Yesterday, I was touched — in my opinion, inappropriately — by a TSA agent at LAX.
I'm not going to talk about it in detail until I can speak with an attorney, but I've spent much of the last 24 hours replaying it over and over in my mind, and though some of the initial outrage has faded, I still feel sick and angry when I think about it.
What I want to say today is this: I believe that the choice we are currently given by the American government when we need to fly is morally wrong, unconstitutional, and does nothing to enhance passenger safety.
I further believe that when I choose to fly, I should not be forced to choose between submitting myself to a virtually-nude scan (and exposing myself to uncertain health risks due to radiation exposure)1, or enduring an aggressive, invasive patdown where a stranger puts his hands in my pants, and makes any contact at all with my genitals.
When I left the security screening yesterday, I didn't feel safe. I felt violated, humiliated, assaulted, and angry. I felt like I never wanted to fly again. I was so furious and upset, my hands shook for quite some time after the ordeal was over. I felt sick to my stomach for hours.
This is wrong. Nobody should have to feel this way, just so we can get on an airplane. We have fundamental human and constitutional rights in America, and among those rights is a reasonable expectation of personal privacy, and freedom from unreasonable searches. I can not believe that the TSA and its supporters believe that what they are doing is reasonable and appropriate. Nobody should have to choose between a virtually-nude body scan or an aggressive, invasive patdown where a stranger puts his or her hands inside your pants and makes any contact at all with your genitals or breasts as a condition of flying.
I do not have the luxury of simply refusing to fly unless and until this policy changes. I have to travel dozens of times a year for work, and it simply isn't practical to travel any other way. Airlines know that I am not unique in this regard, so they have no incentive to take a stand on their customers' behalf. Our government also knows this, so our Congressmen and Congresswomen have no incentive to stand up for the rights and freedoms of their constituencies against powerful and politically-connected lobbyists like the former head of the TSA. This is also wrong.
I have to travel back into the USA next week, and I'll be back and forth between Los Angeles and Vancouver for much of the next several months. When I think about all this travel, I feel helpless, disempowered, and victimized by the airlines and the TSA … and I'm one of the lucky passengers who has never been sexually assaulted. I can't imagine what it must feel like for someone who has been the victim of sexual violence to know that they are faced with the same two equally-unacceptable choices that I faced yesterday, and will likely face whenever I fly in the future.
It's fundamentally wrong that any government can force its citizens to submit to totally unreasonable searches so we have the "freedom" to travel. It is fundamentally wrong that the voices of these same citizens are routinely ignored, our feelings marginalized, and our concerns mocked.
I don't know what we can do to change this, but we must do something. I'm writing letters to all of my congressional representatives, contacting an attorney, and reaching out to the ACLU when I get home. I am not optimistic that anything will change, because I feel like the system is institutionally biased against individuals like me … but maybe if tens of thousands of travelers express our outrage at this treatment, someone will be forced to listen.
Edit to add one more thing: I don't believe that all TSA officersare automatically bad people (though we've seen that at least some are.) For example, I recently flew out of Seattle, opted-out, and got a non-invasive, professional, polite patdown. It was still annoying, but at least my genitals weren't touched in any way, which was decidedly not the case yesterday. I realize that most TSA officers are doing the best they can in a job that requires them to interact with people who automatically dislike them and what they represent. It isn't the individual officer who is the problem; it's the policies he or she is instructed to carry out that need to change.
1. The TSA recently admitted that the amount of radiation passengers are exposed to in backscatter scanners was 10 times more than they originally claimed. The TSA claims that the scanners are still safe, but what else would we expect them to claim?
That might be more applicable if airlines weren’t forced to comply to the TSA. I’m sure an airline could carve out a niche for itself it it sold itself on not having the same useless requirements as everybody else.
Of course that won’t happen for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the US gov has mandated that everybody who flies has to (potentially) be searched. Once it has become law the option of choice isn’t the same. I can choose a different method of travel, but it has become illegal to choose not to be searched if I fly. SO the EULA argument, while valid, is backed up by US law, and can be enforced differently than most EULAs which are technically civil contracts.
There may be no right to fly, but you have the right to travel undisturbed. At all times, you have the right to safety of your body and that includes the right to NOT have it violated.
I’m terrified to fly anymore. Not because of the planes but because of security. About 9 months ago I had an ileostomy placed. But because I’m a 29yo woman it’s not expected or believed that I have an appliance. Having to announce to a few dozen interested onlookers that I have a pouch at my waist and that I’d rather they didn’t feel up my waist line because it could detach (and drip fecal matter everywhere) or just plain hurt is definitely an addition to dealing with a chronic disease I don’t think anyone deserves.
I have significantly curtailed my flying as the amount of Security Theatre has increased. I’ve driven more (up to 1000 miles), and taken the train when I can (I’ll take it to next year’s World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago). But even taking the train can subject you to these goons, as people getting OFF the train in Savannah GA found out recently. Disembarking passengers who went into the station building (say, to use the restroom or pick up a schedule leaflet) were forced into the “sterile area” and subjected to airport-style security.
Yes, these are people who had just got OFF the train, not people waiting to board it.
Here’s the story: http://gizmodo.com/#!5768805/tsa-harasses-9+yo-boy-and-other-train-passengers-after-their-trip
Amtrak’s chief of police was so angry that he ordered the TSA teams off of Amtrak property until further notice. Thank goodness someone is willing to push back. TRAINS magazine columnist Don Phillips, who is an expert transportation writer formerly with the Washington Post, wrote in the May 2011 issue of TRAINS regarding this issue, “We must fight back. Otherwise, we might see a day when the TSA will approach us on city streets and bark, ‘Your papers, please.’ Don’t laugh. These things happen slowly, one small loss of freedom at a time.”
Actually, the Israelis think TSA is totally useless. They do not in fact use invasive screenings in Israel unless you really blow the interview portion. A lot of people in this thread want to know “what else can we do”? We could do what the Israelis do, which is to *not* make their security a shitshow fail parade:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/full-body-scanners-are-illusion-security
Of course, that would mean we would need smart, trained TSA agents instead of the failed-the-USPS-exam nosepickers we have now.
THANK YOU for posting this. We need more people who actually notice what a ridiculous waste of everyone’s time (and money) the TSA really is. As has been mentioned by some other commenters, the pictures aren’t even half the issue, the unknown issues of the radiation are the big issue for me! You don’t get CT scans or X-Rays “just for fun” or every few days, but now frequent travelers are getting them just for showing up at the airport. And for what? Pretty much everyone agrees the machines WILL NOT catch serious security threats. And the people who operate medical imaging tools, some that shoot LESS radiation than the backscatter machines, sometimes have to undergo months or years of training to do so! How long do you think the average TSA agent got in that training? Probably 15 minutes showing them how to push the button.
Exposing large swaths of the public to radiation, at unknown levels (do you REALLY trust a TSA agent to have the training to know how to calibrate a machine that shoots radiation at your body?) in the name of security theatre is criminal. Even if they ARE “safe” or “low” levels– NONE is ALWAYS better.
I hope more people wake up and understand that while we need security, we need SMART security and security that makes sense– not meaningless machines and tactics that attempt to work by intimidation. (since they don’t work in any other way)
I haven’t flown in a couple of years (after spending most of the 90’s and early 2000’s in the air!) and will hold out as long as I can; I’m planning a road trip to visit family in a few weeks. Yes, it takes a bit longer to do it but I want to keep myself and the TSA goons as far away from each other as possible.
One work around if you can do it is to fly from a small airport. They don’t usually have the scanners and from my experience don’t go for the aggressive pat-downs. It will take you more time to get where you’re going but it may be worth the time to avoid the invasive searches at the big airports
I wrote to Janet Napolitano about this last November, cc’d to everyone representing me in congress and the president. I made pretty much the same points you’re making, Wil, with maybe a bit more emphasis on the there-is-no-benefit portion of the argument. About a week ago I received a form letter reply thanking me for my correspondence and assuring me that the TSA is doing everything it can to keep our skies safe. Such utter bullshit. I expected this kind of crap from Chertoff and Ridge, but was hopeful for rationality to make a comeback.
