Originally Posted by
txflyer77
Any of the resident lawyers care to chime in on how far the TSA can push these searches without the courts taking a closer look?
It's only a matter of time before this ends in a lawsuit. Or a TSO gets his teeth kicked in by a sexual assault victim whose PTSD comes raging back while being groped at a checkpoint.
You will recall that Pistole said the TSA had the authority to do cavity searches if they chose to use that authority.
Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole is careful not to rule out the use of additional security measures at US airports – except to say that body cavity searches were not on the table.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politic...avity-searches
Originally Posted by
gojirasan
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13788721
This is just horrifying. I am not sure but I think they can 'randomly' subject you to this even if you don't alarm the scanner. I tend to be one of those people subjected to 'random' searches by the TSA more often than most people...
Luckily I have never had a problem with the MMW scanners alarming and the milllimeter wave tech and cartoonish displays don't bother me. So I don't opt out. I'm more concerned being randomly selected for a search. Actually I tend to travel with lots of computer parts in my carry-ons and I have been selected for body searches for that reason. So I am probably a lot more likely to have problems with this than many of you.
I don't think I've posted about my experience here yet but I was the victim of TSA-inspired (for a flight to the US) sexual molestation and it really did cause me lasting mental trauma. It was just awful. More awful than I even imagined it would be before it happened to me. I would really encourage anyone who might willingly subject themselves to this new 'more intimate' molestation to choose a no fly option instead.
You bet they can "randomly" select you for this type of invasion. The article I read indicated that they will be selecting airport employees to be searched like this.
From what I have read on Twitter and from Angela Rye's experience, it would seem that the scanners are very prone to giving false alarms on the groin area and I am beginning to wonder if this might be by design. It happens to both straight and trans travelers.
TSA doesn't have a clue as to how many people have been traumatized by these sexual assaults - and that's exactly what they are. There are thousands of accounts of people, mostly women but many men aso, leaving checkpoints in tears, shaking, nauseous and now traumatized for life as a result of being sexually assaulted by TSA.
Originally Posted by
eigenvector
@gojirasan, what you describe is exactly what I experienced 3 weeks ago at IAH. The TSA officer was obviously quite uncomfortable with the procedure and said he had to call over a supervisor to witness it in case of complaints. Disgusting.
I am trying to envision how a screener can lock hands together and explore the genital area. Was it with the palms of the hands or the back of the hand?