This video is here to demonstrate that the TSA’s insistence that the nude body scanner program is effective and necessary is nothing but a fraud, just like their claims that the program is safe (radiation what?) and non-invasive (nude pictures who?). The scanners are now effectively worthless, as anyone can beat them with virtually no effort. The TSA has been provided this video in advance of it being made public to give them an opportunity to turn off the scanners and revert to the metal detectors. I personally believe they now have no choice but to turn them off.
Please share this video with your family, friends, and most importantly, elected officials in federal government. Make sure they understand that your vote is contingent on them fixing the abuse that 200,000 passengers face from the TSA on a daily basis.
My legal battle against the TSA’s nude body scanner and pat-down molestation program continues in court, soon with a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. If you’d like to donate to this effort, send PayPal to: jon [at] fourtentech.com
I’d like to thank:
Travel Underground – http://www.travelunderground.org/
Freedom to Travel USA – http://fttusa.org/
Legislators who have stood up to the TSA – especially Dr. Ron Paul & Sen. Rand Paul
…and all those who have both publicly and privately stood up to the TSA.
Add me on Twitter: @tsaoutourpants (no “of”)
Transcript:
I’m publishing this video because I want the world to know how much danger the American Transportation Security Administration is putting all us all in with their haste to deploy the expensive, invasive nude body scanner program. When the machines came out, we were told that the invasion on our privacy, doses of radiation, and trashing of our Constitution were necessary because the old metal detectors weren’t good enough. That “non-metallic explosives” were a threat, even though no one has boarded a plane in the US with any type of explosive in nearly 40 years. But while America was testing these devices, Rafi Sela, who ran security for Ben Gurion airport in Israel, which is known for being one of the most secure airports in the world, was quoted saying he could “overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to take down a Boeing 747,” and Ben Gurion therefore refused to buy scanners. The US ignored this warning, and Mr. Sela never publicly explained his statement. But it stuck with me.
As a scientist, engineer, and frequent traveler, as well as the first person to sue the TSA when they rolled out the scanners as primary in Nov. 2010, I studied and learned about both kinds of scanners currently in use by the TSA. Here are several images produced by TSA nude body scanners. You’ll see that the search victim is drawn with light colors and placed on a black background in both images. In these samples, the individuals are concealing metallic objects that you can see as a black shape on their light figure. Again that’s light figure, black background, and BLACK threat items. Yes that’s right, if you have a metallic object on your side, it will be the same color as the background and therefore completely invisible to both visual and automated inspection.
It can’t possibly be that easy to beat the TSA’s billion dollar fleet of nude body scanners, right? The TSA can’t be that stupid, can they?
Unfortunately, they can, and they are. To put it to the test, I bought a sewing kit from the dollar store, broke out my 8th grade home ec skills, and sewed a pocket directly on the side of a shirt. Then I took a random metallic object, in this case a heavy metal carrying case that would easily alarm any of the “old” metal detectors, and walked through a backscatter x-ray at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. On video, of course. While I’m not about to win any videography awards for my hidden camera footage, you can watch as I walk through the security line with the metal object in my new side pocket. My camera gets placed on the conveyer belt and goes through its own x-ray, and when it comes out, I’m through, and the object never left my pocket.
Maybe a fluke? Ok, let’s try again at Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport through one of the TSA’s newest machines: a millimeter wave scanner with automated threat detection built-in. With the metallic object in my side pocket, I enter the security line, my device goes through its own x-ray, I pass through, and exit with the object without any complaints from the TSA.
While I carried the metal case empty, by one with mal-intent, it could easily have been filled with razor blades, explosives, or one of Charlie Sheen’s infamous 7 gram rocks of cocaine. With a bigger pocket, perhaps sewn on the inside of the shirt, even a firearm could get through. It’s important to note that any metal object of any size can use this technique. …and I don’t urge you to try to bring contraband through security, as the nude body scanners often have false positives: so while the metal on your side might get through, a button on your shirt or a sweaty armpit might “look suspicious” and earn you a pat down anyway.
Now, I’m sure the TSA will accuse me of aiding the terrorists by releasing this video, but it’s beyond belief that the terrorists haven’t already figured this out and are already plotting to use this against us. It’s also beyond belief that the TSA did not already know everything I just told you, and arrogantly decided to disregard our safety: anything to force Americans to give up our liberty to the federal government and our tax dollars to companies that are in bed with that government. The nude body scanner program is nothing but a giant fraud, which should come as no surprise after the Fast & Furious scandal that sent thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels and cost a Customs and Border Patrol agent his life. THIS is a disgrace. So let’s fix this problem — now — before the terrorists take this opportunity to hurt us: the TSA must immediately end the nude body scanner program, and return to the tried-and-true metal detectors that actually work, and work without invading our privacy, as well as implement better solutions for non-metallic explosives, such as bomb-sniffing dogs and trace detection machines.