I think you’re right — individual complaints fall on entirely deaf ears. It’s going to take high-profile and high numbers of resistors to get anything to change. It’s maddening, to say the least.
And for those who have commented here with sentiments to the effect of, “hey, it beats getting blown up,” I will re-emphasize Wil’s point that there is no benefit to the current policy whatsoever. It prevents no terrorism. It’s not designed to. In fact, it is counterproductive. It creates (a) enticing targets for those who might want to target a large group of people in a confined space with nearly zero security; and (b) massively more holes in actual security by diverting resources to this useless pile of dung policy. All at the low, low cost of the citizenry’s dignity, health, and constitutional rights.
I am so sorry this happened, Wil. Thank you for writing about it.
I’m very sorry you had to experience this! Not looking forward to my next business flight, for exactly this reason.
an EULA can say you consent to be sexually assaulted at any time by representatives of the software company, but it will never hold up to a challenge in court.
This is exactly like that, and exactly that simple.
I’ve been traveling between New Orleans and San Francisco for quite some time now and I believe that when SFO started using the scanners they in fact have decreased their security. I have never had the option of going through the scanners myself as I am in a wheelchair, now at an airport with standard metal detectors I am usually assisted through the metal detector by an attendant before my wheelchair is swabbed. At SFO because the metal detectors are located in front of the scanners I was moved straight through and around, and while I was given a pat down and swabbed because of my inability to stand or move about in the chair I was not patted down particularly thoroughly anywhere except my sides and the front of my legs.
Now I am not a particular danger, but it struck me as slightly ludicrous that I felt as though I had been less thoroughly checked out in my non-optional invasive body pat down than I regularly am at a “lower security” airport.
It just reinforced how utterly pointless the new procedures are in addition to being expensive, time consuming, potentially dangerous, and inappropriate.
I have to admit before I read your blog today I thought people were just unnecessarily complaining about the TSA searches; all I want is just to be safe on the plane.
You Wil Wheaton have changed my mind about this subject or at least given me away to view this differently.
I would not liked to be searched in the way you described. I think you’re right it really isn’t makeing us safer have they really stopped any terriost threat by these searches? Just wish there was a solution so people don’t feel so violated just to travel.
I’m glad you mentioned sexual assult victims because I am one and I am afraid to fly because of these searches. Fortunately, I don’t have to travel often so I’ve yet to have this problem, but I do live with a certain amount of fear of this scenario should the searches still be going on the next time I have to fly.
Q: Why is TSA sexually assaulting backscatter opt-outs?
A: As punishment.
I asked him if he was looking forward to conducting the full-on pat-downs. “Nobody’s going to do it,” he said, “once they find out what we’re going to do. […] That’s what we’re hoping for. We’re trying to get everyone into the machine.”
http://whitewraithe.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/tsa-agent-admits-groping-pat-down-coercion-violates-section-802-of-us-patriot-act/
Q: What would real security look like?
A: The Israeli preflight interview system
“We have to use body search and body scanners only against seriously suspicious passengers,” he said. Yeffet indicated that it is unnecessary to search innocent people, which he said make up about 99.9 percent of air travelers.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/full-body-scanners-are-illusion-security
Wil, that’s a terrible ordeal and utterly devastating. I feel for you, I really do.
I think it is best to go after the perpetraitor with legal action. It’s risky to put yourself in that type of situation as a noted personality. It could be taken up by the press in not so supportive ways. But if you do, I know everyone here supports you. We have your back.
If you come across any good talking points that we can call our reps with, let us know. Environmental groups put together talking points for issues all the time. Calls and snail mail letters do work. They are counted. I’ll take a look too, later this week.
I know lots of people have shared your experience. Thank you for telling us your story.
Amen chico! I will do as you are suggesting, and if your lawyer has any advice, please tweet so I can do that as well.
