Every time I fly, I loudly discuss with anyone I am traveling with why I (and they should) refuse the backscatter scanner. I try to speak so others in the line can hear me. When I get to the front, I ask to opt out, regardless of whether I'm randomly selected. Here's some points I try to hit:
- It exposes you to small doses of harmful cancer-causing radiation. While the radiation is very small, I read one study that said that the net effect of all of this radiation over such a large population will cause more deaths than have ever been caused by the kinds of things they are trying to prevent (9/11, shoebomber, etc).
- The backscatter machines don't work well and there are videos online telling people how to smuggle metal objects through them undetected. These machines might make us LESS safe, because people who go in the machines sometimes don't have to go through a metal detector: these machines could be letting guns onto planes.
- The machines are supposed to automatically cover genitals. However, 100+ nude images from these machines have been leaked online, illegally and without any discipline for those responsible (AFAIK).
- Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of Homeland Security at the time backscatter machines were installed, has profited from installing these machines. His consulting company received payment from Rapiscan, the company which makes these machines. It is arguable that the reason they are in airports because the Secretary of the DHS took a bribe.
Rapiscan, the maker of the X-ray backscatter machine, reportedly paid $1 million to the Chertoff Group, run by former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff, while Chertoff appeared in the media touting the value of the machines. Each machine costs the taxpayer about $150,000, but that is only the purchase; installation, then staffing, costs much more.
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2012/3/29/forget_fear_of_flying_fear_airport_screeningMore info:
http://epic.org/privacy/airtravel/backscatter/Please, don't harass the worker bees who are actually patting you down. Instead, tell them the truth in a calm manner and never use words like "bomb", "gun", "9/11" or "terrorist" in explaining your position. Tell them to make sure they tell their doctor that they work near these machines so they can get cancer screenings more frequently. Tell them that the machines are only in use because of their corrupt former boss.
I've never had a TSA employee get angry with me. Usually they are just apathetic and worn down, "Yep, that sounds about right" or (about their cancer risk) "Don't even tell me that, I don't want to hear that". I feel like being empathetic actually has a chance to change their opinion, but being combative will probably just get yourself into trouble without doing any good.