In a video recorded at his hotel, blogger Jon Corbett explains how he placed a metal object in his pocket and walked through airport security knowing he wouldn’t be stopped.
Corbett is an engineer, and blogs at ‘TSA Out of Our Pants!‘ In the video, Corbett is carrying a metal object in his pocket as he passed through the TSA checkpoint. He isn’t stopped, he explains, because the dark objects don’t show up in the dark clothing — they blend in.
Corbett exploited a (huge) weakness, all of which is explained in his video and at his blog.
“The scanners are now effectively worthless, as anyone can beat them with virtually no effort.” Corbett writes on his blog. “The TSA has been provided this video in advance of it being made public to give them an opportunity to turn off the scanners and revert to the metal detectors. I personally believe they now have no choice but to turn them off.”
Despite the video containing no nudity, language, or sex, Google has placed the video behind their age-restriction wall.
Critics, such as Steve Watson at Alex Jones’ InfoWars, make the accusation that Google is seeking to prevent the video from going viral, and curtailing free speech. I don’t disagree, but what Google is attempting is far worse.
Google Wants to Know Who Watches Corbett’s Video
Google is making an effort to document people who watch the video. By age-restricting the video, you’re forced to log in with a Google account if you want to watch it on YouTube.
Recall that Google has been working with, and sharing information with, various government agencies — notably, the NSA — since at least 2010. In 2011, Google has involved itself in such activities as helping to overthrow the government of Egypt, and deliberately misplacing the Lincoln memorial in Google Maps the same day that Glenn Beck had a rally at that location.
Google has also become interested in a “real names” policy for its users, discouraging people from getting accounts under pseudonyms. And 2012 has seen a more-invasive privacy policy.
In other words, Google has been increasingly willing to collect data for government agencies, and bully government critics.
Please note that I’ve linked a copy of the video via at LiveLeak instead of Google’s YouTube, for what it’s worth. So feel free to watch the LiveLeak copy.
Will watching the video at YouTube place us on a “terror watch list” of some kind? I doubt that watching the video on its own is enough to land you on the TSA’s “plastic gloves” list. That said, I’ll bet Jon Corbett will have a much more difficult time at airports for now on. The TSA can and has singled people out for repeated harassment at checkpoints.
“This video is not intended to teach anyone how to commit criminal acts, nor is intended to help “the terrorists” — if I could figure this out, I’m sure they’ve long figured it out, and by exposing it to the public, we now have an opportunity to correct it.” Corbett writes on his blog.
The TSA’s public response included expected phrasing such as “we can’t discuss our technology’s detection capability,” but the scanners are “completely safe,” and the TSA “completely addresses privacy concerns.”
At least one TSA spokesman has allegedly been contacting reporters at various media outlets to “strongly caution” them not to cover this story any longer.
Original post at datelinezero.com: Blogger exposes major flaw in TSA’s nude body scanners, YouTube restricts video
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