The TSA is worse than ineffective: they are an epic fail placing us all in danger. Beyond the scanners, Demand of your legislators and presidential candidates that they get rid of this $8B a year waste known as the TSA and privatize airport security. Ask for their commitment to our rights in exchange for your vote. And no matter which party is in the White House or holds on to Capital Hill, the issue of ending TSA abuse is of interest to all Americans; it’s NOT a partisan issue. We must all stand together and demand an end to the organization that molests our families while placing us in danger by directly ignoring blatant security flaws.
Thank you.
Professional Troublemaker ® 
AWESOME BLOG!
I”M SPREADING THE MESSAGE AT http://sckelleyartist.weebly.com/index.html
Good luck to you!
Absolutely a lie. Cannot be done, its a Hoax. If someone tried this they would be immediately caught, arrested and brought up on charges. Please people don’t believe everything you see on the internet.
Your an idiot, if you had any idea of the contant threats that are received, or spoiled due to TSA’s vigilant work and the support of the CIA, FBI and international intelligence communities. All your doing is arming dangerous terrorists and homeland lunatics to bypass our security systems and create another 911. I know for a fact that the threats are real. I was in Army intelligence for over 17 years and i know what’s going on. Your just an ignorant idiot that has nothing better to do with his life, but make stupid decisions.
Army intelligence. That is an oxymoron.
Yes, they are good, they found weapons of mass distruction in Iraq and Osama in ten years after 9/11.
If YOU’RE going to call someone an idiot, use the right word in the first word of the first sentence of YOU’RE message. I’m assuming you meant “constant” and not “content”.
I do have to commend you for the turn of phrase “homeland lunatics” — it’s nice to see acknowledgement that the right-wing white christians are being lumped in with the terrorists they are. 😉
Who’s the idiot John? Talk about a jump in logic! How can you jump from people who kill others to those who argue for their faith? There’s a VAST difference there.
txbearmeat: To answer your question as to who the idiot is: it is clearly you. There is no jump in logic there. The terrorists killing others, IS the argument for their faith. NOTHING has killed and massacred more things in all recorded, and unrecorded human history, than faith.
While YOU’RE at it, please note that YOUR second YOU’RE should actually be the possessive YOUR, not YOU’RE as written.
Willie Z obviously is one of those idiot TSA members. Army intelligence lmfao, are you serious. The guy whom made this video has found a huge problem with the TSA and the machines and you are calling him an idiot? Go back to work at the TSA and find something to steal like the rest of the morons you POS.
oooouch stevie , the pen is truly mightier than the sword, whats a pos ? poser nice rebuff
It’s you’re, not your. As in: You’re an illiterate idiot.
that’s the most unintelligent post i’ve read on this thread. congratulations.
Just ask people to turn to the side when going through the scanner?
Oops. Didn’t see that one coming.
You are a motherfucking idiot who should never be allowed out of his padded cell. I’m happy to give you plenty of past and play-dough to eat, water to drink.
Willie Z is illiterate and doesn’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re” – don’t listen to him. It’s not rocket science – this has nothing to do with security and more with the “theater” of security. Some very powerful people and Washington insiders are making a bundle off of this billion dollar scam – namely George Soros, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and a number of lobbyists.
Army intelligence? I doubt it. Your post doesn’t show any intelligence at all. This guy is a hero and a patriot, so back off until you can construct a basic sentence in English.
I’ve been an intelligent person for a much longer time than you’ve needed the military to help you call yourself intelligent.
You have drawn the conclusion that what he’s doing is making a stupid decision. Understand that these body scanners are intrusive and ineffective. There are a tremendous number of problems in airport security of which many can be addressed by allocating resources (financial and human) to far more effective methods. I have watched the TSA make so many mistakes due to incredible mismanagement that calling their work vigilant is almost irresponsible in itself. As a so called military intelligence… officer, contractor, whatever, you should be aware… especially if you have done any research in the field of airport security that the most effective methods of catching terrorists is to be vigilant quietly. In other words, the most effective methods are the ones we don’t see.
