CBS says the have a poll that shows Americans overwhelmingly support full body “naked” scanners at airports, despite what some “civil rights groups” have to say about them.
CBS says:
Although some civil rights groups allege that they represent an unconstitutional invasion of privacy, Americans overwhelmingly agree that airports should use the digital x-ray machines to electronically screen passengers in airport security lines, according to the new poll. Eighty-one percent think airports should use these new machines — including a majority of both men and women, Americans of all age groups, and Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Fifteen percent said airports should not use them.
You can check out the fill poll here.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wrote in an op-ed in USAToday:
…We ask for cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy.
As part of our layered approach, we have expedited the deployment of new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units to help detect concealed metallic and non-metallic threats on passengers. These machines are now in use at airports nationwide, and the vast majority of travelers say they prefer this technology to alternative screening measures.
AIT machines are safe, efficient, and protect passenger privacy. They have been independently evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who have all affirmed their safety. And the weapons and other dangerous and prohibited items we’ve found during AIT screenings have illustrated their security value time and again.
What do you guys think?
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I have nothing against what the scans would reveal – I have issue with the unstudied radiation.
I bet that most of the people polled aren’t aware that they would receive a dose of high energy radiation every time they walk through such an imagining scanner.
Hey bub…gotta make a choice here…die of cancer or get blown up by brown peoples. No doubt most good Americans will choose the former.
“Hey bub…gotta make a choice here…die of cancer or get blown up by brown peoples. No doubt most good Americans will choose the former.”
You make the founding fathers cry, faux-patriot.
Where is Zombie Thomas Jefferson when we need him ; ;
“We like war! We´re a war-like people! We like war because we´re good at it! You know why we´re good at it? Because we get a lot of practice. This country´s only 200 years old and already we´ve had ten major wars. We average a major war every twenty years in this country, so we´re good at it!
And it´s a good thing we are, we´re not very good at anything else anymore! Can´t make a decent car, can´t make a TV set or a VCR worth a f%&#… got no steel industry left, can´t educate our young people; can´t get health care to our old people…
But we can bomb the shit out of your country! Especially if your country’s full of brown people. Oh we like that, don’t we? That’s our hobby; bombing brown people! Iraq, Grenada, Libya, Panama… if you’re country’s full of brown people, tell ‘em to watch the f&*% out, or we’ll goddamn bomb them!
But when´s the last white people you can remember that we bombed, can you remember — can you remember ANY white people we´ve ever bombed? The Germans! They were the only ones, and that´s only because they were trying to cut in on our action! They wanted to dominate the world – bulls%&@, that´s our fuckin´ job!“
~George.
My issue is with the privacy and the useless erosion of civil rights in the name of security theater.
If you don’t like the radiation, then you shouldn’t fly. The dose you get from being 30000 feet in the air for six hours is considerably worse than anything you get from these machines.
Your belief, based on what the news media has told you, holds two presumptions:
1. That the machines only put out as much radiation as they say they do.
2. That it makes no difference in how the radiation is directed to your body at the end of the day.
A) Short of buying one of these devices and testing it myself, what the manufacturer says is all I have to go on. I’ve seen little evidence presented that suggests something other than what the manufacturers and news media have reported.
B) Even if they were significantly under reporting the dose, most people are unaware of just how much extra radiation they receive while traveling at altitude, especially if they traverse the poles. Some people jump when they hear the word radiation and aren’t fully aware of all the risks involved in activities they already participate in fully.
Either way, though, I think we’re in agreement that the machines need to go.
My issue is with the privacy and the useless erosion of civil rights in the name of security theater.
If you don’t like the radiation, then you shouldn’t fly. The dose you get from being 30000 feet in the air for six hours is considerably worse than anything you get from these machines.
I share your concern with the radiation.
1. These are new
2. How often is their radiation output tested?
3. Sure, they say that the does is low, but what difference does it make in how they use it?
4. Do the TSA members have to scan each other everyday before work, and if not, why not?
5. We try to reduce our exposer to radiation as much as possible, why use this method over metal detectors? What is the benefit of this added dosage of radiation? (aside from government contracting money).
If someone brings a bomb into the airport, what is to stop them from detonating it right there at the security checkpoint? They’d kill more people than on a plane. The TSA is not there to stop bombs and terrorists, that is the job of the intelligence community.
You are in more danger driving to the airport. Stop being so paranoid and live a little.
I love Push Polling! Please, tell me what a small percentage of idiots think!
Who cares how many Americans are willing to give up their rights?
The Constitution doesn’t seem to say it is alright to have an abusive government so long as the majority of citizens don’t complain.
