[Infowarrior] - New York, Orlando join anti-TSA rebellion, TSA mounts PR effort

[Richard Forno]

New York, Orlando join anti-TSA rebellion, TSA mounts PR effort

By Jon Stokes | Last updated a day ago

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/11/new-york-orlando-join-anti-tsa-rebellion-while-tsa-mounts-pr-effort.ars
       
New York and Orlando aren't taking the TSA scanner/pat-down controversy lying down. Instead, officials in both places are fighting back. In Orlando, the Sanford airport is reportedly planning to take advantage of a little-known clause that allows airports to opt-out of TSA protection and instead use a federally approved private screening company.

"You're going to get better service at a better price and more accountability and better customer service," a Sanford Airport Authority official told a local Orlando news outlet. The airport is moving ahead with the opt-out, and says it will take about a year to complete.

Further north, in New York, Democratic city council officials are plotting to ban the TSA's nude scanners entirely, Wired reports. No airport or other facility would be allowed to operate a backscatter scanner inside New York city limits.

"We're not opting out of screening altogether," Greenfield told Wired's Threat Level blog. "We're simply banning one type of screening that hasn't proven effective."

Greenfeld and his fellow councilmembers are hoping to spark a chain reaction that leads to other cities banning the scanners. He invited the TSA to sue the city if they didn't like the ban.

The TSA's counteroffensive

The TSA, for its part, is countering the backlash with a PR offensive. The agency has a new blog post up that claims to rebut alleged myths about the backscatter scanners and pat-downs with facts. Some of the rebuttals work better than others. For instance, take the TSA's response to allegations that the pat-downs are invasive:

Myth: The TSA pat-down is invasive

Fact: Only passengers who alarm a walk through metal detector or AIT machine or opt out of the AIT receive a pat-down. For this reason, it is designed to be thorough in order to detect any potential threats and keep the traveling public safe. Pat-downs are performed by same-gender officers and all passengers have the right to a private screening with a travel companion at any time.

Nowhere in the "Fact" response does the TSA directly answer the allegation of invasiveness, probably because the pat-downs are invasive.

The agency does better in responding to the backscatter scanner controversy, rebutting the idea that the scanners are unpopular by citing a CBS News poll that finds 4 out of 5 Americans favor the machines.

The blog post also takes a stab at addressing the opt-out approach that the Orlando airport mentioned above is pursuing. To the "myth" that airports can opt out of TSA screening, the agency replies, "All commercial airports are regulated by TSA whether the actual screening is performed by TSA or private companies. So TSA's policies—including advanced imaging technology and pat downs—are in place at all domestic airports."

In other words, the TSA apparently intends to force Sanford Airport to serve up the same scanner/pat-down combo as the rest of the TSA-operated system. It's looking more and more like the traveling public's only options for escaping the piercing gaze and intimate touch of gloved TSA agents are ground-based modes of transportation, like rail and automobile.