The poster of this article almost certainly will not win any awards for his skills at diplomacy (nor will many of the other posters), but his point is valid. He did not draw attention to any flaws that weren’t obvious to many of the rest of us before hand. In fact, I watched his video to see if he presented anything new and interesting. It became interesting when I saw a TV show (I think a clip from mythbusters) where someone walked through one of those scanners with two 12 inch razor blades in his coat pocket. The fact that they were in his side pocket gave it away.
What he did on the other hand is raise awareness of the weakness and point out that a simple metal detector is probably far more accurate. The fact that these excessively overpriced machines (and as an engineer, I can tell you, they’re charging far too much) do not actually include at least a primitive metal detector as well is quite sad. Of course this is easy to remedy… put one in front of the other line a tunnel. But these machines are pretty useless by themselves.
The fact that it appears that you can’t resort to almost militant defensiveness and name calling makes your “Army Intelligence” comment a fantastic oxymoron. An intelligent person would respond intelligently. If you have a point to make, make it and debate it. Calling a person an “Ignorant idiot” accomplishes nothing except to degrade peoples perception of you. If you are in fact intelligent (jury is still out), then you’d have made your argument in constructive fashion. In fact, making an intelligent argument is far more useful than telling people you were in “Army Intelligence” as there are very few people outside of the military that would in fact wonder “If this guy was Army Intelligence? I wonder what the less intelligent guys are like”. Also understand that the ability to gather intelligence is hardly the same thing as being able to either recognize it or understand it.
Now, there are in fact real threats, and the TSA may in fact have stopped a handful of them. But in reality, unless the TSA policy of hiring people who made a lateral move from their old job at McDonalds as a means to convince people to not do bad things is in fact a strategy no one else actually understands, then it’s just a means of getting the airports and government to pay for more over-priced employees so they can collect some off the top.
Let’s also point out that TSA does not have access to proper employees for the position. To actually be effective at those machines, it requires intelligent people with the ability to do more than just look for white blotches on a black background. It requires people who can read body movement, recognize elevated heart rates, etc… it requires people who are well suited for profiling. However, the best they can hope for is people like yourself, former “military intelligence” types which frankly, as you’ve proven aren’t worth much. So they settle for high school athletes who actually managed to graduate somehow.
A single qualified profiler watching security cameras is far more likely to pickup suspicious activity and therefore actual threats than all the machines and former military intelligence employees in the world. But, unless they’re desperate because they got caught diddling one of their child patients and really needs a job, they will not find one who would be willing to sit for 8 hours at a time starting at TV screens. This is why we depend on technologies and frankly, we depend on the wrong ones.
Please in the future, think before you speak. Leave out the military intelligence credentials, it’s just too easy for us.
absolutely brilliant and please dont judge me by my spelling, its a tough human problem we´re up against, sure we´re running scared, people are making money jobs are being created, rights are being abused and lost, but what are we to do?, the loss of even one life is too much, we all have love ones who fly or we wouldn´t be on this medium, like you say it will be beat or the good battle will be fought and all will not be revealed,there´`s a certain amount of good mis-direction anyway in any good security apparatus, and we´re just part of it ,dont forget that this is america and we also have a homegrown threat, the hitech gizmo´s go along way with these guys or so i would like to believe ,thanks for putting your heart to the written word
but you insulted MacDonald’s hey my son’s first job there, otherwise well spoken
what has the TSA foiled? because if they foiled some terrorist plot themselves charges would have to be filed against the suspect and the TSA would be crowing about it to the media.
the other organizations i believe but TSA? no way.
remember the underwear bomber? the shoe bomber? originated OUTSIDE the US. how’d the TSA do on those. care to explain that Mr. 17 years Army intelligence?
9/11 worked because it was unexpected. now if they try something similar i can practically guarantee that the passengers on the plane would fight back regardless. that type of attack WILL NOT work again. people assumed the first time it was a simple hijacking as in ‘give us our buddies in jail back and the hostages go free’ obviously it wasn’t.
The threats are real, agreed. The choice of using body scanners for threat mitigation has just been proven to be ineffective. Ignoring this evidence is negligence on the part of the TSA.
It’s not the author who is making stupid decisions.
The TSA either was aware of this flaw and chose to ignore it, which actually has made flying more dangerous.
Or the TSA couldn’t comprehend to consider this possibility, which frankly I find more plausible, which shows them to be the imbeciles they are.
Either way TSA is a failure. Is this really who should be in charge of airport security?
