Summary: The TSA illegally and in violation of court order refuses to hold a mandatory public comment period on their use of airport body scanners. We’ll take our own comments and deliver them once we reach 10,000 (or December 1st, 2012). Participate now! Comment and share the website TSAComment.com. Here is a press release.

I Want the TSA to Take my Comment! At TSAComment.com

When the TSA suddenly rolled body scanners out to American airport checkpoints in 2010, they neglected to observe these legal “formalities,” opting to jump straight to the implementation phase. This is one reason why the new scope-or-grope regimen caught so many people by surprise and provoked such a strenuous resistance.

Fast forward to today and the TSA, despite a court order, refuses to hold this public comment period. Their latest word, after considerable legal finagling, is that they’ll try to hold some open forums by the end of February 2013. Will it happen? Will it happen on time? How many people will be permitted to participate? These are questions that no one has any good answer for.

Our patience here at We Won’t Fly is exhausted. If the TSA can’t or won’t take our comments about the security, health and privacy concerns related to their use of body scanners at US airport checkpoints, well we’re just going to do it for them!

TSAComment.com

With your moral and financial support, we have launched TSAComment.com, a website where you can share your comment on the TSA’s decision to deploy body scanning technology to dozens of American airports as a primary screening method.

Please take advantage of this unique opportunity to voice your security, health and privacy related concerns. You may have other concerns as well. Vote up those comments you feel add value to this global conversation on security, human rights and dignity.

When we reach 10,000 comments or December 1, 2012, whichever comes first, we will send your comments to TSA administrator John Pistole, Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano and we will release them to the media and the public in a machine-readable format (XML). We will first strip out any identifying information. Please note however that your comments, with your name and possibly other identifying information, will remain available to the world indefinitely at TSAComment.com.

Your Role

We Won’t Fly is not an institutionalized non-profit organization. We don’t have corporate sponsors. We’re just two working dads who are concerned about the future that’s taking shape for our kids. Perhaps you have similar concerns or reasons for being involved in this struggle.

In any case, we can’t do this by ourselves. You need your help. You need to participate if you want to see something happen. And it doesn’t require anything more than a trivial amount of time or effort.

• Educate yourself. Don’t take our word for it, do your own research. Help others learn as well, hopefully in a non-confrontational manner.
• Comment. Make your voice heard.
• Stop flying.
• Organize. Coordinate with other individuals locally and on the national level for effective resistance.
• Donate. We need funding (not a lot) in order to continue this work.
• Stay on top of the news via our email list (subscribe above), Facebook page and/or blog (subscribe via RSS or email).

Made Possible by You

This project is made possible by you, the 40 fine folks who have donated to our fundraising plan so far. Keep the funds coming and we will be able to afford to do more projects and raise more hell in defense of our human rights and dignity.

No one else that I am aware of comes close to our level of effectiveness on this issue in the sphere of direct action. We Won’t Fly is the most radical and the only uncompromising voice on the issue of human rights and dignity in the transportation sector. If, like us, you value these things then it makes sense to support us in whatever way you can – while you still can.

Comment Now

TSAComment.com: I Want the TSA to Take my Comment!

Press Release

Here is a press release for folks in the media. Please send it to your media contacts.

External Links

TSAComment.com: I Want the TSA to Take my Comment!

Wired: Court Demands TSA Explain Why It Is Defying Nude Body Scanner Order

RT: TSA to take 19 months before following nude scanner court order

Brea posted this to our Facebook page. If you’d like to share your TSA experience with our readers, contact us.

Thought I would share my experience with the TSA at Portland International Airport. After opting out of the scanners, I received the pat down, and my items in the x-ray box (backpack, belt, cell phone and shoes) were taken away to be searched. The backpack and belt were returned to me – the cell phone and shoes were not. I approached the agents who had handled me and told them my cell phone and shoes were gone. They acted confused, and told me to go report to someone at a desk. Upon doing so, I was given a nasty rude glance and promptly ignored. I kept asking, in a loud voice, that my shoes and cell phone had been taken while being searched and demanded they be returned. I had to speak with four different agents, all of whom acted like they couldn’t have cared less about my problem. After nagging the last one, they walked over to the x-ray line and found them thrown into an empty container, and nastily said, “They were here the whole time”.

This hold up caused me to miss my flight.

Also, while asking for my opt out while still in line, the TSA agent (who was a rather nice man) quietly told me to always wait until I am asked to go through the machine before I opt out. “If you ask before it’s your turn,” he warned me gently, “they very well may deny you and make you go through.” When I asked him why, shocked, he replied, with a bit of a disgusted look, “Because they can”.

Hello, everyone, I hope you are all enjoying a pleasant summer.

Fundraising is going poorly. We’ve raised less than 10% of what we need to maintain a forward-looking posture over the next 6 months.

When Jim and I started We Won’t Fly, our fuel was passion and outrage. But that can’t sustain our resistance indefinitely. Like any other organization that wants to change federal policy, we can’t have an impact without constant, sustained effort.

