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Comment by janalsncm | Hacker News Reader

> you do have the right to opt of facial imaging at TSA checkpoints

I’m curious as to whether the author has put any thought into how practical this advice is. My plane takes off in an hour. What does this “right” entail?

1. Not going to jail for refusing to get a biometric scan, or

2. Getting into a long argument with TSA where I point to the specific subsections that say I don’t need to comply with having my picture taken again, lose the argument and don’t go to jail, or

3. Part 2 but I win the argument and don’t go to jail

My point isn’t that rights aren’t important. My point is that it’s silly to expect normal people to be able to articulate the law in the heat of the moment. These things need to be ironed out long before then, because my revealed preference of not wanting to miss my connection is frankly a lot more important than my revealed preference of not having my picture taken.

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My experience opting out of body scanners, contrary to internet tales, is that it's rarely longer than the normal line, and sometimes even faster.

True story, though a fair amount intimate.

I've found it's rarely faster, but usually not too much slower. You do get to let your shit hang out for awhile on the other side though, and I never like leaving expensive laptops and cellphones and wallets just lying there indefinitely.

Also greater chance you get a false positive on the swab and that will blow your schedule as they tear apart all your luggage looking for a bomb or gun that doesn't exist. That easily chews half an hour if you're lucky.

Modern body scanners show a "heat map" of areas of interest rather than denude people like the early ones did. I'm wondering if raw imagery is captured and stored.

It's always a very safe bet to assume that any data that has passed through a computer somewhere has been captured and stored.

What do you mean by "the normal line", and how is it possible for the patdown process to be faster? I have never gone through a TSA body scanner, but I go through the same security line as everyone else, and there's always a short wait for the TSA to call someone up for the "assist". I wonder what you're doing differently.

Surely the first step of this is a basic understanding of your right, no? Or are you suggesting this isn't worth talking about unless the author lays out a plan to undo decades of state privacy encroachment and our unending march towards a surveillance state?

No, I’m saying an individual level strategy of enforcing rights is a recipe for failure, and to the extent that the line wasn’t just a pat way to wrap up it’s pretty disappointing to see the author advocating it. Maybe I’m just arguing with someone on their way out the door in which case I’ll just shut up.

It’s reminiscent of the rhetoric passing on responsibility for externalities (environmental destruction, child labor etc) to the consumer. It doesn’t work and companies know this.

All things being equal, I would choose to preserve my privacy, just like I’d choose not to have child slaves harvesting cocoa. But all things are never equal. Just because I buy a chocolate bar doesn’t mean I agree with child labor, just like agreeing to take a picture so I can board a plane doesn’t mean I support the government spying on me.

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