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According to The Hill a lawsuit argued the agency failed to follow rulemaking procedures on the devices before deploying them.
A federal judge ordered the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Friday to quickly finalize a rulemaking procedure for the controversial full-body scanners it uses at airport security checkpoints across the country.
The agency was sued by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) over the controversial devices in a lawsuit that argued that the TSA did not follow federal procedure for rulemaking when it decided to deploy the scanners, which are known as Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) devices.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on Friday, ordering the TSA to "submit to the court a schedule for the expeditious issuance of a final rule" on the full-body scanners within 30 days.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @06:36PM
How about recognizing that what the TSA does (molesting and searching people under government authority to make sure they're not terrorists simply because they want to get on a plane) is unconstitutional and ordering it to cease its activities? That might require a good enough court case, but it's not as if they haven't existed. Everything else just seems ludicrous and shows that many people in this country don't care about freedom at all.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by isostatic on Tuesday October 27 2015, @06:51PM
many people in this country don't care about freedom at all
Bingo.
Oh wait, no. America is land of the free, home of the brave. Nowhere is it clearer than at the airport, where your population says "Fuck You" to some twats from Saudi Arabia and carrys on as they always have.
Oh wait, that was the other universe, the one where the average american has a spine. LOL.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @07:02PM
Spineless, huh? Why do you hold the US population to higher standards than anyone else in the world? I'd much rather live in the US where dirty laundry gets aired and you are allowed to express your outward dislike for the status quo. In the EU you are given the veneer of freedom while under the heavy unseen hand. "Hey! Look at what THOSE guys are doing! Good thing that kind of thing doesn't happen here!"
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @08:57PM
The dirty laundry does not get aired, at least not easily OR freely. People in the US are bought off or disappeared just as in other countries, but there is an open tolerance towards criticism as long as it doesn't cross the line or get too vocal. The Occupy movement proved this, and shockingly these actions are carried out almost in the open and spun to minimize criticism and maximize legitimacy. The US has the same veneer, with different propaganda that hammers the idea of freedom into everyone's head.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday October 27 2015, @10:51PM
You couldn't be more wrong. The average American isn't lacking a spine at all. Watch what happens once you piss off some of them. #BlackLivesMatter isn't run by spineless people, but people that have finally been pissed off enough to sacrifice for a goal.
What's going on is apathy which is distinctly different than a lack of courage and commitment. When we speak of bread & circuses, we aren't saying they're without a spine. We're saying they're stupid and easily distracted, despite open abuses by government.
Americans are stupid and easily distracted, not cowards. Remember, a coward actually cares about what he fears. An American isn't even educated or sophisticated enough anymore to be afraid.
The fact that CISA will pass today, despite American's being largely against it, shows that we are apathetic citizens not deserving of freedom anymore. On that I'm serious. Americans don't fight for freedom anymore, and have no passion for it as long the boob tube is available each night, and Angry Birds or Candy Crush still works on their tablets.
There's simply no way these people in government would abuse as much if there were marches and demonstrations routinely near a million people in Washington. It would be effective when these shitheads can't even move around town because they're are too many pissed off people demonstrating against them.
It's so much worse than spineless. Americans are nothing more than cows milling about in front of the slaughterhouse.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @11:43PM
Americans are stupid and easily distracted, not cowards.
Americans are generally cowards, stupid, easily distracted, *and* anti-freedom. How many people are opposed to the drug war completely and not merely the ban on marijuana? How many people are completely opposed to mass surveillance? How many people are completely opposed to the government forcing you to surrender your constitutional liberties in exchange for being allowed to engage in some innocuous activity or privilege (TSA, DUI checkpoints)? Warrantless surveillance of any sort? Protest permits? Free speech zones? Unfettered border searches? Stop-and-frisk? If most people are opposed to all of those (as a start), then what you said would seem more legitimate.
There are countless people who are so cowardly and worthless that they are willing to trade fundamental freedoms and a government that follows the highest law of the land for security.
(Score: 4, Informative) by davester666 on Tuesday October 27 2015, @06:46PM
Rule for full body scanner: "We will select whoever we want, between none and all potential passengers, and we will scan the selected people as many times as we want. At our discretion, the people may be required to disrobe partially or fully until we are satisfied we have an excellent quality nude picture of them."
