New TSA Pat-Downs Invasive, Groping

Believe it or not, you may want to choose the scanner
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 25, 2010 8:23 AM CDT
New TSA Pat-Downs Invasive, Groping
Travelers wait in line as they enter a security checkpoint at Logan International Airport in Boston, where TSA is testing new security procedures, Monday, March 8, 2010.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Would you rather have your naked body stared at or your entire body groped? Those will soon be your choices at airport security checkpoints. If you don’t want to be subjected to the controversial full-body scanners, you can opt for a new, more aggressive pat-down—which seems poised to become just as controversial. TSA is testing the front-of-the-hand body search at some airports, and one flier who experienced it says, “If anybody ever groped me like that in real life, I would have punched them in their nose.”

His entire genital area was probed and pushed, the passenger tells the Boston Herald. Screeners “said they were going to pat me down, it was going to be very invasive, and they were going to touch every part of my body” before giving him a pat-down that “did not miss an inch”—including, says another passenger, the face, hair, and breasts. Even so, the TSA says “very few” formal complaints have been lodged, and the new search techniques will continue. Click here for one person who thinks you should definitely opt for the scan.
(More airport scanners stories.)

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