The holidays are here so that means it’s time for the TSA to release a new list of items that you think would bring holiday cheer but actually need to be banned to protect national security. UCBComedy’s The Brig parodies TSA policies in this new sketch that is probably more disturbing (warning: blood n’ candy canes) than uproarious. [More]
TSA
Are You Participating In "Opt-Out" Day?
By 11.24.10
The day is finally here. No, not the day before Thanksgiving. Something far more important than spending time with your family, National Opt-Out Day. People who are doing it plan to, when asked to step through the body imaging machine, opt-out and get the enhanced pat-down instead. Are you gonna do it, or do you think it’s stupid – or worse? Take our poll! [More]
Are TSA Scanners Likely To Cause Cancer In Travelers?
By 11.24.10
A Columbia University radiation expert says the Transportation Security Administration’s airport body scans are “likely” to cause cancer in some passengers. The expert also said Department of Homeland Security-commissioned research, which found that the exposure to radiation is minimal, is suspect because it has not been peer reviewed. [More]
Adam Savage: TSA Scanners Missed My 12" Long Weapon
By 11.23.10
Adam Savage of Mythbusters carries around a bunch of weird crap, so he’s always careful to check his laptop bag and person to make sure he’s not going to have any of his valuable nonsense confiscated by the TSA. Except one day last May… [More]
TSA Head Apologizes To Traveler Whose Bladder Bag Burst During Pat-Down
By 11.23.10
Yesterday, the TSA got yet another public-relations black eye when a man in Michigan said airport screeners in Detroit refused to listen to him about his medical condition and accidentally ruptured a bag full of urine under his clothes. [More]
Your Morning Cup Of TSA Backwash
By 11.23.10
American citizen with free time declines both backscatter scan and patdown upon re-entering country, ends up being able to walk through security without doing either even after cops are called. [NO BLASTERS!]
TSA head makes ad explaining why there’s nothing to fear. Message belied by ominous grey background. [YouTube]
Reporter goes through pat-down to show us how easy it is. “He uses the back of his hand to check the front of my groin area.” [KDAF]
An “I’ll be groped for Christmas” holiday jingle. [YouTube]
Man opts for third choice: stripping down to his skivvies. Is then arrested and walked through two terminals in his underwear. [NBC San Diego]
SNL reimagines TSA as a sexy 80’s hookup company. [Hulu]
Your Morning Cup Of TSA Horror
By 11.22.10
Man with a bladder bag says a TSA patdown left him humiliated and soaked in urine. [MSNBC]
Video of frustrated father ripping shirt off shy son so TSA can complete search. [YouTube]
Video of 3-year old girl screaming and writhing during TSA patdown. Her teddy being taken away and going through the x-ray seemed to have set her off. [KGTV]
Airport opt-out day is imbecilic. [Slate]
TSA bumper stickers. “It’s not a grope, it’s a freedom pat.” [Althouse]
Catch Up On All The TSA Story Madness
By 11.19.10
There has been quite the cubic ton of stories this past week or so written about the TSA security procedures, the backlash to them, and the backlash-backlash. It’s hard to keep up with them all. So, to keep you sounding smart and making up-to-the-minute references, security guru Bruce Schneier has a massive, yet accessible, link roundup. Keep those wingtips up! [More]
UPDATE: TSA Says Pilots Can Skip Scanners & Pat-Downs
By 11.19.10
Earlier today, TSA chief John Pistole hinted on Good Morning America that airline pilots might soon be able to skirt the agency’s stricter screening procedures. Now one of the unions that had recently told pilots to refuse being scanned says a deal has actually been reached. [More]
Cancer Survivor Flight Attendant Forced To Show Prosthetic Breast During TSA Pat-Down
By 11.19.10
After 32 years on the job as a flight attendant, not to mention being a breast cancer survivor, a North Carolina woman says airport screeners went too far when they told her to remove her prosthetic breast during a recent pat-down. [More]
Pilots Might Soon Get A Pass On Stricter Security Measures
By 11.19.10
As we wrote last week, two of the nation’s largest airline pilots unions had recently told their members to refuse full-body scanners at airport security, arguing that pilots have already undergone rigorous background checks before getting their jobs. Now the head of the TSA says their could soon be a rule change that would treat pilots differently than passengers. [More]
Penn Says TSA Grabbed His Crotch. It Wasn't Magical.
By 11.18.10
Penn of Penn and Teller went through airport security and got a pat-down. The TSA agent didn’t ask him for permission before touching his crotch so Penn made the cops come down there. In light of recent news, his post about it from 2002 is getting passed around, and it’s an interesting look at how the TSA reacts in a security incident when they’re scared of you, instead of the other way around. [More]
Airports Looking To Replace TSA Screeners With Contractors
By 11.18.10
In case you hadn’t heard, there’s been a slight bit of public push-back to the TSA’s increased use of full-body scanners and invasive pat-downs at security checkpoints. And at least one airport in Florida is telling the TSA “no thanks,” opting to use a private contractor instead. [More]
Group Of Reddit Editors Make Public Stand Against Grabby TSA Pat-Downs & Revealing Full-Body Scanners
By 11.17.10
There are few sites on the internet more tapped into the zeitgeist than the hive mind over at Reddit. So it should come as little surprise to those familiar with Reddit that a group of the site’s editors — or Redditors — have banded together to create a forum for those who feel less than enthusiastic about the TSA’s roll-out of full-body scanners and its “enhanced” pat-down procedures. [More]
TSA Chief Admits The New Pat-Downs Are 'More Invasive'
By 11.17.10
For the second day in a row, TSA head Jon Pistole was testifying before Senate about the recent negative attention that the agency’s full-body scanners and ‘enhanced’ pat-downs have received. And Pistole admitted that the newer, hands-on procedure is more touchy-feely than it had been previously. [More]
Poll: Americans Deeply In Love With Full Body Scanners
By 11.16.10
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. [More]
These 100 Body Scan Images Should Not Exist
By 11.16.10
The TSA and other agencies have repeatedly told the public that the body scanner devices automatically delete the images after they’re reviewed. But in August, it came out that US Marshals at a federal courthouse operating the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner were storing the images. Now you can see what they saw, as Gizmodo has acquired 100 of the 35,000 images through a FOIA request. [More]
You Might Be In Serious $%#@ For Refusing To Be TSA Screened
By 11.15.10
Did you assume that once you got to the airport, if the TSA was doing something you didn’t like, you could just opt-out and decide not to fly? The answer is — nope. According to CNN and the TSA, a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals compels all passengers to be screened, whether they fly or not. Refusing screening will result in being denied access to secure airport areas and may result in civil penalties. [More]
