Wil Wheaton gets harassed by the TSA

Will Wheaton – way to weigh in on a ridiculous policy! I stopped flying. I am looking at any candidate who will end the TSA on the basis of 4th amendment violations and our budget does not to include paying for sexual assault. They are looking for the set of balls that will cut John Pistole’s and Rapiscans power and budget. They haven’t found any yet.

I encourage all of you to write to your local, state and national-level local officials. Vote against politicians who support the TSA. Without consequences, they will be more than happy to continue stripping us of our constiutional and human rights.

The intrusive searches by the government – which is EXACTLY a strip search – and the option to have strangers touch your and your 14+ year old children’s genitals and breasts – is definitely a violation of the 4th amendment. Police cannot strip search without probable cause or a warrant. The “reasonableness” of the search is clearly not there. If everyone was naked, then perhaps reasonableness would be upheld. The “rules” were just created by a government bureaucracy that has overstepped its bounds.

In the US, there have been 0 people killed in 49 years by an airline passenger setting off a bomb. If these scanners “only” potentially kill 6 passengers a year based on about 700 million flights a year (the US 2010 passenger total is 629,457,532). Therefore, over a 49 year period we would expect 284 dead from scanners and 0 dead from airline passenger bombings. The risk does not match the intrusiveness and illegality of the scanners and sexual contact gropings. An analogy: The Supreme Court outlawed handgun bans in cities. Since people die every day from guns (12,000 a year, most via handgun), this risk is much higher. But, the risk did not outweigh the constitution. So I expect 0 deaths will not outweigh the constitution.

What we need is for the airlines to offer a higher level of voluntary security. They can offer special flights where people can voluntarily subject themselves to strip searches and sexual groping. To conclude, the TSA will be brought under control and eliminate primary screenings that are illegal. When that happens, if you don’t like the constitution, you don’t have to fly. Take a bus or train.