National Opt-Out Day
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For CSS, and others who don't like the new full-body scanners at airports... One activist has actually stopped whining on web forums and is DOING something about it. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/national-opt-out/ He's organizing a one-day protest, held by no coincidence on what is, I believe, the busiest travel day of the year in the US... The day before Thanksgiving, November 24th. Basically, he started a website, contacted news outlets and other activist groups, and is calling for everyone who flies on that day to opt out of the scanners, basically forcing the TSA personnel to conduct pat-downs instead. You may think this is just people subjecting themselves to a different type of humiliation, but think of the effects if this succeeds. * The airlines get screwed over that day, and for the next couple days, as their schedules are ripped apart. Sure, a plane will leave without one or two people, but not if a quarter of the passengers are still going through security... Not to mention the flight crew. * Huge amount of publicity, which will fuel other protests like the EFF and the Pilots union. * Get the message through that the scanners are not wanted*. See, this has the potential to actually get something done, unlike CSS and FB repeatedly and annoyingly posting the same crap over and over on a forum that maybe a dozen people actually read, and which gets zero media coverage. * Personally, I don't care too much about the millimeter wave scanners, though I'd opt out of the X-ray ones for health reasons (Some studies are showing they give a LOT more radiation exposure than advertised). I do, however, think 80-90% of the airport security is already pointless and stupid, so wouldn't mind seeing these go away... Would also be nice if I could keep my #%&*ing shoes on.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Do you know if there is a way to determine which airports use which type of scanner? (I'll google it anyway but you may already know).
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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For CSS, and others who don't like the new full-body scanners at airports... One activist has actually stopped whining on web forums and is DOING something about it. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/national-opt-out/ He's organizing a one-day protest, held by no coincidence on what is, I believe, the busiest travel day of the year in the US... The day before Thanksgiving, November 24th. Basically, he started a website, contacted news outlets and other activist groups, and is calling for everyone who flies on that day to opt out of the scanners, basically forcing the TSA personnel to conduct pat-downs instead. You may think this is just people subjecting themselves to a different type of humiliation, but think of the effects if this succeeds. * The airlines get screwed over that day, and for the next couple days, as their schedules are ripped apart. Sure, a plane will leave without one or two people, but not if a quarter of the passengers are still going through security... Not to mention the flight crew. * Huge amount of publicity, which will fuel other protests like the EFF and the Pilots union. * Get the message through that the scanners are not wanted*. See, this has the potential to actually get something done, unlike CSS and FB repeatedly and annoyingly posting the same crap over and over on a forum that maybe a dozen people actually read, and which gets zero media coverage. * Personally, I don't care too much about the millimeter wave scanners, though I'd opt out of the X-ray ones for health reasons (Some studies are showing they give a LOT more radiation exposure than advertised). I do, however, think 80-90% of the airport security is already pointless and stupid, so wouldn't mind seeing these go away... Would also be nice if I could keep my #%&*ing shoes on.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Airport security is a farce. My boss shortly after 9-11 got a knife through carry on luggage. TSA was crap before unionization and still is after. From testing baby milk to shoes and letting lighters and matches on board. I can't have my nail clippers, but I can have 5 books of matches and 2 lighters. How stupid is that?
That's called seagull management (or sometimes pigeon management)... Fly in, flap your arms and squawk a lot, crap all over everything and fly out again... by _Damian S_
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Do you know if there is a way to determine which airports use which type of scanner? (I'll google it anyway but you may already know).
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
I don't know of any easy ways... I found news articles announcing the addition of scanners to my local airports... Unfortunately, the one I'm using next month uses the X-ray ones, so I'll have to opt out. There's another one in the area using millimeter wave, but it's MUCH harder to get to by mass transit, at least from my neighborhood.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Airport security is a farce. My boss shortly after 9-11 got a knife through carry on luggage. TSA was crap before unionization and still is after. From testing baby milk to shoes and letting lighters and matches on board. I can't have my nail clippers, but I can have 5 books of matches and 2 lighters. How stupid is that?
