Want to Know Why The TSA Needs to “Touch Your Junk?” Sorry, That’s Classified | Hacker News Reader

Want to Know Why The TSA Needs to “Touch Your Junk?” Sorry, That’s Classified

tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com

Is it me or has there been a big increase in the amount of things that are "secret" from public eyes?

I understand things like intelligence about locations of military personnel being sensitive. But policies for domestic security agencies, I don't get it. Why?

There always seems to be a strong correlation between immoral acts and secrecy. I'm curious if questionable morality is a greater influence these days for the application of state secret laws than actual security.

The reason why, as far as the TSA goes, is that the data for the efficacy of their systems is abysmal. Rep. John Mica was quoted as saying, "The failure rate (for body scanning equipment) is classified but it would absolutely knock your socks off."

In other words, if the public (and most of Congress -- Mica only knows because he's on the right committee) knew that the TSA misses somewhere in the range of 25% - 75%, depending on the test, of threat items brought through by covert inspectors, it would be obvious (well, more obvious than it already is) that this huge expenditure is an utter waste.

I will not fly as long as they can look at or touch my genitals. Why do flyers tolerate such an invasion? I'd like to travel but I refuse to put myself or my family through this kind of treatment. Are there private flight services that allow me to skirt the TSA gestapo? Can they get me from the middle of the USA to Hawaii and Japan and back again without any invasions of privacy?

Sure, if you're willing to pay for it. For intercontinental flights you'd need to charter something like a Gulfstream IV which runs about $6,000 per flight hour.

My guess is that they're too embarrassed to just say "we think a terrorist might sew a grenade inside his scrotum."

My guess is that some administrator somewhere thought that this would force compliance with the scanning machines.

Exactly. Most people find the opt-out procedure (the pat-down) to be more invasive than the nude body scanners. They say you have a choice and that nude body scanners are optional, but the "choice" is really whether they use a machine to look at every inch of your body or use their fingers to touch every inch of your body.

All this when explosive trace detection machines are not even 1/10th the cost of nude body scanners.

That's what happened to me. When they first came out I always looked for a line without the scanner, or when I wasn't able to, I'd opt-out of the scanner. At least, that was until I got one of the new intrusive pat downs. I know go through the scanner because I'd rather someone look at my naked than touch me.

My wife recently had a walking cast on and wasn't able to go through the scanner so they gave her a pat down. She told me it felt humiliating.

Why do we let out government touch our private parts without probably cause? It's insanity.

In all honesty, I prefer the pat-down. Better to be a brief and unpleasant memory in the mind of some TSA agent than to be a permanent body scan stored in a database somewhere.

I'm just waiting to see what kinds of invasive practices we're regularly subject[0] to when an attacker decides to pack their anal cavity with explosives and have a short copper or other non-ferric lead to the blasting charge hanging out their butt. Near as I can tell, such a tactic wouldn't show up on any body scanner or metal detector and the actual detonation device could be your standard battery. After all it only took one shoe bomber to make everyone everywhere have to take off their shoes before flying.

Up until now, we have not been able to have a rational discussion of cost we as a society are paying to reduce the risk of terrorism because all logic goes out the window when the words "terrorism" or "terrorist" are used. I would imagine that the likely threat of an uncomfortable anal probing would at least prompt even the most die hard supporters of all this security theatre to question if what we are doing makes any sense at all.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6680266

Except when you opt out you DO NOT go through a metal detector. The last 10 times I have opted out, no metal detector screening.

Maybe ask that guy in New Mexico...

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