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...will be used to remove porno-scanners and grope-checks from standard security. Has this ever happened? Has the TSA ever given up on a security screening pra

...will be used to remove porno-scanners and grope-checks from standard security. Has this ever happened? Has the TSA ever given up on a security screening practice that had become a widespread routine? If 70% of people are passing through security without being hassled, their PR problems nosedive. If 70% of passengers walk through the screening point without removing their shoes, without walking through a metal detector, without having their bags x-rayed, etc., and the other 30% are singled out for special treatment, won't that 30% feel extra persecuted? The TSA's PR problems are mainly related to rarer-that-30% outrages like selecting comely young women for pornoscanning, interfering with uncommon medical equipment, etc.

roc 15y ago
> "Has this ever happened?" No, but I don't think the current state of things is sustainable. There isn't a demographic that's free of TSA horror stories anymore. And we all know a new vector will be chosen that will defeat these measures. Thus, without a way out, the TSA will have to come up with an even-more-invasive screening method. And I can't see how that's at all feasible. Drastically reducing the number of people who have to be subject to "advanced" security measures through technology is a face-saving and politically-feasible way for the TSA to back off. It's, frankly, their only way out. As to the 30% feeling persecuted: yeah, probably. Particularly if a given population consistently gets selected for 'advanced' security. [1] And hopefully that's an avenue that can be leveraged to take further steps toward sane security that doesn't infringe our liberties. I'm not suggesting this is acceptable as a solution. Just as a step. Provided it is, indeed, a step away from running every single person through the current gauntlet of invasive TSA security theatre.
ojbyrne 15y ago
Children under 12 no longer have to remove their shoes. It's minor, but it is an example of them giving up a routine security screening practice (or at least modifying to be less intrusive). I think they're going to drop the removing shoes thing completely soon.

roc 15y ago

> "Has this ever happened?" No, but I don't think the current state of things is sustainable. There isn't a demographic that's free of TSA horror stories anymore. And we all know a new vector will be chosen that will defeat these measures. Thus, without a way out, the TSA will have to come up with an even-more-invasive screening method. And I can't see how that's at all feasible. Drastically reducing the number of people who have to be subject to "advanced" security measures through technology is a face-saving and politically-feasible way for the TSA to back off. It's, frankly, their only way out. As to the 30% feeling persecuted: yeah, probably. Particularly if a given population consistently gets selected for 'advanced' security. [1] And hopefully that's an avenue that can be leveraged to take further steps toward sane security that doesn't infringe our liberties. I'm not suggesting this is acceptable as a solution. Just as a step. Provided it is, indeed, a step away from running every single person through the current gauntlet of invasive TSA security theatre.

ojbyrne 15y ago

Children under 12 no longer have to remove their shoes. It's minor, but it is an example of them giving up a routine security screening practice (or at least modifying to be less intrusive). I think they're going to drop the removing shoes thing completely soon.