Perhaps TSA abuse is not important to you anymore. You don’t mind that you can’t use airports anymore without putting your dignity and freedom at risk. And it doesn’t phase you that the TSA is expanding into bus and train stations and onto the roads.

Or perhaps you don’t think that We Won’t Fly can actually put your funds to effective use. Perhaps there is another, more effective organization out there that shut down TSA scoping and groping for more than just one of the busiest travel weekends of the year?

Perhaps you just don’t like our plan?

Perhaps you’ve lost hope.

Well, we haven’t. We’re going to keep working on this issue but you have to understand that both Jim and I have other projects and customers to take care of. We have families to support. We can continue working on this at a low-intensity level – but a low-intensity campaign is just not going to get us anywhere. It’s at best a holding pattern.

Meanwhile the TSA is well-funded, expanding and quite full of itself. I’m sure that the TSA bureaucrats who read this site are quite pleased that our fundraising is doing so poorly.

Whether you support our work or not, I encourage you to organize in your community for dignity and liberty not just with respect to the TSA, but also with any and all corporations, organizations and/or governmental agencies that threaten those values.

In order to have maximum effect, the money you contribute will first go towards the key part of our planned campaign, which happens in November. As we raise more funds than we need for just the first 3 weeks of November, we’ll apply those funds towards building momentum and organizing resistance in October, September and the upcoming month of August.

Thanks for your continued support and your principled resistance to tyranny.

P.S. There’s still time to donate. Please see the right-hand column. Thanks!

FACT: this TV screen is as likely to kill you as the terrorists.

Some of you may find this hard to believe, but a government study on terrorism has determined that your risk of being killed by terrorists is as high as your risk of being crushed to death by your TV or other heavy furniture.

This should serve as excellent justification for the TSA to branch into home checkpoints. They can call it the FSA – Furniture Safety Association. Expect to have to pass an “administrative” checkpoint before entering your living room. It’s for your own safety, after all.

Source: The Atlantic.

The purpose of this 6-month plan is to raise $8,736 in support of these missions.

1. Catapult the cause of TSA abolition and the importance of human dignity and human rights (especially the 4th amendment) into the minds of hundreds of millions of people worldwide once again.
2. Build a more organized and flying-public-friendly resistance as we work towards our ultimate goals.
3. Provide you a menu of effective actions you can take to advance this cause.

What We’ll Accomplish

Here are some of the areas we’ll be working on as part of the 6-month plan. Please note that we need not just your financial support but also your active participation.

The Complete Plan

Download a more complete version of the plan. [40KB PDF]

Barebones Budget

To carry out this plan in 6 months is going to require an enormous amount of work. We simply can’t spare this time unless there is some kind of compensation and $1,000 per month is really quite affordable for the quality of work the Executive Director (George Donnelly) is putting into this cause.

Plus we’ll incur as much as $306 in credit card transaction fees. So we’re asking for $8,736 total.

We Won’t Fly is NOT a government-registered non-profit organization. Your financial support is NOT tax-deductible. But it’s still a GREAT cause.

How to Support this Campaign

You can support our work by using the contribution form above or with any of these options. If you have another that works better for you, let us know via email at me@georgedonnelly.com!

About the Executive Director

George Donnelly, Executive Director.

Hi, I’m George Donnelly, the newly-minted executive director and co-founder of We Won’t Fly. Since the very beginning almost two years ago, I have been responsible for our popular website, most of our blogging, the very successful social media presences and the YouTube video that got 1,000,000 views and sparked the TSA revolt of November, 2010. I’ve been interviewed by dozens of media outlets and CNN selected me as one of their most intriguing people on opt out day, November 24, 2010. I work as an IT guy, teacher and writer when I’m not spending time with my wife, 6-year-old son and our golden retriever.

We’re creating the executive director position and offering the community a chance to fund it as a way to break out of the holding pattern the TSA resistance has been in since early 2011.

Here’s the story of a lady who flew out of the Orange county airport last week. She wasn’t offered the option of a metal detector. She opted out (kudos!) and was groped. Ugh. I can’t imagine how bad that sucked.

While those of us who continue the commercial airline boycott remain staunch in our defense of dignity and human rights, others continue to choose to fly. We need to a campaign to reach out to these folks. Anyone got any ideas?

We Won’t Fly has been in a holding pattern for long enough. It’s time to let the government know once again that we will not tolerate violations of our dignity and our rights. We’ve got an aggressive 6-month plan for catapulting the TSA back into the spotlight again.

We need your feedback, participation and financial support in order carry out our plan.

But, first, let’s take a look at the results of our survey.

500 People Answered our Survey

More than 500 of you answered our survey over the weekend. Thank you! Here are some of the results:

1. What is the goal of your TSA resistance?

“Protect your 4th amendment right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure” is the number one answer with 71%. “Abolish the TSA” comes in second with 69% and “Enable airlines, airports and travelers to figure out our own solutions” is third with 37%.

