I had a perfectly pleasant experience opting out. The agent simply smiled at me, asked a question to verify that I was the person on the ID I had handed him, and off I went.
It was much easier and less gropey than opting out of the mm wave scans.
It was much easier and less gropey than opting out of the mm wave scans.
CBP is another matter. When returning from abroad I find their agents to be more aggressive or snarky when I (politely) opt out, although I wouldn’t say it’s gone as far as retaliation. I often get asked why I’m opting out, and sometimes they follow that with additional questions. Several times I’ve received a standard spiel explaining that the photo is not stored permanently or transmitted; the vibe I get is that they’re trained to respond this way to “kooks.”
_He_ then held up the line as he walked off, consulted with someone who obviously knew better, came back and pouted while he verified my identity "manually."
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41052152
It is possible that people's experience vary. But unless we know opt out is something that is done quickly as a routine, and running into clueless TSA agent is a rare exception, I would not try that.
- A few people report they’ve had issues opting out
- Most people report they have no issues at all
Personally, I’d feel like I’m perpetuating the problem (of privacy violation/overreach) by not opting out. Even if most people don’t care, it seems critical to have at least some portion of the population holding back the tide somewhat.
If nothing else, a consistent stream of people opting out helps us understand how big the problem has become, i.e. if discussions about this flip over time and most people are getting hassled.