I wrote to the TSA after I was violated by a female, as a male was watching… smiling. It wasn’t easy: I was given erroneous names and information…but found where to file a complaint. Here is their response:
Dear Ms. _______,
First, let me take a moment to introduce myself, my name is Terry Yuhouse and I was Supervisor of the Airside on the date you had your less than pleasurable experience. Therefore, I am ultimately responsible for every action or inaction that occurs on my Airside. I want you to know that I take that responsibility very seriously. I would like you to know that actions are being taken to ensure that your experience will not have to be tolerated by any other traveler(s) that enter this Airside. I wish to extend to you my most sincere apologies for the events you were made to endure that day.
It is not the mission or intention of the Tampa Transportation Security Administration to provide less than exemplary customer service. We here at Tampa continually strive to take feedback such as yours, learn from it, and adjust accordingly.
Although I take no pleasure in hearing reports such as yours, I see them as a necessary evil that can help us make positive changes.
For future travels and in situations when a woman’s chest area must be cleared, especially if the woman is wearing an undergarment such as an underwire bra, the (Transportation Security Officer) TSO is also required to use the back of the hand to pat down the passenger. A TSO of the same gender should conduct the pat-down. Be advised, that you are entitled to a private screening , were Two females will accompany you to a private screening area. If, in the future, you feel in any way uncomfortable, please communicate that to the TSO or you can always ask
to speak to a Supervisor.
The next time you come through Tampa International Airport, please do not hesitate to see me personally. If you have any further questions or suggestions, call my cell phone at (727) 487-3750.
Sincerely,
Terry L. Yuhouse
The problem with the TSA is that it’s a government agency. Government agencies usually operate under their own rules that are set up by….the government. So they can virtually do what they want without worrying about the public. And since the same “company” is doing the security checks at all airlines, it doesn’t matter which airline you fly you still get groped.
How to fix it?
Turn over airline security to the airlines! “But that’s just crazy!”, you say. Think about it. I’m not going to fly on an airline that I think has lack security. I’m not going to fly on an airline that has “Death Ray X-ray machines” and guards that strip you naked and search every orifice. I am, however, going to fly on an airline that provides a reasonable amount of security, in a reasonable amount of time, with reasonable rules, while still providing customer service that will have me fly with them again.
THERE IS NO INCENTIVE FOR THE TSA TO CHANGE THE WAY THEY OPERATE! THERE IS NO PROFIT/LOSS MARGIN, THEY HAVE GUARANTEED REPEAT CUSTOMERS, YOU MUST USE THEM NO MATTER WHICH AIRLINE YOU FLY.
Make the Airlines in charge of their own security and you will be in control of who does your security check. You will be in control of who gets your business, you will be in control of who gets your money, you will decide which type of security is provided by your choice of airline.
By doing this you make the airlines security measures a part of their customer service. The better the customer service the better their repeat customer numbers, *ding* there’s the incentive.
The problem is not that there’s is so much security, it’s how the security is being handled. It’s being handled by the government and governments are notorious for saying “we know what we’re talking about” for years and then all of a sudden we find out “we know what we’re talking about” actually means that they “didn’t have a F**King clue”. Most of the airline security currently in place is a useless waste of time. If the government is doing a job, any job, it usually takes three times as many people and ten times as much money than if the job was done in the private sector. And in most cases the private sector company does a better job.
So the problem isn’t the way that the government is running TSA. It’s the fact, that the government is running TSA. We don’t need to petition to get TSA practices changed, we need to get airline security placed into the hands of the airlines.
In regards to the “mandatory-ness”, only “contract carriers” (aka conventional airlines) require this. “charter carriers” do not.
While you are a super-awesome Hollywood-type, I do still imagine you probably can’t afford to take a chartered flight every time you need to travel. But there *ARE* “charter airlines” out there, that operate scheduled service out of small local airports rather than large international hubs. These, by operating as “scheduled charters” rather than a standard airline, are not subject to government-sponsored rape to board. There is a fairly major one up here in the Pacific Northwest, SeaPort Airlines, which flies this way. The cost is only slightly higher than conventional carriers. (Portland to Seattle is about $275 round trip.)
It’s a good thing I don’t have to fly, because I would be arrested, if someone were to touch me in the manner you described!
It’s wrong and unamerican, and I wish you good luck in your endeavor to do something about this!