While I disagree with everyone else claiming you are an idiot because of your improper use of “you’re and your”. I do agree that your post is baseless and inaccurate.
Since the inception of the TSA they have allowed numerous people to board planes with objects that are, or very well could be used as weapons. All the while harassing small children and old women who are the least likely threats.
Aside from the above, this post is to alarm us of the failure of the devices costing tax payers billion dollars a year that are less effective than much simpler and cheaper technology that has been in existence for decades.
Besides that, I have met TSA “agents” that I wouldn’t trust to watch my children, let alone protect my country from threat.
I agree with other posters on here in the belief that someone with friends high up used the current state of the world to pawn off some high tech gear they developed that had no other real world application that would allow them to pawn off their wares. This guy has shown a pathetically simple flaw in a technology that is supposed to save lives?
Would you also “verbally” attack someone that pointed out that your home alarm system was easily bypassed by crawling in a side window?
I beg to differ. I was in Intel for 10yrs before and after 9/11 and didn’t see any of this. What I saw was a staggering waste of money and analysts that were rewarded for cooking up controversy. Heck I think we could have simply given a half million dollars to every single person in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan and it woudl have cost less than what we spent on spying and military operations against these countries in the last 10yrs. Arming dangerous terrorists seems like an extreme and rediculous POV. Any tourist can buy a gun off the street and walk into a school or mall to create a major terror incident. The orinigal poster is correct that people already are aware of what the video demonstrates. The do actually have scientists in the “Axis of Evil” countries. However, contrary to popular belief, there is not a long line of terrorists trying to blow up planes. It does make for a scary story however, and helps sell lots of useless million dollar scanners.
Sure there are lots of angry folks oversease but why do you think they are angry at us. Is it because they were born to hate freedom or is it because we park military bases on their door step, interfere in their internal affairs, threaten and bully them with the state department and war mongering foreign policy? Hmm. I wonder how friendly our freedom loving citizens would react to China or Russia parking some bases in Mexico, Cuba or Venezuala for “regional stability.” Oh yah, they did try that and what was the reaction? Yet, we do the same with impunity in Europe and the Middle east.
I say he’s an upstanding American that grants no quarter to the pathetically inept idiots that put us in harm’s way because they can’t do simple profiling and detect threats by using observation of behavior which is a much better tool.
I also think I’d rather him out this monumental failure before a terrorist blows up a bunch of innocent people because of what the same pathetic idiots have done (or not done) to build the proper diplomatic bridges (or burn them).
Really, it comes down to war or trade. A country can dominate the world with either but I prefer trade. As for religious zealots of any stripe, there is no placating them or conquering them. This crap with the enmity amongst the zealots over their superstitions has been going on ever since the different religious beliefs were founded.
As for stupid decisions, I think it is incredibly stupid to be in the military when so many of the ranks come home effed up physically or mentally or dead. Veteran’s get nothing for being in the military and are one of the largest groups of the currently unemployed. Why would anyone join today when it is almost a certainty that their enlistment will include a tour of duty in a country where most of the people give up their lives (willingly or not) to the service of a bunch of men running some religious order and where there is a near zero prospect for any kind of representative government in the near (50 year horizon) term?
Next time you say something, use a bit of deliberation and don’t just call names. That is, of course, you are capable of rubbing two concepts together to come up with a salient point.
“YOUR an idiot” This guy just summed up his intelligence for everyone here. What an epic fail.
Willie Z,
As a former Military Intelligence Analyst, and Loyal American, I would like to say thank you for your passion. Sadly it is misguided. Exposing the traveling public to doses of x-rays, simply to put up the ruse that they are doing something is not security.
This invasive method is not only dangerous, but as has been shown, is ineffective from preventing people from bringing dangerous items on-board an aircraft. The TSA has no actual proof of foiling any terrorist plots, or stopping anyone from bringing anything on board an aircraft that wasn’t detectable via the means that were in place PRIOR to these millimeter band x-ray systems.
The TSA has become the government’s “border police”, which is not their job. That is a customs and border patrol job. However, we, as Americans, no longer have the right to the 1st, 4th, & 5th amendments of the Constitution of These United States of America. I served our country to uphold these rights, for you, and ALL citizens. And I take that very personally.
Our erosion and easy dismissal of these rights is allowing us, as Americans, to give in to FEAR mongering, and actually give in to the Terrorists. Simply put, photos like these http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/67190/802062/CARGO%20PERV%20MAN.gif, are proof that the terrorists have won.
Is this what YOU want for our country?