Done in 2 minutes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @07:35PM
A bunch of bullies if I've ever seen one. Fuck them and their faux-security.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Dale on Tuesday October 27 2015, @08:15PM
The TSA is the biggest example of how the terrorists won. Sad but true. The money we have wasted on TSA along should be declared a national disaster. The groping, shoe removal, liquid restrictions, etc are all just pitiful and terrible. The scanners are probably the least offensive thing TSA has done, yet it seems to be the one thing people have actually complained about. How do people complain about this scan but not the groping and other crap? That being said, I doubt the powers that be really are going to care much more about this court ruling than other court rulings they've ignored. As far as TSA goes, burn it to the ground and start over. There is no redemption to the current incarnation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @09:16PM
It wasn't "terrorism" that won, the whole concept has been hijacked to inspire fear in the populace and enact police state style policies. I'm sure the perpetrators enjoy seeing the erosion of our freedoms, but it wasn't their purpose. Their purpose is to enact vengeance and attempt to dissuade interference with their actions, in that case it failed spectacularly though it has probably led to an increase in volunteers... Everyone has lost as the war machine keeps rolling onward, even those who benefit from it in the short term.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday October 28 2015, @11:12AM
Actually, when you consider that Osama Bin Laden's stated goal for 9/11 was to whip the US up into a state of frenzied military spending that would ultimate ruin it... I'd say he won. He's laughing at you from his grave right now*
*Assuming he's actually dead, of course, what with the body being conveniently lost at sea. My personal tinfoil is that he was dead long before that raid took place, but that's another matter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @09:50PM
As far as TSA goes, burn it to the ground and start over.
Start over? Merely starting won't fix the constitutional issues that arise when you have government thugs searching everyone who wants to get on a plane.
(Score: 2) by Dale on Tuesday October 27 2015, @09:54PM
A rebuild from the ground up could start fresh and stay within the needed 4th amendment rights and allow for sane and effective security. To get the fresh rebuild from the ground up though the whole thing has to be burned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @10:34PM
How? What "sane and effective" security do you have in mind that doesn't violate the constitution? Because we can't have government thugs searching people.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday October 27 2015, @10:55PM
A locked cockpit door
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @11:28PM
Well, we have that, but does it necessarily relate to the TSA? I'm just wondering where this New TSA comes in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @10:11AM
Germanwings Flight 9525
(The result of which was not outlawing locked doors, but stricter rules for pilots' mental health checks, AND a requirement that there always be two crew members in the cockpit - which in the case a pilot needs to use the bath room will result in someone who is not a pilot - and thus don't get their mental health checked at all - sitting in the pilots seat).
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday October 28 2015, @05:05PM
What happens if there's two pilots in the cockpit, and one of them knocks the other one out? The usual over-reaction.
Helios Flight 522 was more concerning. Both of these events were victims of the reaction after 9/11. Now locking the cockpit door prevents 9/11 style events, but instead causes 9525/522 events. It's a toss up as to which is a better policy.
So how does the TSA stop this?
Groping 13 year old girls does not prevent 9/11 or 9525/522.
(Score: 2) by Dale on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:37PM
I never had issues with the metal detectors and scanning of bags like they used to do. I don't really have issues with the "don't bring a gun on the plane" bit and other normal stuff we had prior. I remember as a child my dad having to measure his pocket knife to make sure the blade was under 3,4,5 inches (no idea what the rule was) and that was the extent of things. Shaving cream is not a threat to the plane or anyone on it. Fingernail clippers are not either. A bottle of water or soda having to be tossed is just idiotic. I don't really care if the airlines run it or some successor agency to TSA. It isn't like passengers are going to let things stand like was common practice prior to 9/11. The fact that we would save billions of dollars by being rational is an obvious bonus.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday October 28 2015, @05:01PM
A bottle of water or soda having to be tossed is just idiotic
Not to the companies selling water and soda after the security checkpoint.
Of course "tossing" bombs is a very dangerous place. Next time you go through a checkpoint and see someone's water bottle tossed, run like hell. It's a bomb (which is why they confiscated it), and they haven't called bomb disposal in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @09:55PM
Just wait until they secure railroad stations, stadiums, and schools.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by N3Roaster on Tuesday October 27 2015, @11:33PM
People complain about things that affect them. Most air travellers are not getting groped. The shoe removal and liquid restrictions are generally seen as silly but easily anticipated. The scanners, on the other hand, slow things down and at a busy airport it slows things down far too much. For those of us old enough to remember or who travel internationally to places that haven't also implemented these scanners there's a very clear contrast. The scanners are a bad experience all around. Those curious to dig a little deeper on the matter and learn how much money has been spent on the scanners and what the actual security impact is would be right to complain about it. That doesn't mean the other stuff is fine, but most air travellers have not been subjected to it, so they don't complain about it. Regrettable, but understandable.
Posted from the Detroit airport where I had a very long chat with CBP about all the nothing they were finding with me.
Typica - Free software for coffee roasting professionals. [typica.us]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Tuesday October 27 2015, @10:26PM
The man who put together the security for Ben Gurion Airport is someone people should listen to. He called the porn scanners expensive and useless.
By now I believe everyone knows the story of how they got approved in the first place? Chertoff and the consulting contract?