And God help me if I ever have to board a plane!
Tess Wright/ new Will Wheaton fan!
I’m so sorry this happened to you, Wil. It’s why I’m glad I have the “luxury” of not having to travel for work, though it’d be nice to go visit my folks now and again (if I take enough anti-anxiety meds to tranq an elephant, that is–not a good flyer). But the final straw was this. I can’t go through the magnetometer *or* the scanner; I have an ICD unit. So I *have* to submit to groping. And I won’t.
Here’s hoping Amtrak doesn’t start doing it or I’ll never leave town ever again.
I was violently raped and sodomized over a period of several hours almost twenty years ago. It is something I have gotten over, for the most part. However, I still cannot stand to have strangers touch me. I flew from Seattle to Utah over the Christmas holidays and was terrified, yes, TERRIFIED, of being “patted down.” Just the possibility of it put me into a panic attack. If I had actually been forced to go through it, I have no doubt I would have had a mental breakdown right there in the airport. I have since moved to Utah just so I would be closer to my aging parents and, hopefully, will never be in a position to fly again. At least, I hope not to ever have to fly until they have eliminated this nonsense. Israel has some of the toughest airport security available. Somehow, they manage to do it without sexually assaulting anyone. Go figure…
Something needs to be done. I realize that flying is “voluntary.” However, for many, it isn’t necessarily as voluntary as one would think. These gropings in the name of security are just wrong. Even with the enhanced scan, they can call you aside to grope you if they feel it necessary, and one can do NOTHING about it. If you cry foul, they can not only refuse to allow you to fly, but can also have you arrested. It’s crazy and does nothing to make us safer.
Wil, you feel like you’ve been sexually violated because you have been. That was entirely inappropriate and wrong. You know that in your gut, and your body knows it. You can’t deny that, nor should you try to. You shouldn’t try to brush off your feelings or get over it or that it was no big deal. As far as I’m concerned you’ve just been sexually abused. And that’s wrong, period.
One in four women are sexually abused in their lifetimes, and one in fifteen men (but the more likely number is eight).
Check out this site http://www.rainn.org/ Not just because I am proudly one of their advocates, but because this is what they do. You have every right to feel upset and take action. Sexual abuse/assault is wrong. Take a look at the site. If you see any of yourself there, well…. you’re not alone.
First off, I’m so sorry to hear about your ordeal. I had a similar situtation with an Italian cop when I was 19. I knew he had crossed the line, but he still did it once more “just to be sure”. Coupled it with the fact that there really is nothing you can do about it, and it’s no wonder that you felt the way you did.
Second, thank you. I was debating flying out of Seattle to Dublin in September because I would save $130 over flying out of Vancouver (I live in Victoria so I was factoring in travelling to/from those cities), but the chance of a run in like that with TSA agents isn’t worth it. I’ll pay the extra to fly fondle-free.
Would you like me to come pick you up? My ‘burb can cover that ground almost as fast as driving/parking/waiting/flying/waiting/ can. I’ve been a full-time, professional kid-taxi for 20 years, so it’s nothing I haven’t done before. Just say the word. 🙂
The culture of paranoia and “security theater” that we have been forced to endure in the US for the last ten years has me very worried about the future of my country. When ordinary passengers on domestic and US-Canada flights are put through a physical search more extreme than anything I experienced when entering and leaving East Germany thirty years ago, something is very, very wrong.
That is completely horrible. That’s also why the last time I went to Pax Prime I took the train. It was quite nice. There isn’t per chance an overnight train from your area to Vancouver? That way at least you’d be sleeping for most of the ‘wasted’ time.
You are NOT the only one that is standing up and insisting on real security instead of the theater we have now that only demeans and violates the flying public. I do it on a weekly basis since I have to fly for business. I always opt-out when called upon and have contacted all federal and state officials several times about the abuses. I’ve also contacted the airlines, hotel chains and others travel companies that want someone like me to continue to fly over 100K+ miles annually. I will NOT let my family fly on vacation anymore because I will NOT allow my 9yo daughter to be subjected to the humiliations that the TSA imposes.