2. What tactics should we focus on most while working towards our TSA resistance goals?

“Viral media such as videos and images that support our resistance” wins with 59%. “Using alternative transportation where possible” is second at 54%. “Another national Opt Out / No Fly / We Won’t Fly Day is third at 48%.

3. Have you liked our Facebook page?

59% say yes. Many of those who answered no are boycotting Facebook due to privacy concerns.

4. Are you willing to donate funds to support an aggressive campaign over the next 6 months in pursuit of the goal of abolishing the TSA?

69% of those responding are unwilling or unable to provide financial support but of those willing to donate it looks like we will be able to raise enough money to fund our campaign.

Some Interesting Comments

We received a lot of comments from folks. Here are some of the interesting ones.

expand the issues, this is more then just groping

Don’t have opt out of flying days; the media made the last one out to be a total failure and you don’t need to play into their spreading of lies.

consider changing the name, not flying means the TSA terrorists win imo

More education required. People don’t realize how ineffective the TSA is, even as they shred constitutional protections.

The TSA is only going to change when congress gets involved, please spend more time helping people contact their representatives and airline representatives.

It is not going away unless something drastic happens. The airlines are flying full, people just don’t care

I personally think the most important thing right now is to convince everyone to OPT OUT, EVERY TIME. As a TSO told my wife the last time we had to fly, if EVERYONE opted out, check points as we know them (scanners and patdowns) would go away, because they wouldn’t be able to handle everyone.

Is there any way we can go about this scientifically? I assume the TSA won’t disclose statistics that would help with this, but is there any way we could point to the numbers and say “Look, this airport used offensive, hazardous scanners, and were less effective than this airport, which used dogs, intelligence, and metal detectors.”

Start targeting politicians and holding hold their feet to the fire, and by that I mean get them to give clear-cut answers on how they feel about the TSA. Those that say they don’t like it ask them what they are doing to get rid of it, and keep on them about it. Those that support it, make it clear you will let the voting public know they are against the 4th Amendment.

Here are the full results: We Won’t Fly Survey Summary 10th July 2012 [300KB PDF file]

What do you think about the survey results? Let us know in the comments below.

On Opt Out Day 2010 I was doing an interview with CBS’ Bill LaPlante when, in an obvious attempt to make me seem like a nut, he brought up the x-ray vans made by American Science & Engineering, inc (AS&E). He almost laughed at me. He found the idea utterly ridiculous. And yet it’s coming back up in the news again. RT (see video above) may be a propaganda outlet for the Russian embassy, but they do some great news reporting.

These vans are a fact and AS&E is obviously making an effort to sell them to the department of homeland security. Even The Young Turks (left of center) did a show on this two years ago.

And here’s an incredibly cheesy advertisement for the van (Z-Backscatter Van, or “ZBV”).

Even Fox News has reported on this.

Are you still laughing, Bill?

This young man claims the TSA ridiculed him for being deaf.

A deaf young man is reporting that TSA agents in Louisville ridiculed him and his friends for being deaf. You won’t be surprised that it’s the kind of fascist goon behavior we’ve come to expect from the TSA.

Is it the official policy of the TSA to berate people, steal their stuff, troll on blogs critical of the TSA, break seniors’ colostomy bags, dump human ashes and engage in all kinds of other unspeakable behavior?

No. But it is their unwritten policy to tolerate this kind of behavior. No, I don’t have a leaked memo. I can see it for myself as incident of abuse after incident of abuse come to light while nothing changes. In fact, it’s getting worse.

Can you imagine this pattern of abuse at McDonalds, Wal-Mart or United Airlines? No way. They can’t get away with it, not even United. So why does the TSA get a pass? It’s because they are a government agency. Plain and simple.

John, Janet and Barack: you’ve created your goon squad. They are carrying out their jobs with exemplary performance. Now what?

Source: Reason.

Although this video is a little breathless and melodramatic for my particular tastes, thank goodness that we have people like this gentleman who are out there making these recordings and sharing them online.

This is clear evidence that earlier this month the TSA set up shop in Chicago’s Union Station (a train station). What happened next, we don’t seem to know. I couldn’t find any other reports on this, either from mainstream or independent media.

“If you don’t like it, then don’t fly,” they say. Well, add riding a train to the list. Pretty soon, the masquerading TSA agents will have nothing left to say but, “if you don’t like it, too bad!” They’re reducing our choices little by little.

And that’s what this is all about: choice. Choice is what the TSA is reducing and choice is what we are fighting for. We want a freed marketplace in traveler security solutions where airlines, airports, travelers and security industry providers can work together to devise a diverse world of solutions that the end consumer can choose from. Eventually, if the government and the corporations don’t get in the way, the marketplace may be able to accommodate all reasonable needs for privacy and dignity.

Source: @jnreports

Thanks to Adrian S. for posting this to our Facebook page.