a reason to install the scanners at the bus depots and rail stations , they are targeting high volume people transport

[Ahkenaten]

OK, so when will people say "enough!" TSA subjecting toddlers and perhaps even infants to pat-downs and x-rays in the name of Freedom, Democracy and The American Way? What next - will some TSA worker taser a child for being uncooperative and unruly, i.e. suspicious behavior!!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QzEad...layer_embedded

[kinsuemei2]

Mass sterilization......

[heyokah]

Here is the story about the young man who didn't want to go through a backscatter full body scan.


http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/...y-between.html

[truthseekerdan]

Don't Touch My Junk Bro! - Interview With John Tyner

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zYykxMupiT0

More detail reading here

[Kra]

One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans

At the heart of the controversy over "body scanners" is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. These are those images.

A Gizmodo investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., obtained by a FOIA request after it was recently revealed that U.S. Marshals operating the machine in the Orlando, Florida courthouse had improperly-perhaps illegally-saved images of the scans of public servants and private citizens.

We understand that it will be controversial to release these photographs. But identifying features have been eliminated. And fortunately for those who walked through the scanner in Florida last year, this mismanaged machine used the less embarrassing imaging technique.

link: http://gizmodo.com/5690749/these-are...ked-body-scans

[NancyV]

I will most likely choose to not fly again until these TSA scanners are no longer used. Just the thought of it pisses me off! If I decide to fly to Hawaii or Europe instead of taking a ship, I will opt out of the scanners and be groped, which will also piss me off. If we weren't so afraid of profiling because it is deemed politically incorrect, perhaps TSA could concentrate on those who are likely suspects for terrorist acts by following the Israeli security model, but that would be too logical. I suspect terrorism is partially a convenient excuse to get people used to being scanned, checked and monitored.

I'm so glad I probably won't live (at least in this body) for much longer than 20 more years!! I will be flying where no planes are needed. I shudder to think what it will be like here even in another 10 years, that is if 2012 doesn't disrupt even the "best laid plans of mice and men".

Nancy

[HURRITT ENYETO]

I think the full body scanners days are numbered. Humans are stupid but they will catch on eventually.

[Butangeld]

Thanks for starting this thread Chris411. Just one point about the radiation of these 'security' machines you say:

Of course, the more technically minded readers among you might counter by saying that high-altitude travel is, all by itself, an event that subjects you to low levels of ionizing radiation

True, but it's not just the frequency of these waves that is important but it is their non-linear form which is creating health problems:

nonlinear resonances (although much less likely to form than less-powerful common resonances) could allow terahertz waves to "unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millimeter_wave_scanner
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24331/
I do not trust the opinion of any government employee or representative here in the UK, especially when it comes to health claims. The idea that airport security staff know what an x-ray is does not work at all. And the implication by way of trying to entice me to take a vaccine that my body's immune system will not be able to handle yet one more virus in a world where I am bombarded by an arsenal of other less well publicized ones is patently absurd.

[grannyfranny100]

It seems that folks are waking up. One site recommends that everyone flying before Thanksgiving opt out of the scanners. This will create long delays at the airports. Planes will be ready to leave but passengers will be stuck at security. Airlines won't be happy with the mess up. You may not be happy with the delays but at least you won't be frying your kids in the scanner.

People are now recording their pat down experiences on their cell phones and putting them on YouTube which is waking up more people.

Another site recommends writing to airlines and companies such as Disney to inform them that you intended to take the kids to Disney world/Land, etc. but because of security nonsense you have decided not to fly until the scanner and abusive searches end. Revenue losses by airlines and travel companies are already getting there attention and they have more leverage on the government that we do as individuals.

As for business travelers, I am sorry that you will be forced to endure this crap unless you can convince your CEO's that the pat down procedures now include going inside pants which increases risks of crabs and other diseases.

Granny Franny

[Ahkenaten]

I repeat as I joked years ago the only 'solution' to safe air travel is the requirement that we all fly naked! Imagine that.........................that requirement would surely cull out all those too bashful to be seen by others in their natural state as well as those too uncomfortable viewing others in their natural splendor. There would be no need to collect x-ray images of naked bodies ......... it all would be out in the open, so to speak. As for intrusive searches, they would be unnecessary. If added to the nakedness it were required that all baggage be checked that would resolve all security issues whatsoever! If the airline stewardesses and stewards and pilots were also to travel naked, all the better! After all - what is there to hide? The only remaining mystery I guess would be what could be hidden in body orifices.............and it would be obvious to all but the most dim-witted at that point how ridiculously paranoid and delusional this supposed quest for security is should body orifice checks be the next level of required security imposed on the naked - for their own good of course! P.S. I wonder if background checks are required for TSA workers? What assurances do we have that these humble servants of the New World Order are not convicted pedophiles or some other kind of perverts acting out their obsessions under the guise of National Security!!??

[Swami]

The REAL purpose behind airport scanners!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=G_CxXGFyquA

[Swami]

Scan WOW

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NitKBc56hjE

[Ahkenaten]

A friend of mine in law enforcement told me today that he will not submit to the scanning/body searches. He thinks that a tipping point is being reached on this issue. He also mentioned how many people are now securing alternate passports, for example if a person is of Irish descent in the US, they may be eligible for an Irish Passport, as just one example. He also feels that the constant harangue about the violence in Mexico is a propaganda tactic used to discourage US emigration to Mexico. That is currently a HUGE trend and TPTB very well know it - the trend represents loss of capital and humans and is a threat that must be stopped.