By the way, the TSA has “stopped” patting down children 12 and younger who are going to fly… so guess what? The Terrorists can now convince a child to Die for their cause, and stuff them full of Explosives, and take them on board… Are you REALLY that scared that is going to happen?
These scanners are SO INVASIVE, that I have stopped traveling by air. I am personally at my lifetime X-Ray dose limit, due to broken bones, and I have to opt-out every time. This means, that I, a former TS-SBI cleared, trusted government employee, now has to be groped as some untrusted, unwashed, guilty terrorist. I’m sorry, that’s not what it means to be an American. If you recall your history, we left the “British Empire” because of this type of tyranny.
I will leave you with the wise words of Benjamin Franklin; “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
“Your an idiot”, “Your just an ignorant idiot” Apparently Army “intelligence” does not care if their agents know when to use “you’re” . . .
Reblogged this on BuddhaKat and commented:
though this was recently FP’d, I also ran across it in my other web browsings today and chose to share too…
namaste
🙂
janet
Hi Jon,
Not to put a damper on your claim that the scanners are worthless but if the TSA had the traveler rotate a full 360 degrees, then your side-arm-weapon-carry method would be defeated. Your 4th amendment claim is something else.
Bo
Yeah, except TSA claims these machines are the end-all be-all. If they were so easily defeated as Jon has proven, they aren’t the awesome things that TSA said they were.
Either TSA knew of this deficit and chose not to do anything about it. Or TSA didn’t know about it.
Can you honestly trust these people to provide effective airport security knowing that?
Firearms? Metal containers with razor blades? Nope they are too busy patting me down and making me wait on the side because my all plastic medical equipment is constantly raising the alarm every time I go through one of those scanners. Thanks TSA. Thanks for that. Airports everywhere are now safe from the threat of insulin pumps.
Reblogged on my website, along with the Adam Savage video. Good work mate.
Wait wait, this wasn’t already widely known? Seriously, anyone with half an EE degree should have seen this flaw right off the bat. Every time I opt-out I explain this, and the matched imeedance flaws with theTSA officer.
The theory behind the effect is fairly simple. They picked RF frequencies which reflect off of skin IE WATER with a bit o salt in it well and are conducted (poorly reflected) by metal and a verity of other substances. Anywho, you can use the fact that the body scanner cant see its own emissions which pass your body (IE non reflected) and hide things on your side, OR you can make a jello mold of your chest and add a bit o salt and it would effectivly look JUST LIKE skin. You go from there.
NOT to mention there are many many other ways that these things fail which require somewhat more complex descriptions. What really supprises me is that no one has tried jamming them.
gmancasefile.com has an excellent article on this very thing! …a must read!
This was excellent by the way, I shared it on FB and everyone should. Maybe you will be someone who actually helps “change”!!! 🙂 Keep up the good work.
Hi,
I’m an Israeli security consultant and i performed an acceptance test for such a scanner 5 years ago. let me correct some of your arguments:
1, Rafi Sela, a self proclaimed security expert whom i know, never ran security in Ben-Gurion. In fact he never worked there. and as far as i know he never ran security anywhere. nevertheless, he is an honest man and i don’t believe he presents himself as head of security of Ben-Gurion airport. you probably misunderstood him.
2. Ben-Gurion did buy a scanner, and it has been put to use. other agencies in Israel are also using it.
3. The method you described may work if you plan on smuggling a small flattened metal object, such as the one you have supposedly smuggled through security, perhaps even a small knife.
4. Your video doesn’t really prove anything, sorry….
5. This can only happen if the screeners are poorly trained. a trained and experienced screener would have found such a threat easily.
6.these scanners do not omit x-ray, the omit Millimeteric waves which are not dangerous, especially if the exposure for 20 seconds like it is now.
7. Nevertheless,there are serious privacy issues since the image of the body is quite realistic. these issues can be dealt with,
Thanks,
Alon
Your Point 5 is the most important point. ALL of our “security” is poorly trained. We don’t have many trained and experienced screeners. We have SOME, but they’re generally people who got their training elsewhere before working for the TSA. A good percentage of our TSA screeners are barely-trained. The United States is trying, I think, to use high-tech to compensate for lack of training.
Our best people are put on the border, and look how well that’s doing..
This sentence does not make sense. Are you saying it will have deleterious effects BECAUSE it hasn’t been tested? The reason it’s called non-ionizing radiation is because it’s – you guessed it – non-ionizing.
We do not know the effects on human tissue. Fact.
