Does anyone (still) opt-out? (regulations, airport, European, flight)

[Repatriot]

At one point, lot of people, myself included, chose to opt out of going through full-body scanner machines.

At the risk of this turning into a polarized topic, which is not my intention, am asking if people still do this, or, if TSA practices have changed.

Please don't be that person to compare it to the same amount of radiation as blah blah blag and kindly do not attack one side or the other for their personal choice.

I don't travel as much as before, and much of my travel was outside the US, but I have noticed in some cases that fewer people have had to go through the scanners, it seems to be random or selective at least who they make go through them, and when. Also I think I had heard that the scanner tech has changed since first introduced.

I don't visit this forum much, if there is a thread on this please point me to it and happy to take it from there.

[boxus]

I do not opt out.

[Jkgourmet]

Neither do I. Never have understood the big concern some people ha vcd e about it.

But in the past 2 or 3 years, about 80% of the time, I've ended up getting pulled for a physical pat down as well. Strange.

[SUPbud]

what do you mean by "full-body scanner machines"?


I've been thru LAX quite a few times, and there is a "puffer arch" made by the GE corporation and a few others at $1M a pop. They blast air at your body to dislodge & detect "trace molecules from explosives or narcotics" - but as far as I know there is no radiation involved.


If you're talking about the Arnold-Schwarzenegger-Total-Recall -style full body real time xray machine.. I ain't never seen that in an airport - I have seen them in a hospital setting. And they saved a family members life. So I appreciate the technology.


If you are concerned about your cumulative exposure to radiation, you can wear a "rad tag":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_badge_dosimeter


people who work with nuclear medicine, or nuclear power, might be instructed by OSHA to wear these all the time, because you need to know if you are being exposed to radiation at HOME, when you're thinking you only have to worry about WORK.


But let's put it in perspective: the amount of radiation you receive during a 14 hour transconntential flight (you are 6 miles CLOSER to the sun) is greater than even a full panoramic dental xray, chest xray or mammogram.


If you're really curious, get a geiger counter - and check out your own SHOES - the soles of your shoes are a suprizing source of radiation exposure.




And then ultimately take a step back and study gamma radiation - a cosmic ray leaves the sun and travels outward - and it passes CLEAN THRU THE EARTH and comes out the other side - there's nothing you can do about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray

[hertfordshire]

I’m PreCheck, so nine times out of ten, I go through a metal detector. But on the rare occasion that it’s not an option and I’m routed to a millimeter wave scanner, I opt out because I have a medical device that can’t be removed and can be damaged by the scanner.

[BOBNCHI]

I travel often, no valid reason to do so, I do not opt out.

[hertfordshire]

I think most of the opting out was done when TSA was using the backscatter scanners. Not only were there privacy concerns (they yielded a more realistic scan on the monitors) but they also emitted ionizing radiation. The current millimeter wave scanners do not. And the scans are shown using a generic body outline.

[lieqiang]

Originally Posted by Repatriot

Also I think I had heard that the scanner tech has changed since first introduced.

The biggest change has been going from using both backscatter and mmw to just using mmw. MMW doesn't use x-rays so there aren't issues with European regulations for x-ray exposure and eliminates the privacy issues that backscatter scanners had since millimeter wave images produced by the software show a cartoon image with a mark where a potential issue is so additional checks can be done if necessary by hand focuses on the problem areas.

These scanners are much better for detecting hidden objects than metal detectors and when everyone knows what they're doing (yeah I know that's a massive "if") people can get through pretty quickly.

I never opt out.

EDIT = yeah what hertfordshire said

[rational1]

The only time I've seen an opt-out was in Silicon Valley, home of the open-source-geek-extreme-libertarian-privacy crowd.

OP doesn't want to hear about the trivial the radiation exposure. But you can't stop a rational person from mentioning it.

Personally I save my outrage for things that really matter.

[billl]

When they first starting using the backscatter machines (the nude-o-scopes) I would opt out on principle. I no longer opt-out, because the machines are different and because now I have precheck. On the extremely rare occasion that they still require me to stand in the MMW machine, I accept it.