Opting Out

I opted out of the the full-body scan at the airport today.

For some reason, the line I was in had the body scan, but the one next to me didn’t. I was directed toward the scanner, and at the last moment I decided to ask the TSA employee if it was too late to opt out. She informed me I could opt out, but I’d have to get the full pat-down, which I acknowledged. I don’t care too much about my privacy in this context, but these scanners strike me as the epitome of the security/industrial complex, and I figured that I would just be supporting it by going along with them. I think this strategy actually makes some sense, as when I opted out, the TSA employee asked me why I was opting out. I hadn’t really thought about it, so I just said “because I want to”. Hopefully that didn’t come off as too rude. Importantly, after hearing my answer, she wrote down some sort of note on a piece of paper and checked a box, presumably marking that another person had opted out and putting my lame reason in some category. Anyway, the pat-down was pretty invasive, but the people were very professional, so it wasn’t so bad.