Lazy Man and Money

TSA Scans and Pat-Downs (and Personal Finance Links)

by 11 Comments

Like many others, I have been outraged by the detail of the new TSA scanners. I found the advanced pat-downs just as outrageous. I understand the need for security, but I believe our right to privacy trumps that. We are slowly losing all our rights to privacy. You use a cell phone and the police can track your location. You fly and the TSA gets more action than I did in high school.

This week, I was flying with my wife and she got chosen for the security pat-down at the gate. This, despite the fact that we went through two sets of security checkpoints. They didn’t have the X-Ray eye machine, so it was just the pat-down. She is the least suspicious person ever. I’m a thousand times more shady looking (and acting). I thought that when they found her military ID with sensitive clearance level, they’d move on. Instead they practically strip searched her at the gate.

Something is wrong here. I understand the need for security, but it’s not like someone just invented the underwear bomb. Do you really think that people wanting to hide bombs, had never thought, “I’ll hide it in the most private of places?” Are we going to need body cavity searches next? Surely it is possible to hide a bomb there, right?

So what’s the solution? There is talk about having the computer only showing outlines of the body and potential foreign objects. Considering that the technology that we have with facial recognition is a million times more complex, this should be able to implemented in a couple of weeks. (I say this with confidence in my bachelor’s education in computer science and my schools focus on AI). I say that we end the intrusive scans and pat-downs until we take those two weeks to improve the machines to give us the best of both worlds.

And now for the personal finance links.

Money Writers:

Top PF Posts: