A Year In Mill Valley

Returned home from the Cape yesterday via Virgin America (which runs out of the International Terminal at the San Francisco Airport). As we walked past the metal detectors I noticed they were still hand patting down people being sent through the ProVision scanners. It wasn’t until we were out that I saw how bad things were. I’m guessing there were upwards of 2500 people standing in line waiting to get into the Terminal. I’d love to know how long this has been going on.
 
Doing a quick search on Google for “san francisco international airport provision scanners” I find this page http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/imaging_technology.shtm where they state “Many passengers prefer advanced imaging technology. In Fact, over 98 percent of passengers who encounter this technology in TSA pilots of technology prefer it over other screening options.” If that isn’t a made up statistic I’ll eat my shorts. Why do I say this? Because on that web page are three other things that aren’t true:
 
1) “These technologies are optional for all passengers”
==> Nowhere at SFO does it say this.
 
2) “Passengers who do not wish to utilize this screening will use the walk-through metal detector and undergo a pat-down procedure to ensure they receive an equal level of screening”
==> Nowhere at SFO does it say this.
 
3) “Multiple signs informing passengers about the technology, including sample images, are displayed in plain sight at the security checkpoints, in front of the advanced imaging units”
==> Nowhere at SFO are those images shown (and they’re very graphic).