MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'airline security'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:50:12 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719880&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F1aPkIMF85rM%2F By David RittgersTSA screeners and behavior detection officers may give you extra attention if you complain about security protocols (video at the jump). Former FBI agent Michael German sums up my feelings pretty well: It’s circular reasoning where, you know, I’m going to ask someone to surrender their rights; if they refuse, that’s evidence that I need to take their rights away from them. And it’s simply inappropriate. In related news, the GAO recently told Congress that the TSA’s Screening Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT) is not scientifically grounded. The GAO testimony is available here. More Cato work on TSA screening here, here and here. TSA: If You Object to Giving Up Your Rights, We Should Take a Closer Look at You is a post from Cato @ Liberty -... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719880 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:52:08 +0100 4719880 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4265681&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMvsI-oNjGiw%2F By Jim HarperWashington Post staff writers Anne Kornblut and Ashley Halsey cite “experts” six times in a story today about the nascent pendulum swing in airport security policy back toward government investigation of travelers. “[M]ore than a dozen U.S. officials, lawmakers and experts interviewed said they would like to move to a system that relies more on passenger data than on airport checkpoint screening,” they write. “[I]f the security system were allowed to access even more — such as personal information collected by companies that do credit ratings — suspicious passengers would be more readily identified, experts say.” Without irony, they cite these methods as a way of closing gaps in current airport security. But no system would be quite so... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4265681 Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:03:11 +0100 4265681 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4172042&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F6jgSzXNH0eY%2F By Jim HarperIn a humbly-toned USA Today opinion piece yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano asked for the public’s cooperation with airline security measures the Transportation Security Administration has recently implemented. The TSA has come up with an invasive pairing: ”Advanced Imaging Technology,” also known as “strip-search machines” and, for those refusing, “enhanced” pat-downs which explore areas of the body typically reserved for one’s spouse or doctor. Anecdotal reports suggest that the machines are being used to ogle women, and we are seeing disturbing images and videos of children being handled by strangers online. The public is increasingly agitated by the TSA’s latest amendment to the air travel... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4172042 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:55:22 +0100 4172042 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4118885&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRlm-b5t-X98%2F By Jim HarperEuropean criticisms of U.S. airline security match those of many U.S. travelers, so the recent volley of complaints from the other side of the pond are unremarkable. The most interesting tidbit from this news story is that British pilots are part of the chorus. There’s a chance that it was some organizational spokesperson whose interests diverge from the actual men and women who fly planes. But if you want to choose a group to trust on airline security, it’s the group with local knowledge and a genuine stake in the outcome. That’s not any security agency. That’s pilots. Local Knowledge and a Stake in the Outcome is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4118885 Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:33:51 +0100 4118885 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3895867&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F57rVdRvRjps%2F The TSA is exceeding its authority. At what point does an airport search step over the line? How about when they start going through your checks, and the police call your husband, suspicious you were clearing out the bank account? This kind of thing was supposed to stop after the TSA revised its policies a year ago. The revision came in the wake of the unconstitutional seizure of Campaign for Liberty staffer Steven Bierfeldt for carrying cash donations (prompting a lawsuit from the ACLU). A federal judge had already determined that fake passports found on an airline passenger were inadmissible in court. The TSA is not a law enforcement agency. TSA screeners aren’t supposed to search for anything beyond weapons and explosives. Or, as TSA policy currently reads, “Screening may not be... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3895867 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:16:13 +0100 3895867 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3603572&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FrQ1yipk2OY4%2F By Jim HarperVia the Identity Project’s “Papers, Please” web site, and despite my colleague David Rittgers’ excellent post from yesterday, I note last week’s utterly damning Government Accountability Office report on the SPOT program. “SPOT” stands for “Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques.” In the program “BDO’s,” or “Behavior Detection Officers,” observe travelers in airports, pulling them out of line if a secret list of behaviors signal that they’re a likely threat. The thing is: TSA deployed SPOT nationwide before first determining whether there was a scientifically valid basis for using behavior and appearance indicators as a means for reliably identifying passengers as potential threats in ai... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3603572 Thu, 27 May 2010 12:50:25 +0100 3603572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3560209&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTIX1A5b0Unw%2F By Jim HarperBruce Schneier has a typically good essay on the use of “worst-cases” as a substitute for real analysis. I noticed conspicuous use of “worst-case” in early reporting on the oil spill in the Gulf. It conveniently gins up attention for media outlets keen on getting audience. There’s a certain blindness that comes from worst-case thinking. An extension of the precautionary principle, it involves imagining the worst possible outcome and then acting as if it were a certainty. It substitutes imagination for thinking, speculation for risk analysis and fear for reason. It fosters powerlessness and vulnerability and magnifies social paralysis. And it makes us more vulnerable to the effects of terrorism. Worst-case thinking—the failure to manage risk... