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The trouble with the Internet is that it's so hard for the government to keep secrets anymore. It's exciting to see in real time how American citizens are worki
by dpatru 16y ago
The trouble with the Internet is that it's so hard for the government to keep secrets anymore. It's exciting to see in real time how American citizens are working together to challenge and change unreasonable government policy. First by broadcasting government abuse and now by documenting successful tactics.
- stcredzero 16y agoOne thing that came out in this blog post -- it seems there may be a policy that the TSA employees are specifically forbidden to wear radiation dosimetry badges. What!? How in the world is this a sane policy? Who is this policy meant to protect?
- AngryParsley 16y agoIf a lot of TSA employees wore dosimeters, chances are there would be at least one false positive and the media would latch onto it.
- dpatru 16y agoOf course, the chance of there being a true positive is nill. Government equipment never malfunctions. So it's better to ban dosimeters and eliminate the possibility of a media problem.
- AngryParsley 16y agoI did not say anything like what you are suggesting. Those are all things to be concerned about, but dosimeters aren't an effective way to measure or prevent them. If the backscatter machines are completely safe, dosimeters for such a large group will still cause a panic because there will be false positives. There are other devices that can measure radiation more accurately and reliably. I feel contempt for the TSA as much as everyone else around here, but one has to be aware of the halo/horn effect. I don't know if banning dosimeters is the best decision, but I can see why they did it, and it seems rather unobjectionable compared to most of the TSA's actions and policies.
- aperiodic 16y agoI work at a nuclear reactor, and for the type of dosimeters we wear on the job (thermoluminescent dosimeters), there's no chance of a false-positive, as far as I'm aware. The only thing that can cause the crystal to lose electrons is ionizing radiation in a certain energy range. As long as there were procedures to ensure that the badges are only worn on the job, false positives shouldn't be an issue.
- jballanc 16y agoYou'll get false positives if anyone goes for a cardiac stress test...
- aperiodic 16y agoThat's why you only wear your dosimetry when you're at work.
- Vivtek 16y agoFrom all this uproar lately, sounds like work is a cardiac stress test for the TSA.
- shpxnvz 16y agoNot nearly as much as it is for the passengers. For all the uproar, as of the last time I went through TSA security (about a week before the new "sexual assault" procedures started), the screeners seemed to be perfectly happy in their roles.
- jballanc 16y agoWouldn't matter. Cardiac stress tests usually use technetium or some other radioactive tracer which remains in the body for a day or two after the test. That means that, for the next day or so, you are a "radiation hazard" (not really, but the dosimeters don't know the difference, or at least that's what I was told by the radiation control officer).
- 16y ago
- cavilling_elite 16y agoI was under the impression that all of the "x-ray" scanners aren't x-rays. Instead they are high frequency (100GHz+) back scattering machines. The ones in the MKE air port are L3 ProVisions which fit the description I was aware of (http://www.sds.l-3com.com/products/mmwave.htm http://www.sds.l-3com.com/products/mmwave.htm). No ionizing radiation means no "x-rays" etc. I haven't been subjected to them yet, but before I walked into the airport I made my decision if I was going to be scanned or not.
- rdtsc 16y agoThere are 2 classes: millimeter wavelength machines and x-ray backscatter machines. These are definitely backscatter x-ray machines.
- prawn 16y agoAnd with every challenge, others become more and more confident in trying the same.