New York — Today on the steps of City Hall, Councilman David G. Greenfield was joined by Council Members Gale Brewer, Fernando Cabrera, Debi Rose, Robert Jackson, Jumaane Williams, and Brad Lander in support of legislation that would ban the use of full body scanners in New York City, including New York’s two airports – JFK International Airport and LaGuardia Airport. The Council Members were also joined by privacy expert Marc Rotenberg, a professor of law at Georgetown University and President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), who is leading a lawsuit to suspend the deployment of body scanners at US airports, pending an independent review.
Earlier this week, Councilman Greenfield proposed legislation to ban the use of full body scanners, also known as “naked body scanners,” in New York City. Passengers who pass through these scanners, which cost nearly $200,000 each, have clear images of their nude bodies displayed to a Transportation Safety Administration employee, which Homeland Security officials says make travel safer. However, leading international security experts disagree.
Israeli security experts have refused to install these scanners at Ben Gurion International Airport, which is widely hailed as the safest airport in the world. Rafi Sela, the former Chief Security Officer of the Israel Airport Authority, explained he could “overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to take down a Boeing 747.”
“The images produced by these naked body scanners are equivalent to the most intrusive strip search,” said Councilman Greenfield. “I am deeply troubled that we are subjecting New Yorkers to this humiliating process, which breaches their most basic privacy rights, when we don’t even have sufficient assurances that these scanners are more effective than other less intrusive methods.”
Marc Rotenberg, President of EPIC, agreed. “The TSA has shown a frightening disregard for the concerns of American travelers,” said Rotenberg. “Councilmember David Greenfield and the other members of the New York City Council should be commended for their efforts to safeguard fundamental freedoms.” EPIC recently filed a lawsuit in Washington, DC to suspend the airport body scanner program after it uncovered evidence that the devices are designed to store and record images of air travelers.
“Sometimes it’s a fine line between privacy and safety concerns,” said Councilman Brad Lander. “These full body scanners are way over that line.”
Greenfield’s proposed legislation would ban these full body scanners from all New York City buildings, not just airports. In several cities around the United States, these full body scanners are used in government buildings. Most recently, it was discovered that US Marshalls at an Orlando, Florida federal courthouse saved over 35,000 nude images in their scanner.
“This is a dangerous precedent,” noted Councilman Greenfield. “First airports, now courthouses? What’s next, school buildings? After all, we already have metal detectors in some of New York’s public schools and the TSA is already routinely scanning minors in these full body scanners at airports. Our legislation would protect the safety of our children and the dignity of all New Yorkers. It is imperative that we stop any further invasion of New Yorkers’ privacy in its tracks,” Greenfield concluded.
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47 Responses
i got to this page from a link on drudgereport
It’s about time! Some common, constitutional sense is emerging! Guess Miss Jane was misinformed or misspoke when she claimed that no images could be saved (US Marshall’s save 35000 images). Ooops! Must have had a memory lapse or maybe she just wasn’t informed. The Liar-in-Chief is the one giving the orders. But he’s out of country (on vacation) again and not available for questions. Oh well, as stated earlier, glad to see someone has the marbles to step up and do what should have already been done.
Privacy must take a back seat to security, BUT…
1) It is very debateable as to whether or not these scanners are safe.
2) They can NOT see through human tissue (i.e. skin) so a terrorist could still hide explosives in a body cavity, and it would not be seen.
Bottom line – a waste of money.
WOW! Drudgereport linked to YWN.
About time!
These scanners are SCAMMERS.
Greenfield and the others are very smart.
If they are not used in Ben Gurion Airport – THEY ARE A WASTE!
You need quick upgrade (even temp) for your web hosting servers. You have been linked from the DrudgeReport!
Do not pass on this opportunity.
