8 ms·

Sadly, up until today TSA is not allowing airports to opt out of the system, even though the law was specifically set up to allow them to do so. The new FAA bil

Sadly, up until today TSA is not allowing airports to opt out of the system, even though the law was specifically set up to allow them to do so. The new FAA bill -- which also calls for the FAA to set rules for thousands of law enforcement drones to monitor civilians sometime in the next decade or so -- changes this. (random Google link: http://www.securitydirectornews.com/?p=article&id=sd2012021h9pdx http://www.securitydirectornews.com/?p=article&id=sd2012...) A bunch have already applied -- and been turned down. Hopefully this will change. ADD: Hate to be Mr. Cyncial Guy, but I think it's important to look at the problems with the system that led to the creation of the TSA. After 9-11, the Republicans wanted to do something big to put boots on the ground all over the nation, to be the party of security (theater). The Democrats wanted tens of thousands of new federal union workers to help shore up their re-election base. Both sides also wanted to be able to run generally on "doing something about terrorism". So a compromise was reached, everybody got something they wanted, and here we are. Hopefully many airports will manage to opt out. I am not holding my breath for it, though. My money says we'll see those tens of thousands of drones a long time before we see substantial competition for airport security. As the other commenter pointed out, even if you opt out TSA still gets to tell you exactly what to do. Litigation exposure alone will keep most airports from signing up.

roc 15y ago
> "Hate to be Mr. Cyncial Guy, but I think it's important to look at the problems with the system that led to the creation of the TSA." The problems with the system that led to the creation of the TSA is that voters vote for theatre. They do it with drug laws, they do it with drunk driving laws, they do it to "protect the children" and they do it with anti-terror nonsense. The parties' motives for going along with it are almost irrelevant. Opposing these laws is career suicide for American politicians.
- ambler0 15y ago
  I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said except for the part about drunk driving laws. Could you please elaborate on this part? It's also worth noting that there are two types of career suicide here: 1. Acting against the population's wishes, and 2. Acing against what is deemed acceptable by the ruling establishment. I think the "war on drugs" is an example where the general population might be very receptive to an unorthodox (i.e. decriminalization) candidate, but such candidates are filtered out of the process.
  - Retric 15y ago
    You can be arrested for drunk driving if your caught sleeping in the back seat of your car. You can be arrested for drunk driving a segway or a horse. The drunk driving threshold in most states is so low they can't do physical tests to determine that level of impairment. They can only test your 'impairment' by testing directly for alcohol as many people preform better on reflex tests etc with that much alcohol in their system. There is some impairment at that level but it's well below other accepted thresholds like being sleepy or talking on a cellphone. Still even sober people cause accidents so there are plenty of accidents caused by people with that level of impairment, which helps keep threshold set that low. PS: Much of the world is much worse though with .02 being the limit in China, Estonia, Poland, Sweden.
    - dalke 15y ago
      I think you can sleep it off in the back seat only as long as you aren't in control of the keys (for a very loose definition of "control"). If the engine is off, and if you unlock the doors with keyless entry, and then throw the keys away (perhaps somewhere in the bushes where you can perhaps find them later), then I think it's possible to sleep it off. Try it out and let me know if it works. ;) BTW, I live in Sweden. You don't drink even a glass of wine for dinner and plan to drive that night. On the other hand, there's great mass transit so less need to drive if you want to drink. It's also fine to drink beer in public, unlike several places I've lived in the US.
      - deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
      - roc 15y ago
        I can't imagine where you might have lived in the US where a beer in public would have even raised an eyebrow, let alone be frowned upon. Aside from highly religious towns with strict licensing like, say, Salt Lake City, and aside from lunch during the work day, alcohol consumption is pretty well accepted.
        15y ago
r00fus 15y ago
Obama recently made LNCB [1] optional ... my state (CA) still hasn't opted out [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act
hammock 15y ago
It's not TSA-free, but the fact that LaGuardia is free of naked scanners means it is the only place I fly into New York.

roc 15y ago

> "Hate to be Mr. Cyncial Guy, but I think it's important to look at the problems with the system that led to the creation of the TSA." The problems with the system that led to the creation of the TSA is that voters vote for theatre. They do it with drug laws, they do it with drunk driving laws, they do it to "protect the children" and they do it with anti-terror nonsense. The parties' motives for going along with it are almost irrelevant. Opposing these laws is career suicide for American politicians.

ambler0 15y ago
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said except for the part about drunk driving laws. Could you please elaborate on this part? It's also worth noting that there are two types of career suicide here: 1. Acting against the population's wishes, and 2. Acing against what is deemed acceptable by the ruling establishment. I think the "war on drugs" is an example where the general population might be very receptive to an unorthodox (i.e. decriminalization) candidate, but such candidates are filtered out of the process.
- Retric 15y ago
  You can be arrested for drunk driving if your caught sleeping in the back seat of your car. You can be arrested for drunk driving a segway or a horse. The drunk driving threshold in most states is so low they can't do physical tests to determine that level of impairment. They can only test your 'impairment' by testing directly for alcohol as many people preform better on reflex tests etc with that much alcohol in their system. There is some impairment at that level but it's well below other accepted thresholds like being sleepy or talking on a cellphone. Still even sober people cause accidents so there are plenty of accidents caused by people with that level of impairment, which helps keep threshold set that low. PS: Much of the world is much worse though with .02 being the limit in China, Estonia, Poland, Sweden.
  - dalke 15y ago
    I think you can sleep it off in the back seat only as long as you aren't in control of the keys (for a very loose definition of "control"). If the engine is off, and if you unlock the doors with keyless entry, and then throw the keys away (perhaps somewhere in the bushes where you can perhaps find them later), then I think it's possible to sleep it off. Try it out and let me know if it works. ;) BTW, I live in Sweden. You don't drink even a glass of wine for dinner and plan to drive that night. On the other hand, there's great mass transit so less need to drive if you want to drink. It's also fine to drink beer in public, unlike several places I've lived in the US.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - roc 15y ago
      I can't imagine where you might have lived in the US where a beer in public would have even raised an eyebrow, let alone be frowned upon. Aside from highly religious towns with strict licensing like, say, Salt Lake City, and aside from lunch during the work day, alcohol consumption is pretty well accepted.
      - 15y ago

r00fus 15y ago

Obama recently made LNCB [1] optional ... my state (CA) still hasn't opted out [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act

hammock 15y ago

It's not TSA-free, but the fact that LaGuardia is free of naked scanners means it is the only place I fly into New York.