Here are a few Thanksgiving day updates on full-body scanners:
- See My Helical Tryst: TSA X-ray backscatter body scanner safety report: hide your kids, hide your wife for an in depth analysis from a biochemist on the radiation dose from x-ray backscatter scanners. He reiterates the critical point that safety assumptions were made based on full-body dose rate instead of a more accurate skin dose rate analysis. The folks who should be really concerned are not passengers or even flight crew, but rather the TSA officers who will be working in close proximity to the scanners.
- But according to this story, screeners are not allowed to wear dosimeter badges, lest they frighten the public. One was apparently told he could provided it was hidden in a pocket.
- Pilot Patrick Smith points out that ground crew (cargo loaders, baggage handlers, fuelers, cabin cleaners, caterers) pass in and out of secure areas without being screened.
- From TechDirt, we learn: TSA Agents Absolutely Hate New Pat Downs, Find Them Disgusting And Morale Breaking.
- This is disturbing if true: Department of Homeland Security is not only prepared to enforce the enhanced security procedures at airports, but is involved in gathering intelligence about those who don’t.
- Did TSA blink? Travelers report many scanners deactivated.
- Elliot (who’s been ahead of the curve on this story for months) reports “Today was different from anything that I have ever experienced in my years of flying”
- Glenn Greenwald addresses a smear aimed at John “Don’t Touch My Junk” Tyner.
- And I had not realized that millimeter-wave scanners (which don’t have the safety concerns of the x-ray scanners) operate under an FCC waiver in the 24.25GHz-30GHz frequency range (wavelength 10-12mm). This is at least true of the L-3 SafeView scanners. Hat tip: Mitchell Lazarus at CommLawBlog.
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