Moral outrage at new invasive airport security check!
LONDON, England - October 29, 2010 - Airline passengers and civil liberties groups have expressed disgust and outrage at new security measures that are tantamount to “foreplay”.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration trialed a new pat-down technique at Logan International Airport and is now rolling out the measures to all 450 of its airports.
The technique, described as “horribly invasive” by a passenger rights group, involves security staff sliding their hands over passengers’ bodies, rather than patting them down, if they object to going through full-body imaging scanners.
Kate Hinni, founder of the non-profit FlyersRights.org consumer group, said the new searches amount to a “foreplay pat-down” that for many people is going to “feel like a moral issue.”
“It’s like having to choose the lesser of two evils,” Hinni said. “Both are horribly invasive.”
One shell-shocked female passenger who was subjected to the measures after her underwire bra set off metal detecting scanners in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, said the experience left her in tears.
Rosemary Fitzpatrick, who works for news channel CNN, said a female screener ran her hands around her breasts, over her stomach, buttocks and inner thighs, and briefly touched her crotch.
“I felt helpless, I felt violated, and I felt humiliated,” said Fitzpatrick.
