• Home
  • Post a press-release
  • Visibility packages
  • Subscribe email updates
  • Event Calendar
  • Contact

For Immediate Release | Official News Wire for the Travel Industry

Where press releases are breaking news

  • Home
  • Post a press-release
  • Visibility packages
  • Subscribe email updates
  • Event Calendar
  • Contact

TSA: New airport security scanner poses “privacy risks” to passengers

April 24, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is demanding modifications of a new airport security system because it poses “privacy risks” to passengers by showing too much of them on display, a newly published document has revealed.

Following a demonstration, the Transportation Security Administration has requested changes to the contract because the scanner they received “has privacy risks associated with the Graphical User Interface,” says the document dated March 26 and made public by Quartz on Monday.

While the document provides no further details on the exact nature of the privacy risks, the TSA required the scanner’s manufacturer to add additional security features before it would consider using the device in a “live environment.”

Using another government database, Quartz identified the contractor – whose name is redacted in the document – as Virginia security firm ThruVision. The document refers to ThruVision’s TAC scanner, which the company describes as a “proven people-screening camera that sees any type of item.”

The device is supposed to be part of TSA’s “Future Lane Experience” (FLEx), an effort to speed up security checks that have become a major headache for passengers in many airports.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority partnered with the TSA last year to deploy ThruVision’s portable TS4 scanner, which the TSA claims to have vetted “extensively” prior to using it on LA commuters. It is unclear whether the TSA had similar concerns about the TS4 before the device was used in the field.

Revelations about the TSA concerns over the new scanner come after last week’s report by ProPublica that accused the agency’s current hardware of “discriminating” against African-Americans by misreading their hair, requiring a disproportionate number of pat-downs.

The ACLU slammed the TSA in 2009 for using scanning technology to conduct “virtual strip searches” that provided TSA employees with photos of passengers’ genitals, breasts and buttocks. More was revealed in 2010, when the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) published TSA documents which further detail the scanners’ invasiveness.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: American Travel News, Americans, and, Angeles, authority, Aviation News, aviation-website, Breaking Travel News, camera, center, changes, checks, claims, come, company, concerns, contract, contractor, County, current, demonstration, display, document, documents, effort, electronic, employees, environment, Epic, experience, Feature, Features,, firm, following, free, future, government, Government Affairs, in, information, information center, International Travel News, IT, LA, last, live, Los Angeles, major, march, Metropolitan, name, nature, New, new airport, newly, News articles, number, over, passengers, PAT, pat-downs, People, photos, Privacy, provides, public, published, received, report, revealed, risks, s, says, screening, searches, Security, showing, slammed, strip, strip searches, system, Technology, to, TO BE, tourism, Transportation, Transportation News, transportation security, Transportation Security Administration, Travel Technology News, Travelwire News, TSA, Type, unclear, up, US, used, using, Virginia, virtual, virtual strip searches, week, year

IMEX America returns this September powered by imagination

April 2, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

Hello September! Registration is now live for IMEX America taking place September 10 – 12, 2019 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center at The Venetian® | The Palazzo®. With the show hitting the Strip a whole month earlier than previous editions, planners and exhibitors alike are encouraged to prepare for three days of premium business, learning and networking opportunities. IMEX America is again preceded by the popular Smart Monday, a dedicated day of learning powered by Meeting Professionals International, on September 9.

Imagination, IMEX’s Talking Point for this year, underpins the show, informing its content and education, and delivering fresh and surprising experiences along the way.

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains: “Our experience of delivering the show year after year shows that the magic happens in between the cracks – an unexpected business connection, piece of advice or new supplier that’s truly a result of meeting face to face. IMEX America allows planners to dive into the heart of the events industry, do business, update their skillset and make new discoveries along the way.”

Seeking bold, brilliant speakers

Expert speakers and presenters from around the world are now invited to apply to present an education session at IMEX America. The IMEX team uses a stringent blind-review process to ensure that all sessions that make the cut are relevant, relatable and deliver actionable insights.

This year the team is particularly interested in submissions relating to diversity & inclusion, imagination & curiosity, negotiating skills & difficult conversations, crisis management & contingency planning, networking and technology including Artificial Intelligence.

For more details and to see the speaker application criteria, see here. The deadline for applications is Monday, June 3.