Probably a waste of “stimulus money”. Maybe some jobs were created at the full body scanner manufacturing company, and the the gubment payed the gubment price for the scanners. What a shame. No oversite or accountability. More shoving of things down our throats. They wonder why so many dems lost elections. They just don’t get it…can’t see the forest for the trees. The American people will not stand by and watch their liberties be taken away.
It’s simple.
Ever see the airheads working at the TSA?
You want them seeing your 3 year olds walking through?
And if you opt out, you want them groping them????!!!!
STOP THIS INSANITY NOW!
Since when can New York City pass a statute that restricts what a Federal law enforcement agency does? Given we have had NO casulties for aircraft related terrorist since 9-11, it does seem that Homeland Security is doing a competent job. One should also note that one isn’t required to use an airplane.
Just wait until Obama sticks his nose into this and crushes any lawmakers in any city from banning this.
They will sneak on a fake terrorist onto a plane so they can pull off an “I told you so” stunt.
Just watch.
Ben Gurion Airport uses RACIAL PROFILING. This is what is needed in the USA.
Sorry, it needed to be said.
RT @Drudge_Siren: NYC Lawmakers Seek Ban On Full Body Scanners… http://plu.gd/cyL
@ akuperma
“Since when can New York City pass a statute that restricts what a Federal law enforcement agency does?”
That’s easy… when Federal law enforcement is engaging in activity that’s UNCONSTITUTIONAL (4th amendment), it’s our duty to overturn the legislation in question.
Last time I checked, a federal entity absolutely cannot search a citizen without probable cause that the citizen is committing a crime and/or a warrant. No warrant? No Probable Cause? No search. Period.
That’s the problem… We’re being made to feel like criminals simply for boarding an aircraft.
And since all airlines HAVE to use the TSA, it’s not as easy as saying, “One should also note that one isn’t required to use an airplane.”
Of course it isn’t… but when the federal government is REQUIRING all air travelers to submit to unconstitutional search and seizure, then you’ve got a legitimate complaint. If there were a “TSA FREE” airline, we could simply use them… but there is no such thing.
Liberty is greater than Security. I don’t know how we’ve forgotten this so quickly. Some folks need to revisit the history of this country. There’s a REASON they teach it in school.
Has anyone asked whether it is halachically permissable to go through the full body scanner, particularly with respect to women? I have been watching out for SOMEONE to address this sha’ale because I believe there is a real breach of tznius, nevermind privacy
Pick your choice get slapped radiation from one of these machines, or have a TSA agent grope your child or wife.
God Bless America.
Not.
#15 – a city can not by statute declare a law unconstitutional – even a state can not (that was settled in the early 19th century). The city or the state can sue in court. An individual passenger might be able to sue in court. The owner of the airport (Port Authority) has standing to sue. However a bunch of city councilpeople trying to enact a clearly unconstitutional statute are “grandstanding” and wasting the taxpayers money (which in the case of the ones New Yorkers keep electing, isn’t much of an issue).
Watch – the ones who need to be checked the most, the moslems will get a pass on this because of THEIR tzni’us requirements. THEIR objections may actually be what stops the use of these scanners.
“The city or the state can sue in court.”
Well perhaps this will lead to that? I agree it looks like grandstanding… but for a worthy cause. Retaining our personal liberties is definitely worth “taxpayers’ money”, wouldn’t you say?
How about this… The TSA is a waaste of taxpayers’ money because they waste our time AND perform unconstitutional activity.
Fair enough?
Interestingly Drudge linked to YWN on a national *non-Jewish* story.
God bless New York; and I never thought I’d say that.
I hope they win all of their challenges to these rules.
These are nothing more than an unConstitutional strip search.
My wife heard on WABC Talk Radio that Muslim women were ‘exempted’ from the body scan & the PAT DOWN!
Probably orders from “on high”.
Liberty is more important than security? Then I assume you oppose the Patriot Act by President Bush which although intrusive, has played a role in preventing another terror attack from occurring on American Soil.