The effects of MMW on human tissue used in this way has never been tested. Fact.
It is a fallacy, therefore, to assume that MMW safe because the human tissue health effects are unknown.
Ergo, it is likely that this technology, like so many others before it, has been declared “safe” when it has never been tested on human subjects.
if we, all white american citizens, just finally got their heads out of their ass, and finish what nazi germany tried to do, (STARTING TO LOOK LIKE THE RIGHT IDEA NOW, DOES’NT IT) and clean the earth of the other races who clearly are the result of humans mating with monkies and the such, JUST ELIMINATE PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE EXCEPTS WASPS THE WORDL WOULD BE CLEAN, SAFE, PURE AND AS GOD MEANT IT TO BE
@ Rick C/
I’m assuming that this is some kind of joke? Recalling that white American citizens largely came from Europe, if we were to follow your logic then Europe would eliminate all Americans (white and otherwise) as part of this cleansing process you speak of. Nazi Germany wasn’t exactly on the same side as America, after all.
And, sorry to disappoint you, but God is a very recent construct of humans as part of a societal control mechanism. Man has been around for 1 million plus years of evolution quite happily without God and long before God’s so-called creation, spiritual beliefs came along perhaps 20,000-40,000 years ago, Christianity and God just over 2,000 years as populations grew and communities needed some kind of ultimate threat (eternal damnation) for non-conformance with societal norms.
There’s nothing wrong with belief systems and I uphold your right to believe whatever you like, but if your hate-filled, ignorant, war-mongering bile is an example of what being a Christian is, then I know exactly who/what should be eliminated. But of course, it isn’t — a true Christian is the complete opposite of you.
Well said.
This is disgusting.
Hey! I know you! You are part of the lollipop guild!
I doubt it would double the time. Each person has to get into the scanner, wait for the scan to finish, then leave anyway. Entering, waiting for the scan to begin, and then leaving would take most of the time. I don’t know how long the actual scan takes, but I would expect that having the person turn would cost five, maybe ten seconds. This will add up to two minutes for every 12 people going through the scan. Making sure nobody gets to smuggle a gun on board should be worth that (and makes much more sense than the ridiculous idea of restricting how much liquid you can take, and having people put everything in plastic bags).
Do you know what would ensure nobody gets to smuggle a gun on board?
Walking through the metal detectors that were already in place before these ridiculous pieces of junk were bought.
Good point. I didn’t ask for these scanners to be installed and I don’t particularly like them myself. I just pointed out that the security gap described in the video can be easily closed with just a little change of the scanning procedure.
And then there’s ceramic knifes and stuff that metal detectors don’t pick up. And as for being patted down by security personnel, this is no guarantee to catch things like the ceramic blades I just mentioned. Just my two cents…
How many ceramic knives can cut through an enforced cockpit door and take down a plane?
That answer would be none.
These scanners are beyond useless.
The latest scanners can view up to 20 people in an open area around 500 feet away, obviating any need for “time”.
Perhaps you can smuggle items under your armpit through US body scanners, but not in The Netherlands (and elsewhere in Europe). Because in Dutch airport body scanners you are required to held your arms up above your head. Simple solution for the US as well !
The pose is the same for U.S. body scanners. Your argument is incorrect; in fact, a hidden pocket sewn into the fabric of a non-form-fitting shirt moves farther from the body and farther into the undetectable zone when the arms are above the head.
@ Pat > keep up the good work Jonathan 🙂 & I “love” how “science” has become a new religion for some people… little knowledge is always DANGEROUS !!!!
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24331/ ” Alexandrov and co have created a model to investigate how THz fields interact with double-stranded DNA and what they’ve found is remarkable. They say that although the forces generated are tiny, resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. That’s a jaw dropping conclusion.”
good on you for voicing and acting on your concerns in this article and video.
Thank you for the confirmation of your ignorance. If you REALLY did your homework – your research is so 20 seconds ago . . . . maybe 25. If you don’t like what is going on . . . leave. I am sure other countries would appreciate you way more than I do at this moment. If you would get off your privileged ass and see that the US is protecting you and not violating your privacy you just might get it. You are wrong about your “intel” information too . . . so wrong. By the way, there are other forms of transportation that I am sure TSA would be happy to see you take – then there is no problem. As they say, there is a reason for everything – you are not, like most of the public, are not privy to this. If you were you would lose your coiffed hair. I am an American. You are what is called a SPOILED American. Stop spreading your ignorance and be part of the solution. Set Americans up for success – not failure. You are like the crab in the barrel that pulls down the other crabs that try to do something. Damn, however I don’t condemn you . . . just do something useful with your time. You are young, you still have mother’s milk on your breath . . . do something with your life. Actually, just live – it does a body good. BTW . . . thanks for the confirmation that people like you really do waste my time. Have a great day!!!