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3560209 Thu, 13 May 2010 13:05:20 +0100 3560209 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3494294&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXK8hOYawhTw%2F By Jim HarperSince they were announced recently, I’ve been working to make sense of new security procedures that TSA is applying to flights coming into the U.S. “These new measures utilize real-time, threat-based intelligence along with multiple, random layers of security, both seen and unseen, to more effectively mitigate evolving terrorist threats,” says Secretary Napolitano. That reveals essentially nothing of what they are, of course. Indeed, “For security reasons, the specific details of the directives are not public.” But we in the public aren’t so many potted plants. We need to know what they are, both because our freedoms are at stake and because our tax money will be spent on these measures. Let’s start at the beginning, with identity-based scr... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3494294 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:45:06 +0100 3494294 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2598192&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FutBET-DnrSU%2F The Transportation Safety Administration long has made air travel as unpleasant as possible without obvious regard to the impact on safety.  Thankfully, the TSA recently dropped the inane procedure of asking to see your boarding pass as you passed through the checkpoint — a few feet away from where you entered the security line, at which point you had shown both your boarding pass and ID.  However, there are proposals afoot in Congress to set new carry-on luggage restrictions, to be enforced by the TSA, even though they would do nothing to enhance security.  An inch either way on the heighth or width of a bag wouldn’t help any terrorists intent on taking over an airplane.  But the proposed restrictions would inconvenience travelers and allow the airlines to fob off on g... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2598192 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:53:48 +0100 2598192 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2588182&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fo9At6E_jwKE%2F A federal judge just threw out three fake passports discovered by a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) screener, holding that the search exceeded the TSA’s aviation security mission. (H/T Bruce Schneier) This is long overdue; the TSA has moved beyond its original mandate and is now conducting searches for “contraband.” The search for anything that seems suspicious can quickly turn into an inquisition at the security checkpoint. Campaign for Liberty staffer Steven Bierfeldt experienced this at the St. Louis airport, and is now suing to prevent future searches beyond what is necessary for aviation security. The invasive searches don’t add much to airline security anyway. Just as GAO investigators consistently defeat security at federal buildings, TSA screeners often... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2588182 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:18:31 +0100 2588182 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441165&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FfDCvbF0AKow%2F The Philadelphia Inquirer asks why the TSA didn’t catch Bonnie Sweeten absconding to Orlando at the airport after faking her own and her daughter’s abduction. The TSA and FBI are right: it’s not airport security’s job to look for people like Bonnie Sweeten. But they quickly agree to make it part of their mission when newspapers and Members of Congress start to say they should. This is how a nominal airline security program transmogrifies into a general law enforcement checkpoint, and the noose tightens on your right to travel. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441165 Fri, 29 May 2009 13:25:56 +0100 2441165 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1825593&cid=t_141547_109_f&fid=34742&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdeception.crimepsychblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D296 Remember that the rationale behind the polygraph is that (with an appropriate questioning regime) guilty people are assumed have physiological responses that differ from innocents? Well, the new “anxiety-detecting machines” that the DHS hopes might one day spot terrorists seem to work on the same basis. Here’s the report from USA Today (18 Sept): A scene from the airport of the future: A man’s pulse races as he walks through a checkpoint. His quickened heart rate and heavier breathing set off an alarm. A machine senses his skin temperature jumping. Screeners move in to question him. Signs of a terrorist? Or simply a passenger nervous about a cross-country flight? It may seem Orwellian, but on Thursday, the Homeland Security Department showed off an early version of ... Deception Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1825593 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:28:26 +0100 1825593 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=814180&cid=t_141547_87_f&fid=34867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thediabetesblog.com%2F2007%2F08%2F21%2Fdiabetic-man-collapes-on-flight%2F Filed under: Type 1, Drugs, Daily NewsA man en route to Sydney, Australia, collapsed mid-flight during a 25-hour trip from Norway to Australia. The man, an engineer whose home is in Sydney, has diabetes and was prevented from bringing his medical supplies on board the plane. Can you believe it? It was all due to new airline security rules requiring that people with diabetes carry documentation along with their medications. The passenger arrived at the airport with a supply of insulin, but was forced to leave it behind because he did not have the required letter from his doctor. He was very sick on arrival in Sydney and had to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Don't risk your life to get from A to B. That's the moral of this story. Okay, maybe the security rules go a bit overboard. Yes... The Diabetes Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=814180 Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 814180