Tag: security

New TSA Scanner Procedure Is Dumb in a New Way

2:38 pm

The new TSA scanner procedure: Dumb in a new way. The quote below actually isn’t the point of the article (which notes other idiotic things about TSA procedures), but I found it telling nonetheless:

For the most part, it has been possible to avoid the scanners just by picking the right line to stand in, which I assume means that the government has determined that terrorists have poor line-picking skills.

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TSA: Living on Borrowed Time?

11:43 am

TSA: Living on borrowed time? Key quote:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year. At TSA headquarters alone, there are 3,526 staff whose average salary tops $106,000. And while the TSA has gotten very good at groping airline passengers and undressing them with full body scans, the organization has yet to prevent a single terrorist attack. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation released last spring revealed that at least 17 known terrorists have been able to pass through TSA security totally unhindered. [emphasis mine]

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TSA bans bikini woman for ‘unusual contour’ around buttocks

1:54 pm

A woman in a wheelchair — whom the TSA had previously interrogated for an hour then denied her entry when she arrived at the airport in a bikini — was later refused entrance when she arrived fully clothed because of an “unusual contour” around her buttocks. Key quote:

Banovac offered to strip for the agents to prove that she’s not hiding anything. However, since TSA agents aren’t allowed to fully undress a passenger, they had no choice but to deny her access to her flight.

Does one get the feeling that the TSA agents are out to get this woman because she makes them look like fools?

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US, Germany developing secret spy satellites

12:47 pm

According to Wikileaks cables, the United States and Germany plan to develop a secret constellation of spy satellites. Though Germany denies the story, their denial is somewhat puzzling:

German Aerospace Center spokesman Andreas Schuetz said that such a project for a high-resolution optical satellite has been in discussion for the past two years under the name HIROS. “HIROS is neither a spy satellite, nor a secret project,” Schuetz said. He insisted that the project was to be used only for government purposes, “for example crisis management during natural catastrophes and for scientific uses.”

He refused to give any further details, saying the plan was still in the project stage and could not be discussed.

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pilot exposes airport security flaws, gets threatened by TSA

10:09 am

A pilot videotapes what he thinks are serious airport security flaws and immediately gets threatened by the TSA for doing it. Key quote:

Three days after the pilot posted his airport security tour on YouTube, four federal air marshals and two sheriff’s deputies arrived at the pilot’s house, which he also recorded. They were there to confiscate his federally-issued handgun. A letter later arrived saying, “An FFDO [Federal Flight Deck Officer] must not engage in… conduct that impairs the efficiency of TSA… or causes the loss of public confidence in TSA…”

The pilot’s attorney believes the feds sent six people to the pilot’s house to send a message. “And the message was you’ve angered us by telling the truth and by showing America that there are major security problems despite the fact that we’ve spent billions of dollars allegedly to improve airline safety,” says Don Werno, the airline pilot’s attorney.

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FBI accused of planting backdoor in OpenBSD IPSEC stack

2:30 pm

This story should give everyone the willies: One of the developers of the OpenBSD operating system (an open source OS comparable but different than Linux) has admitted that ten years ago, in exchange for cash, he and others helped the FBI place “surveillance-friendly holes” in the operating system.

I wonder what part of this sentence the FBI does not know how to read: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

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TSA security harasses a mother over her breast milk

12:32 am

TSA security in Phoenix harassed this mother over her request that her breast milk not be sent through the x-ray machine, as per TSA’s own regulations. Though eventually backing down, the security personnel make her wait so long she misses her flight. The whole event, recorded on surveillance tapes that the woman demanded and got from the TSA, is so outrageous you have to watch it, even though it is long.

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Driving vs flying

6:49 pm

After a twelve hour drive from Chicago, I am finally home. It might seem silly to make this trip by car when the plane is faster, but since Sept 11 I have found it actually makes more sense to drive when the trip is 12 hours or less. First, a door to door plane flight will take about 6 hours, so you don’t save that much time. Second, by driving I have access to a car in Chicago, and don’t need to rent something. Three, the total cost is significantly less, especially since we save two airfares.

And finally, neither I nor my wife Diane have to submit ourselves to TSA abuse. I consider myself a free American, and don’t take kindly to government officials abusing their power unconstitutionally. If the airlines haven’t yet realized that this security madness is losing them business, it ain’t my problem.

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