Originally Posted by AndyGreenberg

Hello all. I'm a technology and security reporter with Forbes, working on a kind of "how-to" story that collects tips for fliers regarding airport security ahead of the holidays. I'm hoping to hear any of your ideas for how fliers can get through airport checkpoints with the least embarrassment or inconvenience, even if they wish to opt out of the full body scans.

I'd appreciate any tricks or suggestions you all have picked up in your travels. Please feel free to DM me or email me at agreenberg (at) forbes.com.

Thanks for your help and look forward to seeing your ideas,

Andy Greenberg
Technology Staff Writer
Forbes Magazine and Forbes.com

Originally Posted by gojirasan

+1.

However, it sounds like you are researching an article about how the average person can get through without being violated. I think whoever gave you this assignment just doesn't understand what is going on. The premise that the indignity/violation/assault can be avoided through some special technique is simply wrong. At least if you want to fly that day.

All you can do is the obvious. Don't actually get in line for the porn-scanner voluntarily. There is usually at least one metal detector line at the checkpoint. If you are pulled from that line and asked to go through the porn-scanner, the TSA allows you to opt-out. If you opt-out they will ask you to either wait or to walk through the porn-scanner without stopping.

Note that choosing to go through the nude-scanner does not eliminate the possibility of also getting groped. That seems to be a common misconception. There are many reasons why seeing through your clothes is not sufficient for them. Things like skin folds of any kind or a wallet or money belt or even cash or moving a bit too much in the scanner (creates blur) or just an old fashioned false positive on the part of the less than perfect machine or the TSO manning the machine. In actual practice such post-scanner gropes seem to happen quite frequently.

Once you have opted out and are on the other side of the scanners they will give you the prison entry opt-out frisk which usually includes sliding their fingers over every inch of your body with a pair of nitrile gloves that they only change on request. The actual procedure is top secret, but traveler reports indicate that it involves sliding their hands (not the back of their hands) up both sides of each leg. until they touch your genitals. At this point, some of the TSOs will also rub (slide their fingers across with pressure) your genitals with their fingers or for males even cup your balls looking for explosives taped to them or whatever. They will also slide the side of their hand into the cleft of your buttocks making contact with the anus as they slide across. They will also slide their fingers down your pants between your underwear and your skin sliding all the way around from your pubic area at the front to your buttocks in the back. In some cases they will also pull out the front of your pants and underwear and peak inside for a visual inspection. Of course females will also get a thorough breast exam.

The only way to get through without being scoped or groped is to not be selected for the rapescanner, which just comes down to luck or maybe what you look like. If you look "suspicious" (having dark skin or a beard for instance) or are an attractive female you will probably be selected.

For a "domestic extremist" or radical like myself there is virtually no risk of having to be scoped or groped. Why? Because I will opt out of both the scope and the grope every time and will resist with force if necessary. Unfortunately that involves risk of a $10,000 administrative fine from the TSA and/or being arrested by the airport police on trumped up charges in support of their TSA colleagues.

My own personal strategy for an airport or checkpoint with the porn-scanners is as follows:

1. Get in the metal detector line.

2. Keep my stuff with me until there is only one person in front of me. Then place my carry-on on the belt as far back as possible. That is, behind other people's grey bins. So that ideally I would be walking through the detector before my stuff goes through the x-ray machine. If a screener disallows this then at least time it so that my stuff goes through the x-ray machine at exactly the same time that I do. Once my carry-on goes through the x-ray machine the TSA has a great deal more leverage to detain me at the checkpoint.

3. If selected for the the porn-scanner grab my stuff from the belt, and inform the TSO selecting me that I am opting out of both the scanner and the patdown. They will no doubt inform me that I cannot opt out of the patdown. I will stand my ground and request a police officer.

When the police officer arrives. I will explain that I neither wish to be seen naked nor to have my genitals stroked by another man. That I would prefer not to fly if it requires being violated. I will then ask the officer if I am free to leave the airport. If he says no. I will ask "Am I being detained?". If he says yes, then I will say "Am I being arrested?" If he says no to either of these I will ask "Am I free to go?". Otherwise I will not give any further information to the police officer except for me name. If he gives my name to the TSA I will request his name and badge number. The nice thing about this strategy is that if I am being detained at least it is by an actual law enforcement officer. There are clear rules and precedents about arrests and detainments by LEOs. Not so about TSOs.

If there doesn't seem to be a police officer near the checkpoint there is a slight variation to the above which might save some time and the possibility of getting on a DHS/TSA suspicious person watch list, albeit with a greater chance of being arrested. That would be to simply walk away from the checkpoint with my carry-on as soon as I have informed the TSO that I choose to opt out of both the scanner and the grope. The TSO has no power to physically detain me. They will have to call the airport police with my description and hope that the LEO can catch me before I exit the airport. If the LEO does catch up to me in time then I will surrender to him and go back to the "Am I being detained, Am I under arrest, Am I free to go" chant.

For a regional airport that doesn't yet have the scanners the only difference is that I would be opting out of a grope if "randomly" selected for secondary inspection. Of course if you do make it through the metal detector at an airport with scanners you can still be selected for a "random" secondary inspection.

This secondary inspection grope opt-out is actually worse because the law seems to draw a line after you walk through the metal detector. A ninth circuit court (although I don't live in that district) ruled that once you pass through the metal detector you have consented to a search and that that consent cannot be withdrawn. Whether such a search can include touching your genitals would be up to a court to decide I think. Note this same problem would probably also apply to a post-scanner grope. The scanner would no doubt be seen as the equivalent of a metal detector.