That's called seagull management (or sometimes pigeon management)... Fly in, flap your arms and squawk a lot, crap all over everything and fly out again... by _Damian S_
Agreed... It's all security theater. If the Evildoers(tm) wanted to kill a lot of people, they'd just attack the security checkpoint instead, as so many others have pointed out. Or, to quote St. George (Carlin): "Airport security is a stupid idea, it's a waste of money, and it's there for only one reason: to make white people feel safe! That's all it's for. To provide a feeling, an illusion, of safety in order to placate the middle class. Because the authorities know they can't make airplanes safe; too many people have access. You'll notice the drug smugglers don't seem to have a lot of trouble getting their little packages on board, do they?" So as far as I'm concerned... Put the bags on the conveyor belt, put the passengers through the metal detectors, and just leave it at that. It was a minor inconvenience, but it wasn't excessive. Don't make me take off my shoes... If the metal detectors don't quite reach to the floor, I can think of a MUCH easier solution... Put a little ramp on the floor like a speed-bump, so we walk over it as we step through... Simple, easy, and I don't have to smell other peoples' foot odor (And vice versa). They just need to follow the 80% rule, like with programming... Make it difficult enough that most potential bombers will just change their minds, and then rely on intelligence services (FBI, NSA, CIA) to detect and intercept the serious attempts.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Agreed... It's all security theater. If the Evildoers(tm) wanted to kill a lot of people, they'd just attack the security checkpoint instead, as so many others have pointed out. Or, to quote St. George (Carlin): "Airport security is a stupid idea, it's a waste of money, and it's there for only one reason: to make white people feel safe! That's all it's for. To provide a feeling, an illusion, of safety in order to placate the middle class. Because the authorities know they can't make airplanes safe; too many people have access. You'll notice the drug smugglers don't seem to have a lot of trouble getting their little packages on board, do they?" So as far as I'm concerned... Put the bags on the conveyor belt, put the passengers through the metal detectors, and just leave it at that. It was a minor inconvenience, but it wasn't excessive. Don't make me take off my shoes... If the metal detectors don't quite reach to the floor, I can think of a MUCH easier solution... Put a little ramp on the floor like a speed-bump, so we walk over it as we step through... Simple, easy, and I don't have to smell other peoples' foot odor (And vice versa). They just need to follow the 80% rule, like with programming... Make it difficult enough that most potential bombers will just change their minds, and then rely on intelligence services (FBI, NSA, CIA) to detect and intercept the serious attempts.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Reasonable.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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I don't know of any easy ways... I found news articles announcing the addition of scanners to my local airports... Unfortunately, the one I'm using next month uses the X-ray ones, so I'll have to opt out. There's another one in the area using millimeter wave, but it's MUCH harder to get to by mass transit, at least from my neighborhood.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Thanks: looks like LAX uses the x-ray machines so I'll have to opt for the feel up when I next go. Guess I'll wear extra thick underpants!
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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Thanks: looks like LAX uses the x-ray machines so I'll have to opt for the feel up when I next go. Guess I'll wear extra thick underpants!
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
digital man wrote:
Guess I'll wear extra thick underpants!
I wouldn't do that, they might have to take you into their makeshift medical facility for a thorough examination.
Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined (High Quality 2:14:01)[^] Watch the Fall of the Republic (High Quality 2:24:19)[^] The Truthbox[^]
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For CSS, and others who don't like the new full-body scanners at airports... One activist has actually stopped whining on web forums and is DOING something about it. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/national-opt-out/ He's organizing a one-day protest, held by no coincidence on what is, I believe, the busiest travel day of the year in the US... The day before Thanksgiving, November 24th. Basically, he started a website, contacted news outlets and other activist groups, and is calling for everyone who flies on that day to opt out of the scanners, basically forcing the TSA personnel to conduct pat-downs instead. You may think this is just people subjecting themselves to a different type of humiliation, but think of the effects if this succeeds. * The airlines get screwed over that day, and for the next couple days, as their schedules are ripped apart. Sure, a plane will leave without one or two people, but not if a quarter of the passengers are still going through security... Not to mention the flight crew. * Huge amount of publicity, which will fuel other protests like the EFF and the Pilots union. * Get the message through that the scanners are not wanted*. See, this has the potential to actually get something done, unlike CSS and FB repeatedly and annoyingly posting the same crap over and over on a forum that maybe a dozen people actually read, and which gets zero media coverage. * Personally, I don't care too much about the millimeter wave scanners, though I'd opt out of the X-ray ones for health reasons (Some studies are showing they give a LOT more radiation exposure than advertised). I do, however, think 80-90% of the airport security is already pointless and stupid, so wouldn't mind seeing these go away... Would also be nice if I could keep my #%&*ing shoes on.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)What the hell is wrong with people? Why are the body scanners bad? I've never heard anyone complain about metal detectors. Are people so scared of someone seeing the outline of your body that they want to fuck up everyone else's thanksgiving travel? FFS do they also wear burkas to the beach? This from the same nation that gave us the Janet Jackson tit debacle. Bunch of ignorant prudes. I quite like getting some sun on my todger at a nudist beach.
