Hank, I hope you don't mind if I post these urls to the really strange 'security' stories you posted! Wow there are some odd people out there! Barbara

http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id={97A6C18B-C107-4442-A20E-4393DE83E90F}

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/nw020414.html

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/04/26/baggage.arrest/index.html

Barbara,
Nope. Life can be stranger than fiction.
;-)

You've got that right Hank! My personal favorite is the one from 'News of the Weird'.

Barbara

Here's the full text of the story from the Ottawa Citizen...

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
Ron Corbett
03/20/2002


'Cyborg' strikes back: Professor threatens to sue Air Canada over'traumatic' airport strip search

In these days of heightened airport security, what happens when a cyborg arrives at the boarding gate?

Well, if the airport is in St. John's, Nfld., the carrier is Air Canada, and the cyborg is an engineering professor from the University of Toronto, the answer is a discrimination lawsuit.

In a case that has already attracted the attention of the New York Times and syndicated television show Inside Edition, Steve Mann, 39, says he will be filing a lawsuit against Air Canada this week for damages resulting from a failed attempt to board a plane in St. John's last month.

Mr. Mann, who is considered a pioneer in the field of "wearable computers," and calls himself a cyborg, says when he tried to board the Air Canada flight while wearing his computerized glasses, headgear and electronic body suit, he was subjected to a strip-search and two-day flight delay.

He says he was so traumatized by the incident he checked himself into St. Michael's Hospital upon his return to Toronto. Mr. Mann's lawsuit will allege discrimination against a cyborg and will seek damages for loss of income and mental anguish.

"I know there are a lot of people out there," says Mr. Mann, "who will read this and say 'this doesn't affect me, I'm not a cyborg.' But the way I was treated by Air Canada, it could happen to anyone."

Mr. Mann, who has been featured in documentaries and a recently published book by Doubleday, entitled Cyborg, has been wearing computerized eye visors and other computer equipment attached to his body for more than 20 years. He is constantly connected to the Internet, and can use cameras to see behind his head and even add a "sixth sense" -- touching objects across the room, for example -- when he has the right software program running.

He had no trouble boarding an Air Canada flight from Toronto to St. John's on Feb. 16, on his way to Memorial University to sit as an external examiner on a PhD thesis.

On the Feb. 18 return flight, however, Mr. Mann was told he couldn't board the plane while wearing his computer equipment. He insisted he couldn't remove the items for medical reasons, and was told to return with a doctor's note.

The next day he returned with a note, but got an even colder reception. Skeptical airport official after skeptical airport official examined the note, and then insisted on a progressively more thorough search of the computer equipment -- culminating in a strip search the following day.

Mr. Mann finally flew out of Newfoundland on Feb. 20. He boarded the Air Canada flight bleeding, after electrodes were removed from his chest, and riding in a wheelchair, after collapsing during the strip search.

"I thought I was never going to get out of Newfoundland. I know now why they call it the Rock," says Mr. Mann. "I've travelled all over the world, and never had these sorts of problems. All my equipment was damaged, some of it beyond repair."

Mr. Mann has retained Toronto lawyer Gary Neinstein to sue Air Canada, the St. John's Airport Authority and Transport Canada. The lawyer has already filed a notice of the impending lawsuit, and will make the formal claim this week.

"Basically, we are going to argue professor Mann was discriminated against because he is a cyborg," says Mr. Neinstein. "You can laugh at that, but I don't see the difference between showing up at the airport in a wearable computer, and showing up in a wheelchair."

Mr. Neinstein says he will be seeking hefty damages, most of that in punitive damages for Mr. Mann's mental anguish and future loss of income. Before the incident, says the lawyer, Mr. Mann used to travel regularly to talk about wearable computer technology at universities and academic conferences. He says his client is now afraid to fly, and has lost that income.

Air Canada says it has launched an investigation.

"Given the tenor of the times, what are we supposed to do?" asks Air Canada spokesman Laura Cooke.

"Some of this equipment was under his clothing. How could we just let him board a plane? We had to exercise due diligence, for the safety of our passengers."

Mr. Neinstein will also be making a "tenor of the times" argument when his lawsuit is heard by a judge.

"Professor Mann was treated worse than an al-Qaeda member," he says. "It's fine to be worried about airport security, but this was abusive. My client is a cyborg, not a terrorist."

"My client is a cyborg, not a terrorist."

A 'cyborg' huh??? Thanks Chris for the article. This story just gets stranger and stranger!

Xenophobic against cyborgs?
Them are just as nutty as us!
I am confused.
Are we locking up the 'nuts' for their own safety?
Keeping US out?

hank@ster