The ONLY way is profiling, yes, based on behavior, age, RACE etc. If a traveler falls into a suspicious catagory only then should he be undressed.
i so don’t understand all this. Do what the israelis do.. IT WORKS> take five minutes to stare each person in the face and talk to them. about anything.. it makes no difference. just watch their body language.. I guarantee you Mohamed al a whoever, who is on his way to blow up a commercial airliner is not going to leasurly carry on a conversation with the TSA agent and stare into their eyes. Its simple, Non invasive, cheap, and it works!!!
If I lived in New York you’d have my vote Mr. Greenfield! I’m sure that the founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they knew that the U.S. Constitution would be suspended at the front door of the airport. PROFILE! I admire El Al for doing it, and they stay safe. I would never allow even my husband to take a picture of me like the ones seen by these TSA “workers” and I certainly wouldn’t let him feel me up in an airport, the way these TSA sex offenders are doing to their victims(they claim their just doing their jobs, but I think we heard that line from some defendants at Nuremberg, didn’t we). Anyone who thinks that communications monitoring (with probable cause mind you) is in any way the equivalent of what amounts to a person violation via a strip search is clearly ill-informed.
There is no constitutional right to fly on an airplane. If you don’t like the scanners, take Amtrak — but you better act quickly because a lot of Republicans want to shut it down.
El Al doesn’t racially profile. They are much too sophisticated for that. A racial profile would never have caught Ann Mary Murphy but El Al stopped her. They use much more complex means to profile passengers.
When did it become “urgent” to have these unconstitutional invasions of privacy? After M. Chertoff got into the full-body scanner (nudity broadcasters) business! He came from TSA, surprise! The physical abuse of passengers by “pat-down is a ‘bonus’ of this insanity. That this insane idea jibes with the Obama cabal’s desire to Islamize America is an interesting ‘coincidence’.
The Israeli idea (by those awful Jews!) would be hard to put into operation in the USA, based on my observation of the ‘zombies’ I have encountered in LGA, JFK and NWK. It requires educated, thoughtful, self-respecting, mature men and women. They must be able to interview people face-to-face and interpret verbal responses and body language on the spot.
And, as I see it, by demeaning (cognate to “dimi” of Islam?) American men and women and children, they are preparing us for further subjugation. Does this remind you of any recent history?
charlie:
1. El Al does racially profile.
2. You can’t take a train overseas.
This should be banned immediately in the whole country. But there are two solutions:
1. If we want security done right, use Israel’s procedures, or hire a company from there to do it.
2. If that is not allowed, then demand every government official and TSA employee who approves this procedure be required to stay in an airport every day and allow all passengers to perform exactly the same to them, all day long.
Just a national issue with local ramifications that allows the ambitious politicali an opportunity to raise their profiles. Nicely done.
Since we spent so much money on these thing perhaps another application would be fighting the national obesity epidemic (probably the reason people are so angry at in the first place.) Stick a couple “naked scanners” in the subway stations and require riders to be scanned so the NYPD could preemptively ticket them for taking up more than one seat.
I was flying with ElAl after Succos and the agent pulled me aside and asked me a few questions. One of the Questions was “What Chag is after Succos?” Initially, I got the answer wrong, but I then realized what he meant. Can anyone guess what the answer is?
@akuperma
There’s this thing called the Tenth Amendment. The Constitution clearly spells out what the federal government’s powers are. Anything else is left to the states so the city or state can so pass a law to throw out the body scanners. That’s why many states have passed laws allowing for the medical use of marijuana even though the federal government has banned it outright.
@ POLFOR”
“Liberty is more important than security? Then I assume you oppose the Patriot Act by President Bush which although intrusive, has played a role in preventing another terror attack from occurring on American Soil.”
