

Comments invited on TSA use of "Advanced Imaging Technology" - dsl
http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=TSA-2013-0004-0001

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Mc_Big_G
Not that it will make a difference, but I feel better now.

"This, and every other measure simliar to it, are a monumental waste of tax
payer money. The former TSA chief Kip Hawley has stated publicly that knives
and all manner of weapons should be allowed on planes because, after 9/11, it
is not possible for an attacker to gain control of the aircraft. (See here for
example: <http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/06/travel/tsa-carry-on-hawley>)

These kinds of measures have a single purpose and that purpose is to enrich
the companies who develop these technologies. We do not need this to have safe
air travel.

A significant side effect of this corporate enriching/tax payer fleecing is a
very real and unforgivable transgression on the freedom of all travelers to
the USA, including citizens of the USA. In other words, the terrorists win.

It has already been shown that the current body scanners can be defeated and
new systems will have vulnerabilities as well. If the government is truly
concerned about saving the lives of citizens, they would take whatever money
is to be spent on this useless technology, likely in the billions, and spend
it on road safety. Instead of self-driving cars, we have peeping-tom scanners
with unknown health effects.

Please stop this insanity."

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niels_olson
My comment is reposted here: <https://gist.github.com/2grep/5436448>

I do encourage people to read the regulation. They are basically asking for
carte blanche to irradiate anyone.

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dsl
You can read the full notice here:
[http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=TSA-2013-0004-...](http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=TSA-2013-0004-0001)

BoingBoing: [http://boingboing.net/2013/04/21/tsa-finally-seeks-public-
co...](http://boingboing.net/2013/04/21/tsa-finally-seeks-public-comme.html)

Gizmodo: [http://gizmodo.com/5995181/time-to-give-the-tsa-a-piece-
of-y...](http://gizmodo.com/5995181/time-to-give-the-tsa-a-piece-of-your-mind-
about-those-full+body-scanners)

LA Times: [http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-comment-on-
ts...](http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-comment-on-tsas-
fullbody-scanners-20130419,0,4478127,print.story)

Ruling:
[http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/B31004711...](http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/B3100471112A40DE852578CE004FE42C/$file/10-1157-1318805.pdf)

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tomrod
I wonder if the comment period is just another part of security theater, given
the LATimes is showing a lot of pre-established counter arguments to claims.

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rayiner
Under the APA, administrative acts that establish new regulations (rules)
require notice and comment. The TSA tried to implement this without the
required notice and comment process, and EPIC got a court order requiring them
to. So it's for show on their part in the sense they didn't want to do it in
the first place. But now that it's a notice and comment rulemaking, that sets
the stage for endless litigation over any procedural failures and court
oversight of their determinations.

The pre-established counter arguments are there for efficiency. The way notice
and comment works is that you have to respond to significant new issues that
come up. You might have to have another round of comments on the new issues.
If you anticipate counter arguments up front, that saves time on the back and
forth.

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Spytap
The biggest issues I have with AIT are as follows:

1) How much longer they make security lines due to how much slower they are,
and having to funnel two metal detector lines into a single AIT machine.

2) How much more expensive they are than metal detectors.

3) How they don’t actually work any better than the cheaper metal detectors.

4) How those longer waits and compressed lines actually make a much more
dangerous “soft target” outside of the screening areas. When you pack so many
more people into a security situation and take longer to screen them, you have
a lot of innocent people at risk.

The privacy concerns are less of an issue to me, as I choose to opt-out every
time I fly (which is rather frequently, and unavoidable.) But given the
overall cost, ineffectiveness, increased wait times, and increased risk as a
passenger, AIT is a completely unacceptable solution.

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vinnymac
I am friends with a Southwest airlines pilot, and we poke fun at the TSA all
the time. It should have never been created. The TSA is just the idea of
security, it is nothing more than holding a plastic knife when you are being
mugged.

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jdp23
EPIC has recommendations for commenters and a preliminary analysis at
<http://epic.org/TSAcomment/>

Anybody interested in getting involved with an education/activism campaign to
get more people to comment? If so, please let me know!

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DanielBMarkham
So now that we've already went through this mess where they deployed it then
realized what a CF it was, we're supposed to comment on it? I presume this is
because it was such a fiasco the first time around, the Feds are using a
different approach to make it happen?

I do not like being irradiated for purposes of imaging under my clothes in
order to travel. I'm not really sure what else there is to say about it. I'm
also not sure why I would want to participate in a system to defend myself
from an overzealous security state by way of commentary. This is not something
as a citizen I should spend any time doing. I don't go downtown and lobby the
local police not to beat people senseless when they arrest them, I don't go to
my local state capitol and protest in order to prevent drones from spying on
me from the air, and I am not going to participate in a public commenting
session for invasive imaging. Not going to happen.

It's wrong. Don't do that anymore. My contract with my government is supposed
to prevent this kind of thing from happening, and I elect representatives and
appoint judges to make double-sure it doesn't. This is their jobs.

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jdp23
As rayiner points out elsewhere in this thread, they should have had the
comment period before they first deployed the technology - but they didni't.
EPIC sued and in 2011 the court ruled that DHS needed to adhere to the law and
go through the commenting process. After delaying for a couple years, here we
are.

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dthunt
I just get a page that says (null) when I follow this link. Same result since
the last time someone shared this link with me.

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abcd_f
You may want to disable NoScript.

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nodata
I thought they scrapped these, and replaced them with "indicators" which show
on a cartoon body which areas to pat down?

