4th Amendment Underclothes

Now there's a way to protest those intrusive TSA X-ray scanners without saying a word. 4th Amendment Metallic ink-printed undershirts and underwear.

TSA Sees Sanitary Napkins in Naked Body Scans

"What about tampons?" asked the blog Feminist Peace Network. "They look kind of like sticks of dynamite. Are they going to ask us to pull them out and show them just to be sure?"

Nov. 24: National "Opt Out" Day

From the National Opt Out Day website:

"Opt Out Day is an educational outreach campaign, designed to get people to better understand what they are now consenting to when they purchase a plane ticket. Many people only fly around the holidays and may not be aware of the security changes, which is why November 24 was chosen. Once people are made aware of what is happening, they may have reservations about the new virtual strip searches and enhanced pat downs - especially for their children or spouse or other loved one. There is no intent or desire to delay passengers en route to friends and family over Thanksgiving. 


Before people fly, they should learn more about the new security measures, and when they are given the choice by TSA, they should opt-out of the scan and get the enhanced pat down. This is their right, given to them by the TSA. If they do not like the current procedures when they go through it, they should voice their opinion to the airlines and their Members of Congress, in addition to filing a complaint with the TSA and outside groups, if necessary. Opting out doesn't have to be done only on Nov. 24. As the TSA says, every day you fly is opt-out day if you choose. It is not irresponsible to take up the TSA on their offer to opt-out of the body scanners.


This country needs security measures in place that not only keep us safe but also do not grossly violate privacy or constitute an unreasonable search, like the current protocol...Hopefully the current outcry over these scanners and the enhanced pat downs from the pilots, the flight attendants, and now the flying public, will instigate a change to effective security measures that keep the privacy of U.S. citizens intact."

Many, many thanks from the bottom of our cranky and cynical heart to Brian Sodergren for the campaign and the website. Well done, sir! You ROCK.

Full Body SCAM: Let's Review The Data, Shall We?

From Mother Jones, The Airport Scanner Scam 

"...Airport security has always been compromised by corporate interests. When it comes to high-tech screening methods, the TSA has a dismal record of enriching private corporations with failed technologies, and there are signs that the latest miracle device may just bring more of the same...Yet the rush toward full-body scans already seems unstoppable. They were mandated [as] part of the "enhanced" screening for travelers from selected countries...the "greater U.S. government shift toward using the high-tech devices could create a boom for makers of security imaging products, and it has already created a speculative spike in share prices in some companies....Which brings us to the money shot. The body scanner is sure to get a go-ahead because of the illustrious personages hawking them."

From SOTT, 'Naked scanners:' Lobbyists join the war on terror 

"The degradations of passing through full-body scanners that provide naked pictures of you to Transportation Security Administration agents may not mean that the terrorists have won -- but they do mark victories for a few politically connected high-tech companies and their revolving-door lobbyists."

Below is a partial list of former Washington politicians and staff members who are part of the "Full-Body SCAM" lobby: 


For American Science & Engineering, Inc.: 
Wexler & Walker, K Street Lobbying firm; 
Tom Blank, former TSA deputy administration, who also worked under House Speaker Newt Gingrich;
Chad Wolf, former assistant administrator for policy at TSA, and a former aide to Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Tex. Hutchison is the top Senate appropriator and the ranking Republican on the transportation committee; 
Bud Cramer, former Democratic  Rep. and member of the Defense and Transportation subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee.


For Smiths Detection:
Van Scoyoc Associates Lobbying firm;
Kevin Patrick Kelly, former top staffer to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. Mikulski sits on the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee;
Helen Delich Bentley, R-Md., former congresswoman.


For L3 Systems:
Al D’Amato, R-N.Y. Former Senator and member of the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism;
Kraig Siracuse, former Appropriations staffer. 


For Rapiscan:
Michael Chertoff, former United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act;
Susan Carr, former senior legislative aide to Rep. David Price, D-N.C., chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee.


