December 31, 2009 Update
Today we begin the first international campaign to boycott flying. Many of us have been grumbling for awhile about the increasingly humiliating experience of going to an airport but now we are saying, "Enough is enough!"
Our Open Letter To the TSA and the Aviation Industry
We, the undersigned citizens of the world, will no longer accept being dehumanized, humiliated and abused in the name of security. We do not want our children strip searched and our wives groped. To prevent further degradations of our dignity and freedom, we vow to stop flying until all our demands are met.
We have two demands:
- The immediate cessation of all body scans and gropes;
- A conference of security experts, organized by Bruce Schneier* and BoycottFlying.com, on how to secure airline travel while protecting democratic freedom;
It is possible to provide a safe and enjoyable aviation experience without treating passengers like terrorists and sheep. Until we are approached with respect, we will boycott flying.
Signed by,
The Members of BoycottFlying.com
*Note: Bruce Schneier is not affiliated with this website in any way.
*About Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist and author. Described by The Economist as a "security guru," he is best known as a refreshingly candid and lucid security critic and commentator. When people want to know how security really works, they turn to Schneier.
His first bestseller, Applied Cryptography, explained how the arcane science of secret codes actually works, and was described by Wired as "the book the National Security Agency wanted never to be published." His book on computer and network security, Secrets and Lies, was called by Fortune "[a] jewel box of little surprises you can actually use." Beyond Fear tackles the problems of security from the small to the large: personal safety, crime, corporate security, national security. His current book, Schneier on Security, offers insight into everything from the risk of identity theft (vastly overrated) to the long-range security threat of unchecked presidential power and the surprisingly simple way to tamper-proof elections.
Regularly quoted in the media, he has testified on security before the United States Congress on several occasions and has written articles and op eds for many major publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, Wired, Nature, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Post.
Schneier also publishes a free monthly newsletter, Crypto-Gram, with over 150,000 readers. In its ten years of regular publication, Crypto-Gram has become one of the most widely read forums for free-wheeling discussions, pointed critiques, and serious debate about security. As head curmudgeon at the table, Schneier explains, debunks, and draws lessons from security stories that make the news.
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Schneier is the Chief Security Technology Officer of BT.
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