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TSA agents will soon conduct a more invasive patdown at U.S. airports:
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has declined to say exactly where—and how—employees will be touching air travelers as part of the more invasive physical pat-down procedure it recently ordered. But the agency does expect some passengers to consider the examination unusual. In fact, the TSA decided to inform local police in case anyone calls to report an "abnormal" federal frisking, according to a memo from an airport trade association obtained by Bloomberg News. The physical search, for those selected to have one, is what the agency described as a more "comprehensive" screening, replacing five separate kinds of pat-downs it previously used.
The decision to alert local and airport police raises a question of just how intimate the agency's employees may get. On its website, the TSA says employees "use the back of the hands for pat-downs over sensitive areas of the body. In limited cases, additional screening involving a sensitive area pat-down with the front of the hand may be needed to determine that a threat does not exist."
[...] The TSA's calls to police were an effort to provide local law enforcement "situational awareness" about the new pat-down method, Christopher Bidwell, ACI-NA's vice president of security, said in an interview Saturday. U.S. airports have not expressed any reservations or concerns about the pat-down change, the association said.
Also at Boing Boing, The Consumerist, NBC, and LA Times.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday March 07 2017, @08:48PM
I put up with it for a few reasons:
1) What are you on dope? Just because America is still in our titles, and we even have United in it, we are anything but free, united, or involved in a representative democracy. Just because we indicate our displeasure, and even use logic and references the Constitution of the United States, doesn't mean that the Owning Class will listen to us. They aren't interested. We have no choice, or one choice; We rise up and start civil war.
2) I occasionally need to get some place faster than a covered wagon in the fucking Oregon trail. Maddeningly, the costs of fuel have skyrocketed in the last decade or so making a cross country trip unaffordable. Americans have even less free time needing to attend to their slave wage jobs just to keep alive. The freedom of a living wage is denied to most everyone. Airlines are cheaper than vehicles for anything but the shortest trip. (I'm not kidding. I can get a plane flight in advance cheaper than bus fare).
3) I don't mind staring down the TSA agent and MAKING THEM GROPE ME. They serve at my pleasure. If it weren't for me, the airlines wouldn't even be in business, and the TSA agent wouldn't even be employed. So they can enjoy groping my sweaty balls while I look down at their uncomfortable faces. Their stupid fucking decision, not mine. By theirs, I mean the lawmakers and execu-suck-heads at the TSA. Agents on the ground are just abused wage slavers like everyone else which means there is no reason to fuck with them like that. Everyone simply asking for the pat down is more than enough to start changing policies. So a good question would be, "why do Americans put up with the TSA as a job at all? Why don't they get a better job?"
4) Better than the pornoscanner that records it for all time, and allows viewing by anybody with access to the data streams. That's by and far more invasive over time then somebody patting down the outside of your clothes and touching you with the backs of their hands.
FOR THE RECORD - Nothing is actually changing at the TSA. I made my phone calls and nothing substantive is changing at all. That's fake news according to my sources. About the only thing going on, and why the pat downs are getting increased scrutiny, is a much higher frequency of drug trafficking. If anybody wants to be really afraid, then fear getting handed over to the local police. When they need to do body cavity searches and x-rays, that's a local matter. The TSA never does anything that invasive from what I've heard.
Nothing to see here, move along... :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.