When it’s time for you to head to the airport for your next family vacation, there may be more to think about than if you forgot your favorite swimsuit or pair of flip-flops. The government agency in charge of airport security or TSA, has recently put new security measures in place. The first is a full body scanning machine that produces an image than can see through your clothes, but if the thought of some random person basically seeing you naked is too creepy for you to handle, then you get a full body pat down (and they mean full body). At this point, it’s really choosing between the less horribly awkward of the two. Be seen or be touched, neither is too appealing, especially when you consider many teens are struggling with being secure about themselves.


In addition to making people feel uncomfortable, TSA is violating our rights. In the fourth amendment of the constitution it says that American’s are protected against being unreasonably searched without a warrant. Basically, this means that no one can search you unless you have done something wrong and they have a reason to search you. TSA has no right to do this. Protestors, Tim Geoghegan and Matthew Ryan, in response to the security measures have developed “4th Amendment Wear”. The two have designed a shirt that has the 4th amendment printed on the front with letters containing metal so when the wearer goes through the full body scan, whoever is watching the scanner’s monitor will see the amendment plastered on the passenger’s chest. The two have already sold out of their first line of shirts.

That isn’t the only protest going on in the airports. Perhaps the most widely known protest against the new security measures was National Opt Out Day. This event took place on November 24, the day before Thanksgiving, which is known for being one of the busiest travel days of the year. It was advertised mainly by Facebook.com. Leaders called for passengers to “opt out” of body scanners to slow up the security process in hopes of the TSA ending its’ new procedures. The event didn’t end up being as big as some had hoped as people chose to cooperate to get to their destinations on time. Another protest that made national headlines was a woman at Los Angeles International Airport. Corinne Theile decided to do her own protest when she wore only a bikini through airport security and the TSA let her right through without submitting to any of the new procedures. She may have started a trend, as there have been many other reports of passengers going through security in just bikini since she did in November. Of course another large form of protest has been protest songs and videos on Youtube.com. Many of these videos have become huge hits, the most popular being, “I don’t like the TSA”. The last major kind of protest is formal complaints. There have been several complaints and charges filed by passengers, flight attendants, and pilots that if found serious enough, could tamper off the use of new procedures

These protests are a good thing because it allows for people to show how angry they are about being violated for just wanting to talk a trip. It’s unfair to everyone and anyone to have subject to such invasive search techniques. The new TSA measures should continue to be protested against and hopefully, in the end, the security procedures will be taken away.