Logan Airport introduces new, worse pat down method
In yet another small but significant encroachment on our liberty, TSA agents at Boston’s Logan Airport are using a new, worse pat down procedure. Instead of using the backs of their hands when patting down people’s private parts, agents are going to use their palms over people’s entire bodies (over their clothes, but still, this is not a good thing).
Pat downs will only happen to passengers who decline full-body scanners, where they exist. At checkpoints without full-body scanners, only people who set off metal detectors or are randomly selected will undergo pat downs. The worse pat down technique is being used only in Boston and Las Vegas until a “planned national rollout.” Great.
Christopher Ott, a spokesman for the Massachusetts ACLU, says:
“We’re concerned about this seemingly constant erosion of privacy…Accepting these kinds of searches may keep people safer in some situations, but not in every situation, and we’re encouraging people to stop and think about what is the right balance between privacy and security.”
But one air traveler actually said she supports the increased violation of privacy because “security trumps niceties.” Excuse me, but since when is freedom a nicety? Freedom is the most important thing in the world and is why the United States of America were founded. Anyone who calls liberty a nicety really does not understand right and wrong or what America is all about.
Ott, of the ACLU, is completely right. When will people wake up and stop accepting the erosion of their freedom just because it increases their safety and security?