

Cross Country Freedom Therapy - aaronjorbin
http://ryan.boren.me/2013/02/22/cross-country-freedom-therapy/

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AngryParsley
I opt-out of backscatter and millimeter-wave screening every time. I think the
TSA is a waste of money and I'd love to see the government take a more
calculated approach to security instead of the typical CYA behavior. With that
said...

His form of protest is to miss a flight he already paid for and hike/bum rides
back to Texas? And asking for donations? This guy is a software engineer at
Automattic. He's a WordPress developer. His blog is mostly pictures of vegan
meals and unboxings: <http://ryan.boren.me/>. Considering his lifestyle and
likely income, asking for donations seems to be rather poor taste.

Again I agree with his opinions, but his protest is not accomplishing anything
useful. The net effect will be to transfer some money and resources from
sympathetic people.

~~~
jrmg
I don't want to give the impression that I agree with everything he says - I
don't entirely share his dystopic views on the state of the world, and my
views on the TSA are more in line with yours - but I think you're being rather
ungenerous. The closest he comes to asking for donations is to say:

 _Several people have already offered places to stay and donated money for
travel costs. Thank you so much and be assured that any extra money will be
passed on to civil liberties organizations trying to claw back our freedom of
movement. I intend to at least double my usual contributions this year._

If you mean the donations link at the top of the page, that's clearly for
people who want to send a small something in thanks for Wordpress, and I
wouldn't call it distasteful. The world would be a sad place if gift giving
were relegated to being soley for charitable causes.

~~~
maxerickson
When I read it, the "donated money" in your quoted text was a link to his
donations page.

~~~
jrmg
You're right, and I didn't notice that (in my defence, the link is not
underlined and the link text is really dark on the non-mobile version of the
site, so it was easy to look over). That is a bit more of a call to action
than I initially thought. I still don't think it was in quite as bad taste as
AngryParsley suggested though.

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epoxyhockey
One morning at SFO, I was waiting for my pat down, as requested.. The scanner
was bogged down with an individual who was continually having to remove
jewelry, a watch, a belt, etc as he was re-scanned and re-scanned.

I didn't notice it at first, but a line of individuals (mostly adults) started
to form behind me very far away from the scanner. It grew to over a dozen
people and it was as if they were just trying to find a place to belong while
waiting for their turn.

After getting over my initial shock of the lemming behavior, I noticed the TSA
worker frantically waving at me to lead the line through the metal detector.

It was a nice moment to 1) escape a pat down AND a scanner, and 2) in a
figurative sense, lead these individuals through a less privacy-invasive
screening. But, I was just saddened by how outnumbered I am by people readily
willing to give up their rights to privacy.

~~~
vineel
Somewhat unrelated, but still interesting:

SFO doesn't actually have a TSA presence. They use a contractor instead.

<http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/atsfo/saf-sec/>

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SquareWheel
I concur. After having an awful experience with the TSA a couple days ago,
I've also given up flying. The entire process is just insulting. And while I'm
sure there's many reasons the airline industry is in trouble, I would wager
this is a contributing factor.

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ck2
It's really sad how everyone just accepted it and will also accept whatever is
next and after that.

Even if you don't fly, drones are coming soon to watch you every minute of the
day that you are outside.

Maybe one-day inside too with technology developed ironically from TSA
scanners.

And people will argue to defend that too, and warrant-less is the new norm.

My sympathies to Ryan.

~~~
zapdrive
"He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither."

~~~
rayiner
I hate that quote. We gave up freedom for safety the minute we instituted
government so we could have a society where nerds like Zuck could have
tremendous wealth even though he can't very well physically defend it against
bigger, stronger people. We are so many sheep in the midst of a handful of
wolves, and we wanted a society where the sheep could rule, and so we traded
some freedoms we had in the statute of nature (the freedom to use force) in
return for collective safety.

This isn't a matter of whether you give up freedom for safety. It's about how
you balance the competing concerns of freedom and security, both of which are
important. I certainly agree TSA doesn't strike the right balance, but it's
not because its a trade of freedom for security but because it gives you very
little security in return for the onerous and invasive process it creates.

~~~
droithomme
Let's have both. Freedom planes for me, with sane boarding procedures, and
safety planes for you, with 4 hour waits while everyone is xrayed, strip-
searched, and cavity inspected.

I don't begrudge you your choice of guaranteed safety, hopefully you will not
begrudge me mine of privacy and freedom.

~~~
rayiner
I take the train because I can't stand the TSA, and I'm willing to take my
chances that someone fires an RPG at a train somewhere along the 500 miles of
completely out in the open track on the Northeast Regional.

My point is that the TSA is bad not because "zOMG any impingement on freedom
is bad!" but because it's just bad. They are too invasive for the imagined
security benefits they provide against improbable threats.

But going from that to "those who trade freedom for safety deserve neither" is
silly. I purposefully choose to live in a city (New York) that has a massive
police presence. Why? Because I think its a reasonable trade-off of a little
freedom for substantial security. Manhattan is like Disneyland now, and it's
great, and I don't care if I would theoretically be more free if there weren't
a cop on every corner. We trade freedom for security all the time--it's called
organized civilization, and it's a good thing.

I hate to quote John Ashcroft, but see his response to this Ben Franklin
quote:
[http://www.justice.gov/archive/ag/speeches/2002/080702eighth...](http://www.justice.gov/archive/ag/speeches/2002/080702eighthcircuitjudgesagremarks.htm)
(first 9 paragraphs)

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lancewiggs
Nice move. I did it once to return from Denver to SF, and caught the train. A
wonderful experience. Meanwhile I don't bother visiting the USA much. I could
not imagine returning to a life of constant travel there.

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DanBC
These articles always make me think about:

1) Why risk is handled so badly by governments.

2) Why people are unable to change something so obviously sub-optimal.

3) How unpopular extra screening really is in the general population, rather
than how unpopular I think it is from reading all the blogs about it.

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cafard
I have just gone through the scanners this week, and will do so again next
week; I find it more annoying then anything else. However, I do find myself
thinking that the Greyhound buses of 30 and 40 years ago had a lot to be said
for them--no-hassle travel, and for that matter comfort at least equivalent to
coach seats with the current spacing.

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josscrowcroft
As far as I'm aware, the new full-body scanners don't record a detailed
picture of your body – they just flash green for OK, or red for 'potential bad
guy' (at least this seems to be the case in Amsterdam). Thoughts?