There are a lot more of us behind you and you can count me in the fight.
Just wanted to say, Wil, that I’m unbelievably sorry this happened to you. It’s fucking sick and ridiculous. I definitely understand the need for some security measures, but I think we’re far far far away from the correct solution.
I have a medical condition that makes my body, particularly my genitals, look & feel much differently from what one would expect. Because of this, I wear a prosthetic (yes, down there) to… I guess feel/look “normal.”
If I ever choose to fly again, I have only a few mutually disagreeable options. All of them require that I remove the prosthetic to avoid it being ID’d as some kind of bomb or something (it’s explosive, ya know, but not like THAT). I can get the backscatter, and while I’m not particularly concerned about the radiation, I *am* concerned that someone see me naked. It’s not because I fail to be European that I’m worried about nudity, it’s because I don’t want someone asking uncomfortable questions, and damnit, it just violates my goddamned privacy. On the other hand, I can submit to the patdown – sans glans. Haha. Seriously, though, can you imagine? I’m a bearded, mildly potbellied, hairy dude. If they start feeling around down there and feel something amiss – then what? Privacy concerns aside… it’s just…
too much to deal with.
As I said, I get the need to figure something out to avoid planes getting exploded. But, this? Really?
EB
There is a Texas state Representative (Rep. David Simpson – R-Longview) that is attempting to pass 2 bills in the state of Texas to make the porno scanners and the molestation Felonies in the state of Texas.
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2011/03/texas-legislation-proposes-felony-charges-for-tsa-agents/
I had a rant about the procedures typed up, but I think this says everything:
First world problems..
I used the White House website to send 2 emails about the change in the TSA. Each time I cited specific studies and articles that state that the scanners currently used by the TSA are NOT effective at preventing terrorism. I asked why we’re relying on tech that’s been proven not to be effective and is a potential health risk. Both times, I checked off the option box stating that I wanted a reply to my message. Even though I sent my first message in November, I have yet to receive a response.
I’m afraid to fly at this point. I have a genetically high risk of skin cancer so I’m not about to agree to their scanners — which leaves me the option of being groped. I’ve read plenty of stories about young women traveling alone being singled out for extra screenings. I’ve read accounts of women who were subjected to what was absolutely sexual assault at the hands of the TSA. I feel like if I opt to board an aircraft, there’s a good chance I could be targeted, and I will go to almost any length necessary to avoid it. (Case in point, I’m probably going to cancel my upcoming vacation, even though I’ve already registered to attend a conference in another state. It’s an 11 hour drive for me and I can’t take the extra time off to travel by car.)
I can’t believe our country has come to this — that a division of our government is given free rein to abuse citizens with the lie that they’re making us safe. Groping innocent citizens isn’t making us safe. Targeting young women, attractive women, UNDERAGE women — that isn’t making us safe. Stroking women’s bare faces is not making us safe. All they’re doing is stripping away our rights and our dignity. The fact that our leaders care so little about our rights and our feelings makes me despair for the future of our country. And it makes me very sad to be an American.
I’m sorry this happened to you, but I’m so glad you are on this. The whole TSA situation is out of control, and all of us need to stand up and refuse to live in a police state.
You’re advocating for millions of angry and humiliated people – thank you.
Or perhaps OVERestimated them! Expecting the US government’s response to make sense? Not bloody likely.
If the screener made direct contact with your genitals this is outside of protocol and you may pursue assault charges with the LAPD. A similar incident occurred at EWR in December when a female ABC producer was felt up inside her underwear. Pistole went on record saying that this “should never happen”/ http://senseofevents.blogspot.com/2010/11/pistole-panics-after-tsa-probes-abc.html
I suggest that you file criminal assault charges immediately and demand that they pull the security tape so you can identify the assailant. Good luck and hope this brings about positive change in TSA.
A few weeks ago, I read about TAM9 (The Amazing Meeting!) happening this summer in Las Vegas. I was all excited about the possibility of seeing so many of the people I follow online in person. And then I remembered… the TSA. I refuse to submit to their demands! Unfortunately, this means I am 2200 miles from where I want to be this summer. Flying is the only practical means of getting there. I don’t have time to drive. Fifty-six hours on a Greyhound bus? Eww! Thanks to the TSA, I have to settle for whatever is made available online. No doughnuts and bacon with Penn Jillette! Fuck you, TSA!
