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>I arrive at the airport in a Lyft. That costs money. Many people take the train or a shuttle or lean on a friend. >I walk up to the security checkpoint chec
by Amorymeltzer 10y ago
>I arrive at the airport in a Lyft.
That costs money. Many people take the train or a shuttle or lean on a friend.
>I walk up to the security checkpoint checkpoint, where I show the agent my phone. They see my boarding pass with the green checkmark and send me to the empty TSA Pre line. I walk through the metal detector with no adjustments to my attire.
You paid for that TSA PreCheck privilege which, while not in the grand scheme a large amount, is technically something.
It's also beside the point. TSA PreCheck is the result of a careful plan:
1. Make everyone undergo an intrusive, invasive, and time-consuming process that provides little to no additional security.
2. Allow people to pay for the privilege of not going through that procedure.
3. Profit!
I don't do PreCheck because buying your rights is not something we should be able or have to do. It's a perversion that leaves us happy to pay for something that was commonplace until 9/10/01.
- dragontamer 10y ago> 3. Profit! The Department of Homeland Security (of which the TSA is a part of) has a budget and its priorities are set in Congress. There is no "profit" motive here. The US is throwing money at this problem, and money that only creates inconveniences for us.
- ams6110 10y agoThere is definitely a personal profit motive for the people involved, i.e. promotions and raises, having more reports (huge in the government sector), not to mention to crony pork handed out to companies providing the xray/detection and other equipment.
- dragontamer 10y agoHow does avoiding xrays and registering in pre-check create more reports and support pork-barrel contracts to x-ray scanner manufacturers?
- bogomipz 10y agoThey're two separate concerns but they both contribute to the bloat and scope creep of this farce of an agency.
- alanwatts 10y agoThe 2nd US Secretary of Homeland Security and co-author of the Patriot Act is the founder of a lobbying front for the the manufacturers of the body scanners. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff
- dragontamer 10y agoI'm still not seeing how registering for pre-check benefits this guy.
- alanwatts 10y agoApologies to all for posting this 5 times. Each time I hit reply it was giving me an error.
- alanwatts 10y agoThe 2nd US Secretary of Homeland Security and co-author of the Patriot Act is the founder of a lobbying front for the the manufacturers of the body scanners. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff
- alanwatts 10y agoThe 2nd US Secretary of Homeland Security and co-author of the Patriot Act is the founder of a lobbying front for the the manufacturers of the body scanners. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff
- alanwatts 10y agoThe 2nd US Secretary of Homeland Security and co-author of the Patriot Act is the founder of a lobbying front for the the manufacturers of the body scanners. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff
- sgnelson 10y agoOver a long enough time frame, all bureaucracies become institutions whose only goal is the continued growth and accumulation of resources ( to be used for the continued growth of the bureaucracy itself), not for the original purpose of the bureaucracy.
- jospoortvliet 10y agoYup. Be it government or business, no difference there. Of course, in both cases a cleanup is possible- and occasionally happens. But then you need a proper market for business or a working democracy for government and those are frequently missing.
- HemanHeartYou 10y agowould you rather die with privacy or live without
- ams6110 10y agoYou forgot to add having all the personal data and fingerprints that you provide for PreCheck being divulged in a data exposure incident.
- cloudjacker 10y agoThats cute but I just like privileged treatment. I would be pissed if TSA Pre had more people in it. I also consider my time to be more valuable.
- rdtsc 10y ago> I don't do PreCheck because buying your rights is not something we should be able or have to do. The standard answer is that airplane travel, just as being able to drive on public roads is not a right. Founding fathers apparently failed in their inability to predict we'd be able to amazingly fly through the air one day. So it is not in the Constitution. Therefore please step right into the Rapeyscan machine if you want to make it to your job interview, or to see your family across country. It seems to claim a right to travel unimpeded you'd have to walk, on public land, or ride a horse or bicycle. Basically what you might have done 200 years ago.
- x1798DE 10y ago> Founding fathers apparently failed in their inability to predict we'd be able to amazingly fly through the air one day. I think a traditional interpretation of the constitution is that unenumerated rights are reserved for the people, so this shouldn't be an issue, as designed. In reality, we can't even seem to maintain the rights that are explicitly reserved for the people (cough4th amendmentcough).
- chrismcb 10y agoFound fathers did a fine job, by not enumerating rights and giving them to the people. But ignore that for the moment. TSA's mandate is "Protect the nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce." TSA's mandate is not limited to the airports. So no, the TSA doesn't believe you have a right to travel unimpeded (even if by walking or riding a horse or a bicycle)