Yes, liberty is more important than security. Benjamin Franklin said it best:
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Also, there is no evidence that the Patriot Act has prevented any terrorist attack in this country. This act to supposedly protect us from “scary Muslims in caves” has been only used on the American people. You do realize you’re more likely to be struck by lighting than die in a terrorist attack? A British statistician figured out the actual odds of dying in a terrorist attack is 1 in 30 million. Americans have become a bunch of scared cowards.
Really, you still cannot be 100% sure that no one will set up a bomb on the plane. So, now everyone should have to sit like that for the whole flight. Ya know, if-you-don’t-like-it-don’t-fly. Hey look, SECURITY. Everybody should be checked even on the street. How do you know that they’re not going to bomb something?
By the way, they often tell us that the Terrorists want to frighten us, but we’ll show them. This burn himself bomber wreaked more havoc on this country than an army could have.
Let’s at least not play with the truth. In the “pat down” men check men and women check women. What’s not tzneiusdig about that? Profiling can’t be done here—the ACLU would get it banned. Profiling is a four-letter word with them. And minorities would protest loudly like they always do about profiling.
Something has to be done to protect us. Do those who object have a better idea?
If they still feel it’s a terrible invasion of their privacy, they have the option of not flying.
#33 Simchas Torah?
so intresting that muslim women pass thru without going into the body scanners? thats a strictly order of the higher windows. from our muslim president BOROCK CHUSAIN OBOMA
Well said. You represent the arguments very well. We are just as appalled out here in Albuquerque. I have already cancelled travel plans and will not fly till all of these scanners and the pat downs are discontinued. Such an assault on the Constitution. Continue to fight for our freedoms!
#28 — Charliehall — Why do you keep bringing up Anne Marie Murphy, a 20 year old case? She is not exactly a good example for the case against profiling. She was not a suicide bomber hiding explosives in her underwear — her Jordanian (Arab!) “boyfriend” whom she was on her way to marry hid the bomb in her carry on bag — the basic xray baggage screening that we have today would have caught it. Or the type of 3 minute questioning El Al uses to determine who requires further screening (“why are you going to Israel? To marry the father of the baby I’m expecting” “Where is he?” “He said as a Jordanian he is not allowed to fly El Al, and he’ll meet me there” red flag, had someone asked the questions, no?) And yes she was caught by El Al security guards who are trained to notice things that appear suspicious — which is the real key to preventing terror! In any case, there are exceptions to every rule just as there will be terrorist who come up with new ways to avoid even these intrusive searches — but in 95 to 98% of the cases, profiling works!(Profiling is not limited to race – El Al combines race factors with other ones — including pre-screening passenger lists. This profiling is simply used to determine who requires more thorough screening — rather than randomly screening Caucasian 3 year olds or Hispanic grandmothers. Not that everyone in the profile is a terrorist, but almost all terrorists fit the profile) Does it mean that an innocent member of a subgroup may be subjected to more inconvenience than a member of another subgroup — unfortunately yes. But it seems to me to be a better alternative — both from a safety perspective and from a logistical perspective than these ridiculous and invasive searches for anyone!! Look at El Al — well trained security screeners who know what to look for, preflight screenings of passenger lists, thorough baggage screening (and baggage and cargo screening in the US actually can use some improvement!) — but no rules against bringing a bottle of water with you!!!
Effective preflight screening would have discovered the “underwear bomber” before he got on the plane — remember this guy’s history??? He had been reported by his father to the CIA in November for heavens sakes! Maybe instead of spending money on expensive “electronic strip searches” (with radiation issues already being raised) and forcing thousands of innocent US citizens to undergo these types of “pat downs” Homeland Security should work on improving their record keeping and internal communication. I’ll take my chances with El-Al style security over this nonsense any day!
