Body scanners and pat downs

[mariness]

I started this blog entry soon after returning from WFC, and then never got around to finishing it (this happens to a surprising number of my posts.) Since discussion on this point has heated up in the past few days, I figured I'd finish it up.

Comments

[silviamg]

I would take a train where I have to go, except Mexico is not nearby and the USA is smack in the middle. And nowadays, even if I fly without a connection in Los Angeles, Canada is going to give my fly data to the USA. So I won't touch US soil, but if the plane is flying over the country, they'll have my information.

Crazy times.

[mariness]

The problems with U.S. trains

[mariness]

That's true only if you assume that patdowns are necessary and the only way to determine whether someone is carrying a weapon/bomb material.

In the past year I have managed to go into both a federal hearing facility and an Orange County courthouse which managed to make this determination while a) not touching me, b) not patting me down, and c) not making me leave the wheelchair. So I question that assumption.

[alaneer]

I share your environmental concerns, but I still want fresh gloves if/when patted down. I never liked plane travel, and now I'm going to cut even more.

[mariness]

I should have pointed out that both our concerns can be addressed by eliminating the pat downs.

As I noted when responding to another person, I realized that I have managed to enter a secure federal facility (which did not allow cameras/cellphones and searched for them) and an Orange County courthouse (which allowed cellphones in some areas, not others, but was mostly searching for weapons), without leaving my wheelchair, getting touched, or patted down -- while still definitely having my personal items searched and asked to answer several questions to ensure that I was supposed to be there and was not a threat. AND the lines for both of these kept moving.

Just saying.

[lauredhel]

Were they definitely latex? Blue gloves are usually (though not always) nitrile, and a quick search through latex allergy sites suggests that the TSA routinely uses nitrile gloves these days.

[mariness]

Now that you mention it, no, I'm not sure at all. I thought one of the agents mentioned latex (they looked like the same blue gloves in both places) but I could be wrong about this - it's been a couple of weeks.

Which may deal with the allergy concern, but not with the other concerns mentioned here - particularly not the "someone is going to steal my wallet" mentioned by several people - it came up yesterday at Harry Potter, too - people really don't like giving up their wallets and having them out of their eyesight.

(I know in LJ land the chief concern is privacy and triggering from getting touched, but outside of LJ land the main concern seems to be the wallet problem, which I unfortunately do agree is a problem at most U.S. airports, since they don't focus on anti-theft measures.)

[lauredhel]

Oh, definitely on the wallet stealing being a huge concern! The latex was just the bit that made me go "EEP" because I'm allergic, too.

Even if they didn't give a shit about their, erm, customers/subjects/victims: throwing that much low-quality latex around would open the TSA up to a whole pile of worker's comp liability with staff developing allergies, so non-latex makes financial sense. (Not that that means they're actually _doing_ it, as I discovered last time I was in hospital; but it makes sense.)