modified on Monday, November 15, 2010 2:28 PM
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For CSS, and others who don't like the new full-body scanners at airports... One activist has actually stopped whining on web forums and is DOING something about it. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/national-opt-out/ He's organizing a one-day protest, held by no coincidence on what is, I believe, the busiest travel day of the year in the US... The day before Thanksgiving, November 24th. Basically, he started a website, contacted news outlets and other activist groups, and is calling for everyone who flies on that day to opt out of the scanners, basically forcing the TSA personnel to conduct pat-downs instead. You may think this is just people subjecting themselves to a different type of humiliation, but think of the effects if this succeeds. * The airlines get screwed over that day, and for the next couple days, as their schedules are ripped apart. Sure, a plane will leave without one or two people, but not if a quarter of the passengers are still going through security... Not to mention the flight crew. * Huge amount of publicity, which will fuel other protests like the EFF and the Pilots union. * Get the message through that the scanners are not wanted*. See, this has the potential to actually get something done, unlike CSS and FB repeatedly and annoyingly posting the same crap over and over on a forum that maybe a dozen people actually read, and which gets zero media coverage. * Personally, I don't care too much about the millimeter wave scanners, though I'd opt out of the X-ray ones for health reasons (Some studies are showing they give a LOT more radiation exposure than advertised). I do, however, think 80-90% of the airport security is already pointless and stupid, so wouldn't mind seeing these go away... Would also be nice if I could keep my #%&*ing shoes on.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
What the hell is wrong with people? Why are the body scanners bad? I've never heard anyone complain about metal detectors. Are people so scared of someone seeing the outline of your body that they want to fuck up everyone else's thanksgiving travel? FFS do they also wear burkas to the beach? This from the same nation that gave us the Janet Jackson tit debacle. Bunch of ignorant prudes. I quite like getting some sun on my todger at a nudist beach.
modified on Monday, November 15, 2010 2:28 PM
Don't care about the privacy issue, honestly. It's the radiation dose that concerns me. They say that you get the same dose as an extra ten minutes or so of high-altitude travel, but that's when averaging the exposure over your entire body... Since most of the radiation is stopping at your skin, though, the concentration is a lot higher than advertised. We're talking real radiation here, not someone getting paranoid about the antenna in their cell phone. So I don't care if someone in a dark room is looking at a cartoon-quality image of my privates... I DO care if that scanner might give me skin cancer. If my local airport was using the millimeter wave ones, as opposed to the X-ray backscatter ones, I wouldn't think twice before stepping through.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
I hope Stewart and Colbert get their claws into this one. :-D
Join the cool kids - Come fold with us[^]
Heh... That reminds me... Bill Maher ripped on them for that rally... I think he said something like, "If you're going to have a rally in the National Mall with over two hundred thousand people, you should at least make it ABOUT something." :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Don't care about the privacy issue, honestly. It's the radiation dose that concerns me. They say that you get the same dose as an extra ten minutes or so of high-altitude travel, but that's when averaging the exposure over your entire body... Since most of the radiation is stopping at your skin, though, the concentration is a lot higher than advertised. We're talking real radiation here, not someone getting paranoid about the antenna in their cell phone. So I don't care if someone in a dark room is looking at a cartoon-quality image of my privates... I DO care if that scanner might give me skin cancer. If my local airport was using the millimeter wave ones, as opposed to the X-ray backscatter ones, I wouldn't think twice before stepping through.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Ian Shlasko wrote:
Since most of the radiation is stopping at your skin, though, the concentration is a lot higher than advertised.