Well, my image link appears to have broken. Google image search “and then the tsa touch their balls” for an image of Bin Laden making fun of us.
If you do wish to contact your congressional representatives, keep this in mind: They get a lot of mail, and have no time to read it.
Many politicians use a ranking system to help them apply a weight to an opinion. Face-to-face conversations weigh the most. Hand written or typed and signed letters typically come next. A phone call typically comes next. Email comes next. Form letters and pre-printed post cards rank lowest of all. Find out what system your representatives use, and use the most effective form of communication you can.
In your communication, be succinct. Be clear. Don’t wander off into long stretches of prose. Your letter will probably not be read by your representative. It will be read by a staffer. Don’t leave the staffer guessing. They won’t waste the time trying to figure out what you mean.
A friend of mine used to work for a state legislator. His job was to count mail. To give you an idea of how this system of measurement can affect your communication, this was his system:
If he couldn’t read it for reasons of illegibility, poor copy, or bad handwriting, he threw it away. If he couldn’t figure out the issue or the stance in one paragraph, he threw it away. If he could decipher the meaning behind a letter, he tallied the opinion using a point system. At the top of his scale, hand written or typed and signed letters got 100 points. At the bottom end of his scale, pre-printed letters and postcards only got one point. That’s one point better than being tossed in the can.
The few seconds it takes to sign your letter can be all it takes to make your voice carry one hundred times more weight than if you just printed it and stuffed it in an envelope. Find out what system your representatives use, and make your voice heard.
I would love to see some eccentric billionaire, like Richard Branson, form “Opt Out Airlines” for everyone willing “to take the risk” of flying without these security procedures. I and everyone else smart enough to realize that those who wish to hurt the United States are too innovative to repeat themselves would fly that airline. It would make money.
It will never happen, because it would prove the TSA foolish and excessive at best, and unnecessary at worst.
Wil, on behalf of all Americans, I hope you succeed. Because this invasive security theater is completely against the Constitution. I don’t think an anonymous person like me could make any sort of difference, but maybe you can. Thank you for your honesty and your effort.
But, at the same time, if I’m not mistaken in my memory (which may be the case) a contract is null and void in any part wherein the constitution is violated. A person CANNOT sign away their constitutional rights. That’s what it means for them to be inalienable. Thus, no matter whether you sign your ticket or not, your constitutionally backed claim to reasonable privacy and protection against search and seizure remains in effect and intact. It is never okay for someone to molest you in any way or in any situation, whether a company slips a clause into a ‘contract’ and then forces you to sign the conveyance of said ‘contract’ (your ticket) to validate its use, or not.
If there is a Constitutional Attorney in the ranks of the readers, please correct me if I am mistaken.
Wil, if you want to cite the Constitution, perhaps you should grow a spine and jump off the Hollywood Liberal bandwagon, and stop supporting Leftist politicians who defecate on the Constitution with every piece of legislation they force on the people without our permission.
Discussion of these un-Constitutional and draconian policies has been quite heated on FlyerTalk.com and other travel-related web sites for some time.
The news media, sensing other hot topics, has shrugged, said “Anything for security!” and moved on.
But some folks realize that TSA has been violating the 4th Amendment in blatant and egregious ways for at least a year with the AIT scanners (often called nude-o-scopes) and “enhanced pat-downs” (often called gropedowns or simply gropes), and we’re not happy.
On Dec. 14, 2010, The Austin Airport Advisory Commission (AAAC), tasked with advising the Austin City Council regarding policy at Austin Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA), voted unanimously to oppose the full-body scanners being installed at the city’s airport.
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is suing the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, saying full-body scans and pat-downs at airport checkpoints are violating his rights.
The Alaska State Legislature passed a resolution on March 11, 2011, urging the TSA to discontinue the full-body scans and invasive searches, and urging the US Congress to exercise greater oversight of TSA.
