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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) doesn’t exactly have the best reputation in the world (a quick search on YouTube will show you exactly what I mean). Well, the Sikh Coalition has just introduced “FlyRights,” an app recently introduced into the Google Play Store that offers travelers an easy way to report incidents of unfair treatment in our nation’s airports. The app doesn’t just focus on racial profiling either. Users can report various types of discrimination they feel they have been unfairly subjected to. Everything from gender, racial, religious and ethnic discrimination can all be found and reported with a few taps from inside the app. FlyRights also provides frequent travelers with easy access to traveler rights and screening guidelines found on the TSA’s official website.
According to the Associated Press, the app has already been put to good use with a few reports already that have already been successfully filed from FlyRights users. One report was from a woman who felt she was being treated unfairly for carrying breast milk, and another from a man who was being discriminated against because of his religion. Amardeep Singh gave a statement to the Los Angeles Times today saying,
“At a big picture level, we have receive hundreds of reports from Sikhs complaining of airport profiling over the past five years. The TSA reports, however, that they only get a few dozen complaints of airport profiling a year.”
A TSA spokesperson responded to news of the FlyRights app saying,
“TSA’s diverse workforce is committed to treating each traveler with dignity and respect throughout the screening process. TSA does not profile passengers on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. We continually engage with community organizations, including the Sikh Coalition, and individuals to help us understand unique passenger concerns and we support efforts to gather passenger feedback about the screening process.”
The Sikh Coalition isn’t going to stop at our airports either. They also mentioned they have plans to add several other applications dealing with other civil rights issues dealing with everything from border profiling to school bullying. You can find the FlyRights application for free, right now, in the Google Play Store.
[Play Store Link | Via: LATimes | FYI: Sikhs are not Muslim]
Not a religious person at all but i’m sure this could come in handy for plenty of situations with the TSA being the joke that it is. Definitely gonna download.
My issue with the TSA isn’t about religion. It’s about privacy, respect, and the fact that unlawful search and seizure is unconstitutional. The TSA does not have probable cause to do what it does to American citizens. Too bad Texas didn’t call the White House’s bluff on the blockade when they had the chance to throw the TSA out of their state.
Just last week, they put me in line for a gropedown while my belongings passed through. My beautiful Android and my wallet were sitting out on the conveyor belt for anyone to take. After waiting 10 minutes still without getting through I asked a blueshirt to move my belongings off the belt. He said “Sir, don’t worry about it. We have cameras and ninjas” and walked off.” Luckily I had a colleague travelling with me so I had them pick up my stuff from the belt while I was getting friskied. Then I went up and said “Where’s my stuff!?! Someone took my stuff! So much for your ninjas.” The TSA is a joke.
Facking Terrorists….
Yes. It sucks that terrorists ruined airports for everyone. I agree. -_-
Not just airports…TSA is on all public transit now…they’re on the Highway in Tennessee, they ride buses in Houston, Train Depots on the east coast…The Molestation Coordination is coming to a mall near you!
So your calling an entire religion terrorist based on mistaken identity and no information?
I thought he was simply saying that we have the TSA because we have terrorists. I don’t think that the statement had any religious meaning.
Perhaps one of us has misread his intention.
this applies to nightscout13..just randomly says terrorists. He should be more careful with words
Looks like YOU are jumping to conclusions. I didn’t say 1 word about religion.
umm sikhs ain’t the terrorists, fools like u who think any1 with a turban is a terrorist. If u read more about sikhs then u would know how different sikhs are from real terrorists.
Well, I hate to get political on a non political board but I guess that this story opened the door on that.
The reason that the TSA is unpopular is because they insist on performing meaningless invasive screenings on some of the most vulnerable and clearly innocent passengers just so that they don’t appear discriminatory.
While I certainly sympathize with the Sikh’s for being lumped in unfairly with a whole different religion, the fact that the TSA doesn’t profile is what really pisses people off. Why do two year Olds and grandmothers in wheelchairs need to be groped? Where’s my app for that?
I suppose this app will end up on the TSA list of suspicious apps…