Revolt Against TSA Controversy?

Flight attendants and some pilot’s unions have joined a revolt against invasive security procedures performed by the TSA at every airport. The revolt is in support of travelers that are faced with the choice of walking through radiation spewing naked imaging machines or having their genitals and private parts groped by TSA operatives.

Supporters say it enhances security aboard passenger jets, but critics say it is little more than government-sponsored voyeurism for Transportation Security Administration workers.

Also, pilots should steer clear of the body scanners because of possible exposure to radiation - because pilots spend much of their time exposed to higher-than-normal doses of the sun's radiation at high altitudes.

There's a movement afoot to designate November 24—the day before Thanksgiving—National Opt-Out Day, in an effort to draw attention to what many travelers feel are invasive new security measures from the TSA.

What do you think of the controversy?

I'm definitely against this new technology and the intrusive pat downs. The body scanners are easily hackable, store inappropriate pictures for unknown periods of time, and don't even catch terrorists. The machines also pose a radiation risk.

My friend had his genitalia touched 4 times after selecting an alternative screening procedure, rather than submitting to a backscatter xray device. There was a deliberate attempt to intimidate others from opting out, by calling out several times "male opt out", they made him look as if he was a problem.

The unions that represent pilots for American Airlines and US Airways have urged their members to avoid the full-body scanners at airport security checkpoints. The unions, representing a total of 16,500 pilots, say they worry about the health effects of being exposed, sometimes multiple times a day, to the scanner's radiation.

I can't believe that pilots, many of whom are military veterans who possess security clearances, are not allowed to carry onboard their airplanes pocket knives and bottles of shampoo, but then they're allowed to fly enormous, missile-like objects over American cities.