I keep hearing people say ‘Well, as long as they make us safer, that’s okay!’ but I have yet to see proof that they live up to that qualification.
Proof: Since we have been using these machines, no planes originating from the U.S. have been hijacked or blown up as a result of terrorism.
/sarcasm
The polls I see all run around 90%+ against.
This shows just how desperate these guys are to keep buying these machines.
Billions of dollars in sales blown on these pieces of crap allows for some significant lobbying power among both parties.
Most people have no idea that there’s anything happening, because it hasn’t happened on Jersey Shore yet.
Once someone feels up The Situation at LGA on-screen, things will change. They will!
I smell propaganda.
Correction: the headline should read “Push Poll: Americans Deeply In Love With Full Body Scanners”.
We must do what the Ministry of Love tells us!
Besides, the Ministry of Truth has already shown us that they are safe, effective, and not a violation of our privacy!
This just means most Americans either don’t fly or are morons. I’ll take the 1:10,000,000 chance something happens on my plane over the 1:1 chance of me being groped or having nude pictures take of me.
I blame democracy for giving morons power in our society.
We need a Czar of America! (or a King/Queen) (Maybe a Pharaoh)
I like Czar. Sounds classy, and its roots are in the word ‘caesar’!
Pasha is a good one, too
Baaaa… says the sheeple. MSM is the best and easiest way to brainwash people.
I oppose the on the basis that I dont think they help. I think there are better ways to handle airport security and the whole method and mentality behind TSA is garbage.
A CBS poll…
Alot surveys period are not accurate. I don’t care if it’s confidential many people feel obligated to give the politically correct answer to strangers especially. In this case not being against “security”. And yeah alot of this respondents either don’t fly or don’t care- “oh no abuses will ever happen to me”.
Then you have big sis giving a very constructed response which also plays to the insecure public talking about the dangerous items they have already found with the scanners( BUT would these have been discovered through other means and would something have actually happend if not discovered.
The thing with alot of these measures in the name of security is in reality how much danger are we really in. Exactly how dangerous are these do it yourself kit bombs where in flight assembly is required. Personally I think alot of these methods were already attempted by terrorist want bes and failed. In reality not only do have to assemble a d i y bomb you have to hope because of the smuggling methods used that temperature and/or pressure/crushing from the body affect them. And wouldn’t metal detectors find most weapons and wouldn’t smuggling dangerous weapons also be danger to the terrorist as well. And in most cases where something eluded airport security the passengers and crew have prevented a successful attack.
I’m terrorized by the government having this much power which is supposed to be defending us and our way of life/freedoms and force/manipulate us into giving up those very same freedoms.
Completely irrelevant. We aren’t a bit safter with these machines. You ignorant fascists who think these machines actually do anything are quickly turning the USA into a fucking police state. Absolutely disgusting. I’m embarrassed to live in the same country with you.
Yes, I believe that poll. Because I believe everything that I read.
“But… it was on the TV! Just like Slappy!” ~ Brent Ernst
Napolitano claims this new procedure was implemented as a response to the December 25, 2009 attempted bombing on a plane heading into Detroit. That’s a demonstrable lie, on two counts:
1. It’s been 11 months since then. If there had actually been any urgency to respond to that particular threat, it’s a little late … 11 months later … to do anything about. The barn door, the horses, etc.
2. The underwear bomber boarded his plan in Europe, not in the US. There is literally NO security measure that can be implemented within the US, that will do the slightest thing about someone who boards in another country and flies here.
For me, it’s not so much the X-ray itself, but the lying about why they want to do it, that’s so troubling. What’s even more troubling is that so few people are aware they’re being lied to.
That and there a few experts kicking around that are saying the scanners wouldn’t have even caught the underwear bomber in the first place.
Some analysis:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/the-full-body-backlash/
It would not be so bad if it sped up the security check process.
The propaganda machine in full force. Complaints are all over the place. Maybe if the TSA strip searches and does full body cavity searches on every citizen, they might actually catch a “terrorist” once? Or perhaps flying is still the safest way to fly WITHOUT the TSA and their huge costs.
lets look at the definition of terrorism
ter·ror·ism (tr-rzm)
n.
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
Who are the terrorist again ????
But of course most people are going to favor the scanners when the only alternatives are to be groped by a TSA putz or fined $10K after deciding you didn’t want to fly.
TSA = Thugs ‘R Us
I wonder what the polls would reflect if we only asked people who fly. I already find the process humiliating. I’ve learned to plan my clothes carefully for airports.. no metal decorations, pockets for my id, shoes that go off and on easily, oh yeah.. and don’t forget to wear your hair in a way that doesn’t set off the alarms. My hair barette has set off the detectors before. Oh yes.. and for the Ladies.. don’t forget what happens if you wear an underwire bra.