Several more lawsuits (at least 4) have been filed against TSA by private individuals and consumer advocacy groups, alleging that the full-body scans and enhanced pat-downs are un-Constitutional and should be discontinued.
There is a lot of resistance to these procedures, but unfortunately most of America has been duped into believing that machines peering beneath your clothing and government agents putting their hands down your pants are not only legal, but absolutely necessary to keep the country safe from some Muslim boogie-men whom we are told are hiding behind every corner.
It’s a new Cold War, and the paranoia it has inspired is even worse than the US-Soviet Cold War.
To those who support the TSA. Please, take a car. I do not want to share a plane with cowards. You have the right to free travel. Go anywhere you wish. You do not have the right to interfere with my constitutional liberty/privacy. You actually don’t have any “right” to fly without risk to your life but I do have a (legally-protected) right to not have my groin groped or viewed without permission. The TSA isn’t due any credit for stopping planes being hijacked. There is more chance of you killing, or being killed by someone by driving your car, so if you are also willing to accept the government preventing you driving your car, your arguments might have some validity. Alternatively, you can accept that there are always risks in life, and while we can do what we can to prevent many of them, we cannot prevent them all and no risks are worth sacrificing liberty and the personal privacy/dignity that these TSA policies take away. If you do not want to get on a plane where people have not been groped or had their body scanned with radiation and had naked images of themselves viewed by strangers, please find other transportation. It is not your right to fly to your destination while insisting other people’s dignity and fundamental human rights are taken away.
No one is forcing you on that plane; however, I suggest you get over your fear. Nothing is ever totally safe and without risk but some things are worth taking risks and preserving liberty is the most noble risk of all.
http://DontScan.me
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security-222/
http://wewontfly.com
I was sexually abused for years as a child. To go through what you described would cause me to have flashbacks and nightmares for days. I would have to relive the humiliation of being victimized, with no power to defend or protect myself. There is no way I will even consider trying to fly until this policy goes away. My emotional health is too important. I’m proud of you for taking a stand on this issue, I hope your lawyer can offer some real help.
I must say that the thought of flying now terrifies me, not the actual flight, getting through security. In 2003 I was sexually assaulted and ever since I have (I think justifiably so) been very anxious when it comes to the proximity of total strangers. I recently flew from Atlanta to Cleveland and honestly about had an anxiety attack in the line for security in both airports, I was lucky though I managed to get the “old school” metal detectors both times. I truly hate that you had to go through that, it’s a horrible thing to feel like your very person has been violated. I’m hoping this governmental idiocy will go away at some point, but I’m not holding my breath.
I don’t know if you read all of your tweet responses, but I commented, as did Cenobite that what you are describing is very similar to the feelings of someone who has been sexually assaulted. Just imagine being a survivor of a violent sexual assault and having to endure that in order to travel by plane. I’m sorry that you endured this. You are a survivor, and I hope you will fight back.
To anyone that wants to say that this is anything like seeing a doctor, you could not be any more wrong. Before they even touch living people doctors do a lot of touching of dead people. They develop a respect for the human body as they learn about its function.
Israel has infinitely more experience with terrorists and bombs this than the United States. WHY we did not check out how they do it and follow their model is a complete mystery to me.
Incorrect. The right to travel is the right — recognized in common law for centuries — to use “common modes of transportation”!!!
If airplanes are not a “common mode of transportation”, I don’t know what is.
Obviously you don’t have a “right” to take a particular airplane that is being operated by a private company. But you do have a right to fly, and the government has no right to interfere (see the quote by Justice Stewart above).
I’ll bet you voted for Obama, and plan to do so again. This is HIS administrations thuggery, enforced by his lapdog Napolitano. He can end this invasive garbage with one phone call, and he does nothing.
You reap what you sow, Wheaton. Sorry you got goosed. It’ll probably happen again. Because we’re too politically correct and stupid to use intelligent (not necessarily racial) passenger profiling like the Israelis have done successfully for decades.
This. If you really think you can sign away your constitutional rights, find someone gullible enough to sign a contract to become your slave. See how long it holds up.
What TSA is doing is illegal. No bones about it.