*SIGH*


Once again, politics as usual. It's enough to make me really, really REALLY CRANKY.

One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans - LA LA LA HA HA HA - I PREDICTED THIS ON MY MONOBLOG...

 out loud voice?

NOW WE HAVE THE NAKED PICTURES!

"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.

...Yet the leaking of these photographs demonstrates the security limitations of not just this particular machine, but millimeter wave and x-ray backscatter body scanners operated by federal employees in our courthouses and by TSA officers in airports across the country. That we can see these images today almost guarantees that others will be seeing similar images in the future. If you're lucky, it might even be a picture of you or your family." - Gizmodo

Gawd.

As I've written here before ON THE VERY SAME TOPIC, "I hate people sometimes, I surely do. Stories like this make me want to bite people, really hard, and not in a fun way."

Thank heavens for Flying Pasties!!  I believe I may buy stock in that company!

'If You Touch My Junk' I'll Have You Arrested!"

It seems that I am not alone in finding full body scans waaaay too invasive.  Next time I fly, I'm going to use this line - right after I refuse the scan, and just before a female TSA agent turns her palms DOWN.

I Am Flying out of Logan Airport, and We All Know What That Means...

My first in-person encounter with Full Body Scamming!

* Thank you, LZ, for the very excellent image!

Odds & Ends - The "Gee, Ya Think?" Edition

• Islamic Center Opponents Could Be Stoking Anti-Muslim Attacks - MSNBC
• Ours is a gutless cuckolded media, exemplified by CNN, whose idea of journalistic objectivity is to let partisan mouthpieces bicker between commercial breaks. - HuffPo
• Iraqis disenchanted with ‘New Dawn’ - New York Times
• Gulf Claims Process Lags After Government Takeover - Propublica
• The parameters of the negotiations are relatively undefined, however, and may be largely negotiable. - HuffPo
• The guiding principle is not whether Mother Nature is going to kill you one day...It’s whether we can justify doing something to each other based on the benefit you’re going to get. - New York Times

Wait, Wait, WAIT - Didn't They Say It Couldn't Be Done?

The U.S. Marshals Service has admitted to SAVING 35,000 Airport Body Scan images!  I beg your humble pardon? WHAT? Oh! Were the images saved while the scanners were in TEST BOGUS mode?

"The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.
...

A 70-page document showing the TSA's procurement specifications, classified as "sensitive security information," says that in some modes the scanner must "allow exporting of image data in real time" and provide a mechanism for "high-speed transfer of image data" over the network.
...

William Bordley, an associate general counsel with the Marshals Service, acknowledged in the letter that "approximately 35,314 images...have been stored on the Brijot Gen2 machine" used in the Orlando, Fla. federal courthouse. In addition, Bordley wrote, a Millivision machine was tested in the Washington, D.C. federal courthouse but it was sent back to the manufacturer, which now apparently possesses the image database."

Ah! The Scanner has an Image Database! Shocking! Equally shocking is that the Image Database is there for a reason. The Image Database is there to store Image Data. Since we know that "store" is another way of saying "save," we can now deduce that the Full Body Scanners not only HAVE the capacity to save Image Data, but that saving the data HAPPENS ALL THE TIME, in a courthouse or concourse near you!

Gawd.

I hate people sometimes, I surely do. Stories like this make me want to bite people, really hard, and not in a fun way.

*sigh*

All that's left to say is, Welcome to Flying Pasties!

Flying Pasties! What could be better?

Welcome to Flying Pasties!

"This has got to be the most ingenious invention since sliced bread." – Adam Bub MSN NZ Travel writer

My good pal Cheryl is ready to fly the Friendly (a little overly friendly since the advent of Full Body Scams) Skies again now that she no longer must cram stuffed bunnies down her pants to obscure her body, thereby foiling Full Body Peepers Scammers.  Cheryl, oddly enough, prefers her private parts to actually be ... PRIVATE when she travels, and Flying Pasties are the perfect solution.

I *Told* You It Was TMI !

Anatomical ridicule raises body-scanning concerns