Better ways

If you ever travel by commercial airline, you know the drill: Provide ID, take off shoes, put change, keys and cellphones in the bin, and step through the metal detector. Like a bum knee, it’s a pain, but one you’ve learned to deal with. Unfortunately, it’s just gotten worse.

At many airports, including Chicago’s O’Hare, the Transportation Security Administration in recent weeks has rolled out new imaging scanners that see through clothing — producing what privacy advocates refer to as a “virtual strip search.”

If you don’t like that option, you may choose another one, which you also may not like: a pat-down in which the agent will manually search your entire body, including breasts and groin. These will be used for regular screening, not merely “secondary” inspections of travelers who trigger suspicion.

But the government is meeting vocal opposition. Unions for pilots and flight attendants have objected to the scanners.

One man is calling for a National Opt-Out Day on Nov. 24, asking passengers to refuse the scanners, raising the prospect of huge backups on the day before Thanksgiving.

Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar the use of scanners for primary screening, and their expanded use may attract new attention on Capitol Hill. Congress and the Obama administration owe the public a reassessment to make sure the benefits of these methods are worth the high cost in privacy — and to make sure there are not other technologies that would be less invasive.

— Chicago Tribune