Americans are getting touchy about being touched up by
US airport security staff.
Growing numbers worry their rights – and their private parts – are being squeezed by over-zealous security checks.
So much so, there is Internet chat about a “national opt-out day” on November 24, the eve of Thanksgiving, when fliers would deliberately snarl the system by insisting on hand searches over scanners.
Under new rules, those refusing to submit to full body scanners must undergo an extensive hand search.
One American traveller who refused to have his groin patted down before boarding a plane has become a folk hero for opponents of full body scanners and other invasive checks.
Footage of John Tyner’s confrontation with a San Diego airport official over the weekend went viral after being posted on YouTube.
“If you touch my junk I am going to have you arrested,” Tyner, 31, threatens the Transport Security Administration officer, in reference to his genitals.
So far 65 US airports have deployed so-called naked scanners.
