4 ms·

Pre-check screening is the EZPass of the security state. Exchange your privacy for convenience. Submit to a background probe and permanent residence in a govern

by ctrlp 5y ago

Pre-check screening is the EZPass of the security state. Exchange your privacy for convenience. Submit to a background probe and permanent residence in a government database (and god knows what other consents are required) and you, too, can join the upper tier of society. Leave the filthy plebes and their shoeless drudgery and pat-downs behind you as you ascend into the clear air of the Verified(TM) elite. You pose no threat, quite the opposite! You support and serve the power structure. Welcome aboard!

jdavis703 5y ago
Aside from the interview, the government already has all the background check data in their databases already. It’s not like you’re applying for a security clearance where agents go around your friends, family and neighbors digging up undocumented dirt.
- ctrlp 5y ago
  Do you know for a fact that your background screening does not now or will not ever include calling out to a social media extremist detection service? I'm not so confident.
  - jdavis703 5y ago
    I’m also not confident in that. But again, if someone has put me in an “extremist detection” database I’m already in the database and the government could already query it.
    - ctrlp 5y ago
      Would you like to be subject to Twitter's or Facebook's interpretation of extremist?
      - jazzyjackson 5y ago
        why would the government care if i’m banned from twitter?
        ctrlp 5y ago
        Why would the government care to have you banned from Twitter?
  - xxpor 5y ago
    The TSA gets all the info they'd need to do that when you buy a ticket. Precheck or not.
timr 5y ago
It's increasingly not even that convenient. The last half-dozen times I've traveled, "PreCheck" turned into me going through the regular security line, carrying a card which they ignored.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  How does that even happen? I have pre-check, and it's always been an entirely separate line. They'd have to do a fair amount of work to redirect you over to the 'regular' line.
  - timr 5y ago
    It used to happen only at smaller airports that didn't have the capacity to handle extra lines. But lately, I've had it happen at bit airports (like ATL), so I'm not really sure. The answer to your (implicit?) question is that it doesn't work. The staff take the card from you at the start of the process, and once your bag is in the machine, they have no idea if it's yours. So far, every time this has happened, I"ve been singled out for additional security.
    - rootusrootus 5y ago
      So after you already start the x-ray process, they take you aside and make you do the shoes, belt, and the rest? If I sound confused, it's because I am :). I don't get a pre-check card, it just shows up as a notation on my boarding pass. I scan it just like normal, then shove my phone into my backpack and toss it on the belt. No removing my shoes, belt, etc. They also won't touch my bag, and I have to be the one to push it onto the feed belt of the scanner. They have to have a pretty good idea that it belongs to me. Coincidentally, I just travelled through ATL a few weeks ago. It's never as smooth as my home airport (PDX) because it's a much busier airport, but I don't recall anything out of the ordinary happening.
      - vinay427 5y ago
        > I don't get a pre-check card, it just shows up as a notation on my boarding pass. (Not the person you replied to.) These are different things. It has nothing to do with you or your eligibility, but the specific time and place. If you're eligible for PreCheck and have it printed on your boarding pass, at some airports and security lines that don't have a PreCheck lane open, you're given a laminated card that the first agent tells you will accord some of the PreCheck benefits. As with the OP, these didn't always work in practice in my experience. The PreCheck line can temporarily be closed in a larger airport that would normally have one, or this may be a more permanent process in a smaller airport that might not have the space.
nrclark 5y ago
Don't forget that it also costs money. Nothing like a government-sponsored system to make life visibly better for those who can afford it. And - since it siphons line-space and machines - harder for everybody else. Sometimes I think that pre-check, toll-roads, and their ilk will take us all to the guillotine if we keep it up long enough.
- BenjiWiebe 5y ago
  At least in Kansas, the toll roads are not using tax money, so that's better than a government-funded TSA wanting more cash from you to make your life easier.
  - dont__panic 5y ago
    Ugh, you mean that stretch of the Turnpike on 70 that forces you to pay a toll for travel between Topeka and Kansas City? Not exactly an optional tollroad if you're driving across the country on 70, and you can tell they're not using a lot of the money to maintain the roads...

by ctrlp 5y ago

jdavis703 5y ago

Aside from the interview, the government already has all the background check data in their databases already. It’s not like you’re applying for a security clearance where agents go around your friends, family and neighbors digging up undocumented dirt.

ctrlp 5y ago
Do you know for a fact that your background screening does not now or will not ever include calling out to a social media extremist detection service? I'm not so confident.
- jdavis703 5y ago
  I’m also not confident in that. But again, if someone has put me in an “extremist detection” database I’m already in the database and the government could already query it.
  - ctrlp 5y ago
    Would you like to be subject to Twitter's or Facebook's interpretation of extremist?
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      why would the government care if i’m banned from twitter?
      - ctrlp 5y ago
        Why would the government care to have you banned from Twitter?
- xxpor 5y ago
  The TSA gets all the info they'd need to do that when you buy a ticket. Precheck or not.

timr 5y ago

It's increasingly not even that convenient. The last half-dozen times I've traveled, "PreCheck" turned into me going through the regular security line, carrying a card which they ignored.

rootusrootus 5y ago
How does that even happen? I have pre-check, and it's always been an entirely separate line. They'd have to do a fair amount of work to redirect you over to the 'regular' line.
- timr 5y ago
  It used to happen only at smaller airports that didn't have the capacity to handle extra lines. But lately, I've had it happen at bit airports (like ATL), so I'm not really sure. The answer to your (implicit?) question is that it doesn't work. The staff take the card from you at the start of the process, and once your bag is in the machine, they have no idea if it's yours. So far, every time this has happened, I"ve been singled out for additional security.
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    So after you already start the x-ray process, they take you aside and make you do the shoes, belt, and the rest? If I sound confused, it's because I am :). I don't get a pre-check card, it just shows up as a notation on my boarding pass. I scan it just like normal, then shove my phone into my backpack and toss it on the belt. No removing my shoes, belt, etc. They also won't touch my bag, and I have to be the one to push it onto the feed belt of the scanner. They have to have a pretty good idea that it belongs to me. Coincidentally, I just travelled through ATL a few weeks ago. It's never as smooth as my home airport (PDX) because it's a much busier airport, but I don't recall anything out of the ordinary happening.
    - vinay427 5y ago
      > I don't get a pre-check card, it just shows up as a notation on my boarding pass. (Not the person you replied to.) These are different things. It has nothing to do with you or your eligibility, but the specific time and place. If you're eligible for PreCheck and have it printed on your boarding pass, at some airports and security lines that don't have a PreCheck lane open, you're given a laminated card that the first agent tells you will accord some of the PreCheck benefits. As with the OP, these didn't always work in practice in my experience. The PreCheck line can temporarily be closed in a larger airport that would normally have one, or this may be a more permanent process in a smaller airport that might not have the space.

nrclark 5y ago

Don't forget that it also costs money. Nothing like a government-sponsored system to make life visibly better for those who can afford it. And - since it siphons line-space and machines - harder for everybody else. Sometimes I think that pre-check, toll-roads, and their ilk will take us all to the guillotine if we keep it up long enough.

BenjiWiebe 5y ago
At least in Kansas, the toll roads are not using tax money, so that's better than a government-funded TSA wanting more cash from you to make your life easier.
- dont__panic 5y ago
  Ugh, you mean that stretch of the Turnpike on 70 that forces you to pay a toll for travel between Topeka and Kansas City? Not exactly an optional tollroad if you're driving across the country on 70, and you can tell they're not using a lot of the money to maintain the roads...