Corbett: TSA Nudie Scanners Are Worthless
On Tuesday afternoon, Jonathan Corbett himself (and about 20 other people, subsequently) emailed me his awesome video showing how easy it is to fool our "security" drones at the airport:
Hey Amy! Wanted to share this one with you... After a month or so of research, I found a way to essentially make the body scanners useless: anyone can beat them. ...and less scanners = less pat-downs! --Jon
I wrote him back:
Brilliant - just great. Will blog this and get it out there. (No, I'm not supposed to be watching this now -- deadline -- but couldn't resist.)Thank you -- you're a friend to the Constitution, and there are far too few of these these days. -Amy
PS I'm hoping it gets some of the sheep out of their stupor.
And it just might. He wrote me later:
I'm now up to 10 hits PER SECOND :) Y Combinator just picked me up as #1. This is crazy!
He's gotten so many hits the YouTube counter reset to zero. Let's keep it up. Send this video to everyone you know. Especially those who are our elected officials who have done nothing to stop the TSA's violation of our Fourth Amendment rights -- daily, for dollars -- at airports across America.
Here's a link to his video:
Here is his write-up on his site (the transcript of what he says on the video is at the link as well):
This video is here to demonstrate that the TSA's insistence that the nude body scanner program is effective and necessary is nothing but a fraud, just like their claims that the program is safe (radiation what?) and non-invasive (nude pictures who?). The scanners are now effectively worthless, as anyone can beat them with virtually no effort. The TSA has been provided this video in advance of it being made public to give them an opportunity to turn off the scanners and revert to the metal detectors. I personally believe they now have no choice but to turn them off.Please share this video with your family, friends, and most importantly, elected officials in federal government. Make sure they understand that your vote is contingent on them fixing the abuse that 200,000 passengers face from the TSA on a daily basis.
My legal battle against the TSA's nude body scanner and pat-down molestation program continues in court, soon with a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. If you'd like to donate to this effort, send PayPal to: jon [at] fourtentech.com
Jonathan Corbett
Though the citation of "enough explosives to bring down a 747" is an appeal to consequences (big is implied as needing more bang), the demo is sound.
I was pleased that he didn't focus on the radiation. You suffer more from losing your rights - in some cases, by foolishly surrendering them - than you do from anything else at the airport. Well, maybe the blaring ads hurt some.
Radwaste at March 7, 2012 2:47 AM
Oh, yeah...
Anybody want to tell me - Patrick, Mike Hunter - what mode of transportation you have a right to, since you've said air travel isn't one of them?
Somehow, there's no answer on other threads...
Radwaste at March 7, 2012 3:00 AM
Wow. So now the TSA will make everyone turn for a second sideways scan...
Eric at March 7, 2012 8:24 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/07/tsa_nudie_scann.html#comment-3043832">comment from EricThe thing is, the thing that underscores how we have "security" and not security, it took some dude on YouTube to tell them this how many years into these nudie scanners?
Amy Alkon at March 7, 2012 8:35 AM
Since the scanners were first introduced, people have known how to beat them. Wear a rubber or plastic prosthesis of a material with a density similar to skin. ho'll notice if I have a bit of a beer belly? Looks like skin to the scanner, put anything you like underneath it.
I don't know what kind of rubber or plastic works, but I remember articles from a couple of years ago where people had demonstrated this. So it's no great secret.
Security theater.
a_random_guy at March 7, 2012 8:55 AM
Why does none of this surprise me. Sigh.
Cousin Dave at March 7, 2012 3:49 PM
I was traveling this past week, and a one my friends I was traveling with made it through security at LAX with scissors in her carry on. We laughed when we reached our destination and she found them. It's such ridiculous nonsense. It's not like the goons they hire to watch the monitors even know when they're looking for.
sara at March 7, 2012 4:52 PM
A feed of this made into my work's thread so it must be pretty big news. the article they linked said there was evidence that bad guys packed stuff in their rectum. A guess full cavity searches are in the near future.
The Former Banker at March 7, 2012 7:28 PM
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