My issues are more with the federal government over stepping its mandate by conducting the searches that the TSA does. I would have absolutely no problem if they were conducted by the airline (or their contractor) as part of their contract of carriage.
My solution:
Make the airlines ultimately responsible for the security of their operations. If something gets through on their watch and does damage, they pay the price (ie unlimited liability). They will undoubtedly have to take out insurance to mitigate that risk. Their insurance policy will have some stipulations regarding standards for security screening. The government could make the insurance mandatory (like the FDIC) and retain control of the security standards but the airlines would be ultimately responsible for implementing them.
As for the health effects of the machines, from what I have heard the millimeter wave technology is safer than the x-rays and whoever is conducting the searches should take that in to consideration when putting the purchase orders out for bid.
Well if you was paying me I would say yes to lol
Because there’s a human operator out there monitoring the naked pictures and that the human operator is a TSA employee, I’m all for banning full body scanners.
Someday, there’s going to be a website like Wikileaks with full body images taken from those scanners. Then the whole world can check out nude scans of our bodies with no royalty payments coming our way.
i’m all for the whole world being photographed naked and published on line, though I believe people would like editorial control of their image.
So what the hell is the difference between this crowd and the rest of America according to CBS and the consumerist polls.
So if I fly with my family and out of concern of the unknown, especially in light of what Johns Hopkins researchers have published, I opt my diapered child out of the backscatter, he will need to be molested, or would they require him to remove his diaper so they can check underneath his scrotum? Because I’m sure that being fondled by a stranger who isn’t his doctor will be totally harmless to his little phyche.
Here’s what need to happen: somebody will have leak the body scan of one hot celebrity. That’s the only way we could save ourselves
Sounds legit right? I mean everybody wants to have naked scans and healthy problems right? It only seems it would be an issue if the machines didn’t actually makes us safer or if they cost millions of dollars…
Wasn’t Fen-Phen legal and approved by the FDA? and tobacco? and Zicam? and Thalidomide.
Shoe stores used to XRAY your feet to make sure that shoes fit correctly and operators are now having all types of delayed side effects.
Just because the FDA says it is OK and safe does not mean a thing to me.
Sorry about being a nit-picker here, but thalidomide was actually not approved by the FDA for use in humans until 1998: http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/common/thalidomide.html
Looks like people in the US can take it now, but they have to be on two types of birth control while using it, and women using it are given pregnancy tests every month.
At the time of the thalidomide disaster (the 1960s), the drug was not approved in the United States, but was approved in the rest of the developed world.
So, this was one instance where the FDA actually did do its job properly, and protected its citizens. It does happen.
If you think these full body scanners are bad, wait until you see what Homeland Security has in store for you. Check out the videos below. If you think this will not happen in your town you are wrong. I live in the suburbs of Atlanta, Ga. and the Feds conducted a mobile truck scanning (VIPER) checkpoint operation using the trucks in the video. They scanned every truck coming down the highway and caused a massive traffic jam. Wait until they set up security trailers at sporting and concert events. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNXig2uJ-NM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtAWQwO_Q4Y&feature=player_embedded#!
I’m not worried about the pictures, I think they are absurdly expensive and ineffective.
Question: Do you want to be blown up by a terrorist? No? See! America DOES approve of the nude rays!
It’s a setup. The poll asks about profiling terrorists and then asks about body scanners.
It is designed so people will say yes.
This is great as it will help assist TSA in thwarting further terrorist attacks, as they have done dozens of times in the past.
uh, yeah.
They conducted a poll among 1137 people over 3 days.
This poll alone has already had more than 8000 votes within 24 hours.
I guess 1137 are more “American” than 8000.
Response to napolitano: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
in other news: The government of China just released a survey of its citizens happiness and level of satisfaction with how the country is run…88% responded that they were extremely satisfied with how things are going in china while 16% responded they were “extremery” satisfied.
most people don’t follow the news and have no idea that this x-ray machine is different than others we have been introduced to over the years…doctor, dentist, etc.
they should also ask whether these people think the old x-ray machine was acceptable…if they answered “what’s the difference” then their answer can be discarded.
“CBS says the have a poll…”
3 words into the article and there’s a typo? Mush!
So why do we have to be the ones playing the full-monty parts in Security Theatre? I don’t do nudity unless it’s tasteful and relevant to the plot.
Adolf Hitler himself would have approved of managing the populace in the way that TSA is doing….We all know how that management style turned out.