Reading the comments on that site makes my head hurt. Too many "If you have nothing to hide you shouldn't have a problem with being felt up" people. Not one of them had the common sense to ask themselves "Is this intrusion worth it? Does it even work?" But, they don't. If the backscatter machines were really that effective they'd use them on everyone. As it is, they know the machines are crap so they select a few people to go through them to make it look like they're doing something proactive. There are lots of articles linked to from other threads here stating how ineffective they are, and that for sensitive government facilities they are going back to bomb sniffer dogs because the $10,000 dog is more effective than the $500,000 backscatter machine.
Because they can. I guess they figure that if they make you miss your flight and hold you up, that you will learn your lesson, and stop with the protesting. Just another form of subtle coercion. Typical.
I think you are right. Conform to our rules or we'll make your life miserable. Sorry, it's just typical government crap.
If TSA encounters were more like this I would fly all the time. Not Safe For Work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBjas5Di ... ata_player