Yeah, those TSA naked x-ray scanners were as bad a we thought

[KeepItReal]

Last edited Sat Feb 1, 2014, 02:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Here's the behind the scenes dirt from a former TSA employee in Chicago:

"But most of his criticism is reserved for the Rapiscan full-body scanners introduced at airports after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab snuck a bomb onto a Northwest Airlines flight in his underwear and tried to detonate it.

After a "crash course" on using the machine, Harrington writes, "one of the officers in our class asked him to tell us, off the record, what he really thought about the machines. 'They’re sh--,' he said, shrugging. He said we wouldn’t be able to distinguish plastic explosives from body fat and that guns were practically invisible if they were turned sideways in a pocket.”

And yes, Harrington says, TSA officers could see naked images of passengers in the Image Operator (I.O.) room, where they reviewed images from the scanners:

...

“Just as the long-suffering American public waiting on those security lines suspected, jokes about the passengers ran rampant among my TSA colleagues: Many of the images we gawked at were of overweight people, their every fold and dimple on full awful display...All the old, crass stereotypes about race and genitalia size thrived on our secure government radio channels.” "

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I'm glad I opted out of these damned things and went for a pat-down every time I saw one.

Here's the link to the entire former TSA agent's story in Politico.

[roody]

1. I have always opted out, and the

Last edited Fri Jan 31, 2014, 06:44 PM - Edit history (2)

last time I flew I went in as pre-cleared! (I was in a hurry and was going to go through the damn thing.) So I'm still a Rapiscan virgin!

[mindwalker_i]

2. "Bad" is a very relative term in this case

We, meaning people, get no benefit from them as far as their stated purpose goes. However, the dude making them get a sweet deal, and all of us taxpayers are paying for it. I'm convinced that is the real and only reason these were pushed. From this point of view, they are a smashing success.

[riderinthestorm]

3. This is a great piece. K&R nt

[siligut]

4. The article mentions how TSA officers made fun of passenger's 'naked' bodies

But fails to mention how they targeted shapely women. I don't need extra radiation, so I opted for pat-downs too, every gd time. It became a joke. I didn't clue until Oakland where it was so blatant that I finally did a search on Google.

[icymist]

5. This is what has become of our public airwaves?

"All the old, crass stereotypes about race and genitalia size thrived on our secure government radio channels.”

I want my analog television back.