pat-downs gropings have one objective – coerce you into going through the body scanner.
T-shirts with the logo on the left are available here.
If a significant number of passengers choose to opt-out of the body scanners, the time required to do a normal pat-down would cause such delays that travelers would find alternatives to flying. The airlines would raise hell. To prevent this, the TSA has resorted to the terror tactic of “enhanced” pat-downs.
There is big money at stake here. Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff actively lobbies for the scanner manufacturer Rapiscan via his firm the Chertoff Group. Each unit has a price tag of $25 million and the Obama administration has provided $1 billion in stimulus money for the purchase of scanners.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a petition for review and motion for an emergency stay with District of Columbia Court of Appeals. EPIC said that the program is “unlawful, invasive, and ineffective.” With this much money at stake, the Fourth Amendment doesn’t stand a chance.
I expect members of Congress to act outraged, hold hearings wherein they act outraged, and then do nothing. Politicians will use this opportunity to get their sound bites on the evening news, then something else will come along and distract us.
If you decide to go the “enhanced” pat-down route, you could pull a Meg Ryan:
