[Infowarrior] - Clarification on the CBS poll ref: TSA screening

[Richard Forno]

The oft-cited CBS poll cited by TSA, DHS, and Obama that says "81% of flyers approve the scanners" is somewhat misleading. 

The poll headlines the question as "Should Airports Use Full-Body X-Ray Machines" --- while the actual question reads "Some airports are now using 'full-body' digital x-ray machines to electronically screen passengers in airport security lines.  Do you think these new x-ray machines should or should not be used at airports?"  (Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/15/politics/main7057902.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody)

While one can argue that "people know what is being asked" there is also a fair amount of ignorance about the issue on all sides, not to mention a thing called methodological accuracy.

As phrased, the term "X-Ray" connodates a generic X-Ray like image akin to a doctor's office and not the virtually revealing image that these TSA contraptions provide.  Reading the question, note the absence of "naked" or "revealing" or "highly-detailed images of a passenger's body" that would frame the question more accurately in relation to the devices being used at airports.

I posit this oft-cited survey statistic is a misleading indicator of public sentiment --- yet nobody's really challenging the context of the questions behind the generation of that statistic.

-- rick

My thoughts on the matter:

TSA and America's Zero Risk Culture  (16 Nov)
http://www.counterpunch.org/forno11162010.html

TSA and the New "Americanism" (21 Nov)
http://infowarrior.org/pubs/oped/tsa-americanism.html