#36 — The question about tznius was raised with regards to the scanners, not the “pat downs”. The “strip search scanners” are viewed by whatever agent is on duty — definitely NOT necessarily same gender. Only if one refuses the scanner does one receive a same gender “pat down”. As far as “something has to be done to protect us” I believe the issue is that most people believe the amount of additional protection this system provides is minuscule in comparison to the inconvenience and infringement on personal rights. The point is that although greater security usually requires giving up a certain measure of liberty and privacy (i.e yes #24, #34 I did support the Patriot Act), it seems like a vast majority of Americans believe that this had gone too far, and that “yatzah secoro behafsaido” (the benefit is overshadowed by the loss)
37 Wrong; Shmeni Atzres. In Eretz Yisrael it is one chag but outside Israel it is 2 days.
Now to the body scanner issue. First the owners of the company were part of the federal government before. And another owner who owned 11000 shares in the scanner company was GEORGE SOROS; the master puppeter of obama’s administration. He just sold the share when he found out people were looking into his involvement with the FORCED SCANNER BUISNESS. You need profiling the rest will never work. Why does Israel get it right and the US doesn’t It wants PC instead of SAFETY
#36 when did u check the facts,
1 in some cases u have t fight for your right not to be groped by opposite gender
2 Ok Mr .. u approve a man touching your u know what ???
3 how about the lady they pulled her shirt of in public u approve that too
This supdid U. S. of A. government is so lucky I just don’t have any flights scheduled for the time. You’ll all be hearing when I do. I truley intend to give them a run for their worth. Let someone TRY touching my privates – יד לאמה תקצץ.
The problem here is that there is absolutely no accountability. Someone makes up the rules as he goes, as he wishes, and everyone follows as lame ducks. Someone puts a bomb in his shoes – EVERYONE take off your shoes. Someone makes a liquid bomb – EVERYONE is prohibited from liquids. Someone puts a bomb in his underware – EVERYONE undress (electronically).
Begin loop: Stupid: End Loop
Nobody seems to be addressing the health risks associated with Naked Body Scanners. It’s completely ignored in the national debate.
I can understand that many are afraid for their lives when flying, but we can’t allow our fears to dictate to us when making decisions about security. It will lead us to; “Sure, strip search me. Heck I’ll fly naked, Handcuff me for the duration.”
What the government is obviously not doing is making educated decisions about security – rather they are reactionary. Security decisions should be made by security experts, not elected officials with degrees in unrelated fields.
What does Torah say about “uncovering another’s nakedness”? I think both Jews and Christians have strong moral objections to “naked scanning”, but those voices will be mostly ignored.
This is one of the rare times that I agree with charlie hall. I have seen the profiling that El Al uses. It is not racial profiling. It is profiling period with race being just one of the criteria of many that they use. The El Al security is carefully screening behavior which is ten times better than this massive assault on tznius and psyche that is going on now.
Sorry, I forgot to add
ושלחה ידה והחזיקה במבושיו. וקצותה את כפה
Continue loop.
1. El Al interviews everyone; not just a group. They are well-trained unlike the 7-11 clerk wannabes at TSA.
2. Michael Chertoff was head of DHS. Now he represents Rape-Scan, the manufacturer of the radiation cookers.
3. Any airport may terminate their relationship with TSA. This happened just yesterday with Orlando airport; they gave the TSA their pink slip.
4. Dr. Love, the head of radiology at John Hopkins said these radiation cookers will produce skin cancer at a minimum. Anytime you are exposed to ionizing radiation this can produce genomic instability in any living cell.
5. San Mateo County, Ca District Attorney announced yesterday that the new molestation procedure if done on the outside of the clothing is a state sexual assault crime. If done on the inside, that has been reported, is a felony sexual assault. In fact they are sending their detectives to monitor San Francisco airport.
Also Santa Clara County’s DA announced the same yesterday.
6. Former head of El Al’s security stated that he can place enough explosive on his body to down a 747 without detection.
7. A county Sheriff’s Department can order any federal agent out of his county. What you see on the idiot box where the feds come in and say that they are in charge is BS. Only if the Sheriff gives permission.
8. If a law violates the US or State Constitution, that law is considered null and void.
Please do your due diligence before committing it to writing.