Apparently you work for the TSA. You see, your shoddy prose makes my point perfectly. If the average IQ among TSA is as low as it appears, the billions of dollars wasted on make-believe security is the least of our worries.
How is the US protecting anybody by buying worthless pieces of junk that can be so easily foiled?
Reblogged this on FishyGov and commented:
As you can plainly see by my name, I have trust issues with our government.
That is why I’m reblogging this article written by tsaoutofourpants.
Great blog! Typical government project, invasive, waste or money and ineffective. Just last week I used a soft side bag to travel. I went through Raleigh, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Nashville airports with no problem. When I got home and unpacked I realized my bag which I used to use as a Pistol Range bag had six 22LR and four 357Mag unused rounds in the bottom of it. Shocked me to find them there and even more – shocked that they weren’t detected!
Honest mistake by me, won’t EVER happen again but very disappointing in our security. I ven forgot to take my quart liquids bag out of my carry on in Raleigh and nothing was said.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. There was one reason and one reason only these scanners were deployed, it’s because the manufacturers of these scanners stood to make a lot of money from it and lobbied heavily for it.
These scanners were flawed right from the start. Wait until terrorist slips through. It won’t be long until we start having forced cavity searches. We should copy Israel’s method of airport security. They haven’t had an incident since 2002.
The TSA is nothing more than security theater. It doesn’t really keep us safe. How many terrorists has the TSA caught? Zero. You have a better chance of being killed a vehicle accident than in a terrorist attack. Too bad people are willing to submit to fear and allow the government to erode their civil liberties. Hopefully one day it’ll come to a point where Americans have had enough and start a huge protest.
It’s about the money and the greed of our federal bureaucrats and not security. Once again a corporation convinced a few of them that this would be good for the American people. They told them what it could do and not how it could be so easily foiled and then were amazed when the idiots actually believed it. They sold it to our idiots in congress and now the manufacturers will make billions off of our tax dollars and laugh all the way to the bank and the beach. Now there were probably some kickbacks, promises of employment, a bribe or two and perhaps even some blackmail to get the deal done but once again we the American people have been duped. It worked at the Pentagon and why not at the TSA.
What amazes me is the idea that people believe that they have some type of God given right to fly without any inconvenience. If you don’t like what you consider to be a hassle, don’t fly.
As for me, I would prefer to experience the inconvenience and fly safely. Having spent several years in the military, I am aware of much that continues to be a threat to the western world. In North America, US & Canada in particular, the citizens in general have been sheltered from the reality of what and who is out there and the harm they want to inflict on us.
So, don’t like the process of screening? Walk, take a but, a train, drive yourself. I don’t care but stop the whining.
How can you possibly believe that you are flying safely when this video proves anything can be taken through these scanners?
It’s not about flying without inconvenience, it’s about actually having security instead of a big, expensive show that is ineffective.
It amazes me that people like you seem to come off as intelligent, and then miss the totally obvious facts.
I’m glad to see not everyone on here is a complete idiot. Unlike silencedog here who seems to have overread the entire point of the website, and i quote “Lawsuit against the TSA for 4th Amendment invasion of privacy.” Just an act to complain about the US government some more.
Oh, VT, you just don’t get it, do you?
The initial purpose of Jon’s site was, yes, to publicize his lawsuit to end use of the body scanners. The reason the lawsuit was filed was because they ARE a violation of protection against unreasonable search because they are, in fact, ineffective.
And he has since published a video to prove that fact.
And you think this is about complaining about government?
Uh, no. It’s about actually getting security in an airport, where people actually do have a Constitutionally protected AND God-given right to fly.
I’m sorry that you’re apparently too stupid to comprehend that.
I keep you in pursuing your case on the principle of true cause and have the empirical evidence and must in the end you will get on the right for yourself and for all
That’s good work but then it is arming idiots with info they never would have been smart enough to think of. They are, our enemy even though the media and left would have you think otherwise, animals who really can’t think too well. So they use Hollywood and the net and others’ ideas to do their deeds.
I’m shocked the T S A wouldn’t want you to give them some time to figure out an out strategy because now there’ll be a lag time and I believe many of the hires to be morons frankly and I’ll tell you why. I live outside O Hare and I see these idiots actually walking around with their uniforms on and there’s not a one I haven’t fed some shiite to.