Surely all the radiation we're exposed to hits our skin first, unless your swallowing it? I guess like mobile phones or any other relatively modern source of artificial radiation no one can be 100% sure about the long term effects.
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Ian Shlasko wrote:
Since most of the radiation is stopping at your skin, though, the concentration is a lot higher than advertised.
Surely all the radiation we're exposed to hits our skin first, unless your swallowing it? I guess like mobile phones or any other relatively modern source of artificial radiation no one can be 100% sure about the long term effects.
Yeah, but one of the reports I checked out talked about how they measured the dose by averaging it through the whole body... So nothing in the middle, but MUCH higher levels than stated at the surface. I already had a grandparent die from cancer... Not the way I want to go.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Heh... That reminds me... Bill Maher ripped on them for that rally... I think he said something like, "If you're going to have a rally in the National Mall with over two hundred thousand people, you should at least make it ABOUT something." :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)For all his to do about it, it seemed to me that his statement at the end just added to the whole countries apathy for everything. If he's so outraged, he should do something about it, especially since he has the platform to do it. I now have a twinge every time I see something of his. It makes me wonder if he's going to cross into the pundit arena and we have enough of that. He just needs to be a comedian and leave it at that. It's all find and good to be the moderate middle, but when do people have enough outrage to force change in a country. It seems as long as the majority has a meal, a place to live, and some reasonable sense of security they won't react. That's why I was interested to see how far the bank mess was going to put us. Since we didn't enter a depression, the political force necessary to put the banks, wall street and big business into check again never occurred. Of the actual depth the whole banks have leveraged us into is many times greater than GDP or the 13T people whine about as the national debt. But I'm ranting now so I'll stop.
That's called seagull management (or sometimes pigeon management)... Fly in, flap your arms and squawk a lot, crap all over everything and fly out again... by _Damian S_
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Yeah, but one of the reports I checked out talked about how they measured the dose by averaging it through the whole body... So nothing in the middle, but MUCH higher levels than stated at the surface. I already had a grandparent die from cancer... Not the way I want to go.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Ian Shlasko wrote:
I already had a grandparent die from cancer... Not the way I want to go.
Nor would any of us I'm sure but...
Ian Shlasko wrote:
Yeah, but one of the reports I checked out talked about how they measured the dose by averaging it through the whole body... So nothing in the middle, but MUCH higher levels than stated at the surface.
... no offence Ian, you don't sound like the world's formost authority
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Heh... That reminds me... Bill Maher ripped on them for that rally... I think he said something like, "If you're going to have a rally in the National Mall with over two hundred thousand people, you should at least make it ABOUT something." :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Ian Shlasko wrote:
I already had a grandparent die from cancer... Not the way I want to go.
Nor would any of us I'm sure but...
Ian Shlasko wrote:
Yeah, but one of the reports I checked out talked about how they measured the dose by averaging it through the whole body... So nothing in the middle, but MUCH higher levels than stated at the surface.
... no offence Ian, you don't sound like the world's formost authority
Josh Gray wrote:
... no offence Ian, you don't sound like the world's formost authority
None taken. I never claimed to be an authority on this... As I said, I'm just repeating what I've read... Let's see if I can find that report again... http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/for-frequent-fliers-a-radiation-risk-in-the-skies/#more-80041 http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-12/travel/body.scanning.radiation_1_backscatter-radiological-research-radiation?_s=PM:TRAVEL Ok, not a report, but some sensible concerns from qualified scientists... That, coupled with the fact that this is still brand new technology (Not the technique, but the application of it), I'm a little hesitant to be a guinea pig.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
It was - people who have had enough of those destroying their lives just to gain power over them. Yes, Fox News etc.
Join the cool kids - Come fold with us[^]
I know... I watched part of the rally from the comfort of my apartment... Still funny, though :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)