One of the many joys of living in a relative backwater like Knoxville is that I have been able to observe the spread of the Thousands of Sexual Assaulters’ cancer-inducing, ionizing-radiation-spewing backscatter "security" systems from afar, without having to actually partake of the privacy-invading glow.
Fortunately, that lack of additional radiation in my life will continue for the foreseeable future, but unfortunately, Knoxville will be getting millimeter wave scanners:
McGhee Tyson Airport will soon have full-body imaging equipment to screen passengers, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman said Tuesday.
Sometime in the next few weeks, a millimeter wave advanced imaging technology machine will be installed at the Knoxville airport, TSA spokesman Jonathan Allen said.
A specific deployment schedule has not been determined, but TSA will provide advance public notice.
Being a rather small airport, Knoxville only has the one security checkpoint, so your odds of being shuffled through this machine are relatively high. To be fair, this system will implement the new "enhanced privacy" display systems that do not involve private viewing rooms and instead employ a "generic human outline", but you can bet your happy arse I will opt out just for the principle of the thing.
Surrendering our privacy in the name of "security" was a failed proposition to begin with, and I will be damned if I make the lives of those who knowingly infringe on the Fourth Amendment any easier just because they want me to.
(Courtesy of Michael Silence.)
Mmmmmm… cancer. What fun. I assume the the TSA there will employ three times as many employees as they need, like I’ve seen at Local Airport here–or four times as many, as I saw in Gillette WY? It’s kinda weird to be in an airport where the passengers are outnumbered by blue uniformed petty thugs and bureaucrats…
With the growing unrest targeting the TSA, I have to wonder if their numerical superiority is less about job security and more about personal security. If so, good. They should be ashamed of the jobs they have chosen.
I suppose that, given the choice of radiation hazards, I would rather be microwaved than irradiated with ionizing radiation. Of course, that’s along the lines of saying that a punch to the solar plexus is better than a punch to the gonads, when you’d rather not be punched at all.
That being said, unless I have to respond to an emergency that requires me to travel at speeds beyond those I can achieve by driving (I can drive from my current home to my parents’ home in under 24 hours; I’m not sure that I could fly there much faster on a no-notice basis), I prefer the risks of driving to the risks of TSA scanners, especially since (for now, at least) driving has no Fourth Amendment implications imposed by the Federal government.
You can greatly increase the odds of not getting scanned. Generally they only feed one person to the scanner at a time and let the next one or two bypass it. So I just fidget with my shoes or carry on just prior to the xray belt and let some other fool go first. Since they don’t do any real behavior watching (which the should) it’s never noticed.
Works pretty well and then I just opt out for the other times.
@ AuricTech: Unfortunately, with us living in Tennessee, and my parents living in Washington, we have little to no choice but to fly up to them – they drove down once, and they spent twice as much time on the road as they did at our place (ten days vs. five). We just do not have that kind of leave to burn, especially when the “road trip” would consist of “get there now”, which kind of defeats the point of a road trip…
@ Dropcrate.com: We just aim for the lanes that do not have the device installed yet, given that almost no airports have 100% coverage. Sadly, Knoxville only has the one lane…