All of them were immigrants, every freaking one. You trust those people good luck. I don’t fly and won’t until it’s abolished, but then again I don’t have to and make sure I don’t have to.
Lien and others: I believe when the second ‘YOU’RE” was used, he was being ironic and making a point. Clearly if he recognized the first misspelled word, he would know better than to use it in his own post.
I’m personally unfamiliar with these scanners, never having passed through one. However, when watching the video, I note that the item on the side of the subject is, fact, undetectable, and that there is a scan of the subject facing front and back. In order to do that, doesn’t the subject have to rotate around? At that point, the metal object would no longer be shown against the back and hence, at that time, would be visible. Am I right? Or am I wrong? I truly don’t know and am not taking a stand. I’m just wondering if the post isn’t missing something.
The TSA has told us that these machines can detect the items on the side without turning around. And therefore you do not turn to the side in the machines. The subject never, ever turns to the side in these machines. The machines COMPLETELY MISS items on the side of the body, which was the entire point of the video.
And that’s the point. TSA knows that these machines can’t see the sides, and didn’t have people turn to the side, which shows TSA has never been about security in airports.
It’s not that important to the powers that be if the scanners are successful all the time as this is about CONTROL not SECURITY!
I curse the tsa….daily!
Privatize Airport Security?
WTF? How in the world do you argue that part of the problem is the “scanner manufacturers”, which are private entities, and then go and tell us to “privatize the whole process”?
Your solution for the government for being in bed with big business is for it to move-in with it and sign a lease together? I agreed with every else you said but that.
I believe the idea of “privatization” is to allow local control of the security service instead of making it a federal bureaucracy. Why should my local airports have to kneel at the altar of the federal government? If the operators any airport serving common carriers can provide an equal or better service than the TSA, and the carriers agree to it, the the feds should get the hell out.
And why didn’t they just go with the machines that detect explosives without needing to be invasive? Why didn’t we go that route? Also, what the heck are we so scared of anyway? No matter what, there are going to be attacks and there are going to be some fatalities. That’s the one risk of using public transportation.
So 1 billion dollars was a waste of money. But the psychological impact of those scanners is quite impressive. The point of having multiple, seemingly random, methods of detection is you can not trick of all them. And you can’t guarantee, without looking suspicious, which one you will go through. “Safety” is an illusion in almost every aspect. Look up the studies on child safety seats.
Personally, I don’t care if someone takes a nude picture of me. I also don’t care if my privacy is invaded for 1 minute. One minute is minuscule amount of my life and I really have nothing to fear or to worry about in that regard.
And you proposed to deal with the “enough explosives” comment? As a “scientist and engineer” did you? Would a “tried and true” metal detector find C-4?
Where is the video of him actually entering the equipment?
Well, Jonathan Corbett called for the TSA’s checkpoint video to be released on the TSA’s blog. The TSA has video of him passing through both scanners without the item being detected. I wonder why they won’t release it?
Other than the fact that the scanners fail certain detection like the maker of the video shows, one big question is “Is the government really protecting us, when they are submitting us to radiation”?
Scientists at UC San Francisco and MIT sent letters to Obama on the machines’ rollout asking him to remove the machines on the belief that their Terra Hertz waves unzip DNA strands. The TSA is already developing cancer clusters among workers who are required to stand close to the machines. The cancer cases were expected to be higher in testicular, breast and eye cancers. While the dosage of radiation is relatively low, Terra Hertz waves don’t pass though one’s body but collect only on the surface.
I am going to opt-out every time now, and go for the personal groping instead.
Why didn’t he have someone film him passing through? There is absolutely no proof that he did. He put his camera down and then picked it up. Where’s the proof?
There’s plenty of proof. Why is TSA hiding it?
He created an illusion, he proved nothing with this video. He is copying the TSA actually.
He successfully cleared 2 separate airports on 2 separate days. Why won’t TSA release the video?
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety – Benjamin Franklin
“The Natural Law Remedy to TSA Airline Security Groping” provides the law underlying TSA searches, and some approaches you can take. E.g., it is against state laws to touch children because of harm; children cry at TSA’s hands. The parent as GUARDIAN cannot waive the child’s right to be free of molestation.
The dilemma of harming children to protect society does not occur in a free society.
Free download: http://www.naturallawremedy.com/Downloads.htm.
Also see “How to Disobey Unjust Laws”: