Protest The Use Of Full Body Scanners! (and other hyper "security" measures)

We've all heard a lot of talk lately about "heightening security" at
the airports. Well just want to say the members of Movement for a Democratic Society
(MDS-SI-NYC) in coalition with other outraged activists, both locally
and nationally, aren't having it.

WE ARE PLANNING PROTESTS AT LOCAL AIRPORTS.
AND WITH YOUR HELP, ON A NATIONAL BASIS.

The use of full body scanners is as invasive to our privacy as it is
degrading to our dignity.
Targeting "terrorist prone counties" amounts to nothing less than
racial profiling.
We aren't moved by pleas for increased security from "terrorists".
We can't be convinced that even more abuses to our privacy rights are
needed for anyones safety.
We won't be bullied by government or media hysteria -- No matter how
ratcheted up the fearmongering gets or how overheated the propaganda
becomes.
We plan to make our voices heard,
and we'd like you to join in this campaign if you agree.

The government violates privacy rights and makes people jump thru'
hoops enough under the pretext of security. But the right to privacy
is an inalienable human right. And our determination to protect that
human right from increasing intrusions is unshakeable.
We not only refuse to subject ourselves to full body scans, we reject
their use altogether.
On any person, from any country, at any time!

THEY SAY, extra security screening of people from "terrorist prone
countries" will make everyone safer.
WE SAY, it's racist, and can't be allowed to stand. Not in our name.
THEY SAY, head-to-toe x-raying of the entire body, adults and children
alike, is "simply precautionary", "safeguarded", and "for our own
good".
WE SAY, we'd rather be blown to bits than to live in a world where
racial profiling was the norm, and dehumanizing violations of our right
to privacy, accepted.

Full body scans are nothing less than virtual strip searches.
All human beings have a right to be secure in their person, and no
amount of fearmongering should be able to strip that right away!

If you'd like to engage in discussion, join the Google Group, "ScanThis", at

http://groups.google.com/group/scanthis
Our protest group is as yet unnamed, but our discussions begin immediately.

And look for our low volume Riseup list when it becomes active to receive
digest updates
and action announcements. We've all heard alot of talk lately about "heightening security" at
the airports. Well just want to say the members of Movement for a Democratic Society
(MDS-SI-NYC) in coalition with other outraged activists, both locally
and nationally, aren't having it.

WE ARE PLANNING PROTESTS AT LOCAL AIRPORTS.
AND WITH YOUR HELP, ON A NATIONAL BASIS.

And look for our low volume Riseup list when it becomes active to receive
digest updates
and action announcements.

Comments

Tell that

Submitted by jon peppers (not verified) on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 11:27am

to the people who were on the Christmas Flight and the families of those murdered at the World Trade Centers. Your post, in my opinion, is so far left you can't go further. Afraid the scan will find dope taped to your private area or where the sun don't shine BTW which is a good place to hide explosives...ask your local terrorist. Fools seeking to recruit fools who would rather be "blown to bits".

Jon Pisano
Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner

Problem is

Submitted by Rich Gardner on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 2:21pm

...neither backscatter x-ray nor millimeter wave, the two body scanning techniques currently under review, are designed to detect powdered explosives. These screening devices detect dense materials against the human body. They may detect plastic guns and ceramics knives. But the powder explosives, such as PETN favored by the shoe bomb and the trouser bomber, and not so easy to detect. That is the reality.

Neiman Watchdog Jan 11

Would not

Submitted by jon peppers (not verified) on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 3:25pm

the screening show a abnormal device/distortion in an crevice or in "underwear" or taped to someones body? Me thinks so. I would rather error in the face of caution to protect lives than to be subject to some radical perception of what is "right" in trying to protect others from "invasion of privacy"

Jon Pisano

Not if

Submitted by Rich Gardner on Thu, 01/14/2010 - 10:49am

the explosives were wrapped in cloth or similar soft material. Gunpowder, of course, has to be wrapped in something that holds the material very tightly, so what material would both allow for a big explosion and would be invisible to scanners is a very good question.

In the Inky today, a letter-writer asks about the harm that these machines may do.

Furthermore, there are health issues that add to the problem. Despite the fact that the radiation given off by these body scanners is not as harmful as that in a CAT scan, how do we know what effect the scanners will have on our bodies after 10 years or more?

I dunno, I don't think you're flat-out wrong on the issue as much as I think that there are questions and complications that should be addressed before the US runs pell-mell into a frantic, possibly ill-considered solution to a very real problem.

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