Poll: 96 percent of travelers changing plans due to new airport scanning, pat-down procedures

image/Reuters

U.S. airports just got a whole lot more invasive with recent announcements by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that new “enhanced” pat-down procedures will become the norm for travelers who opt out of complying with full-body naked imaging scans. But a recent Reuters poll shows that, as of this writing, an astounding 96 percent of travelers plan to make alternate travel plans to avoid this gross invasion of privacy.

Over 73,000 people have responded to the survey thus far, and although it is a simple internet poll, it speaks volumes about how people feel about the new procedures. And over the past several months, these procedures have gotten progressively worse, as the pat-downs have morphed into a form of full-blown sexual assault.

When the naked body scanners first came on the scene earlier this year, NaturalNews covered the fact that these machines bombard the body with a heavy dose of ionizing radiation, which is extremely harmful to health. They also capture a completely nude X-ray scan of people’s bodies that can be stored on TSA computers or transferred to other devices at agents’ discretion (http://www.naturalnews.com/029378_f…).

But passengers who choose to opt out of the full-body scan must alternately undergo an invasive pat-down procedure, which has become more “thorough” in recent weeks. What began as a back-handed swipe has devolved into mandated hand and finger groping, with numerous reports of TSA agents literally groping and fondling travelers’ genitals, including those of small children (http://www.naturalnews.com/030351_T…).

Many travelers are so fed up with this clear violation of their rights that they simply plan to avoid flying altogether. And many of those that are still flying are deliberately and visibly making a ruckus in security lines, threatening to sue TSA agents or have them arrested for assault (http://www.kvia.com/news/25832331/d…).

Sources for this story include:
http://blogs.reuters.com/ask/2010/1…

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