IMEX America takes place September 10 – 12, 2019. Registration for the show is free of charge and open to all who work in the meetings, events and incentive travel industry.

eTN is a media partner for IMEX.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: amp, and, Application, applications, apply, around the world, bold, Breaking Travel News, Business, center, CEO, charge, connection, Content, convention, Convention Center, conversations, cracks, Crisis, criteria, curiosity, cut, day, Days, deadline, deliver, dive, diversity, earlier, Education, encouraged, eTN, Events, events industry, exhibitors, experience, experiences, expert, Expo, face, free, Fresh, Group, heart, imagination, IMEX, IMEX America, IMEX Group, in, Incentive, incentive travel, including, inclusion, Industry, Insights, intelligence, interested, International, invited, June, learning, live, magic, Make, management, media, media partner, meeting, meeting professionals, meeting professionals international, meetings, meetings.travel, MICE Industry News, month, networking, New, News articles, open, particularly, partner, Place, Planners, planning, popular, powered, premium, present, professionals, registration, returns, review, s, Sands, sands expo, see, seeking, September, sessions, show, shows, skills, SMART MONDAY, speaker, speakers, strip, supplier, taking, talking, team, Technology, The Palazzo, The Venetian, The World, to, Travel, Travel Industry, Travelwire News, update, Venetian, way, WHO, work, World, year

Czech Memorial Scrolls survived the Holocaust and travel to New York City

March 23, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

The fact that a few of the 1,564 Czech Memorial Scrolls were all in one place at the same time, was almost a miracle. It took detailed planning and the cooperation of many institutions to bring these historical documents to New York City’s Temple Emanu-El for one-evening. It is only through the efforts of the Herbert & Eileen Bernard Museum and the auspices of the Memorial Scrolls Trust of London that this first-time phenomenon took place in New York.

Importance of the Scrolls

Scholars have determined that it would be difficult to identify examples of Jewish culture and religion more suitable than the Torah scrolls. The reading from a parchment manuscript, containing the Hebrew text of the Five Books of Moses, the Divine Teaching handed over to the people of Israel, is the cornerstone to the Jewish synagogue ritual.

More Than Parchment

The Torah scroll is a strip of parchment, prepared from the skin of a kosher animal. Many inches in length, it is supported by two wooden rollers (atzei hayyim, “trees of life”) at each end. Considered to be holy, the text and the scroll hold an exceptional position in Judaism. If the scroll is appropriate for reading in the synagogue, the Torah scroll must be written in Hebrew square script with permanent ink by a professional scribe (sofer). The scroll cannot have textual errors and the letters must be legible. While certain errors and imperfections may be corrected by the scribe, if the damage is wide-ranging, the parchment cannot be used.

Jeffrey Ohrenstein, Chair, Memorial Scrolls Trust, London, UK “These scrolls are survivors and silent witnesses of the Shoah.”

Amazing Grace

The fact that the Torah Scrolls exist at all is a marvel.  They were saved from the Czechoslovakian regions of Bohemia and Moravia during WWII, surviving the planned destruction of everything Jewish and the horrors of the communist regime that controlled the country in 1948.

It is thought that the artifacts survived because Prague, although badly damaged, was not leveled during the fighting. The scrolls were stored in a synagogue in a Prague suburb and they remained (decomposing) in this building until 1963, when the Czech government sought a buyer for the treasures. Eric Estorick, a British art dealer, introduced the opportunity to Ralph Yablon, a founding member of London’s Westminster Synagogue. Yablon purchased the scrolls and donated them to his synagogue.

On February 7, 1964, 1,564 scrolls were delivered to London. According to Jeffrey Ohrenstein, “They were in plastic bags, like body bags.” Many of the scrolls were in disrepair. Fortunately, Rabbi David Brand, a sofer, was looking for work, and presumed that the synagogue would have at least one scroll in need of repair; he was shown an entire floor of scrolls in need of his attention. He worked in the synagogue for nearly 30 years, repairing all the scrolls – personally.

Shortly after their arrival in London, a trust was created to care for the scrolls and repairs were initiated. Over the next 30 years, over 1,400 scrolls were sent to synagogues around the world. Now the Trust focuses on raising awareness of the responsibility attached to the housing of these historic documents. Synagogues and institutions are asked to devote one Shabbat during the year to the Memorial Congregation to coincide with the anniversary of the deportation of that community and to memorialize the many murdered Jews by remembering their names on that Shabbat and Yom HaShoah and Yum Kippur.

The Czech Torah Scrolls Viewed in Manhattan @ Temple Emanu-El, February 5, 2019

With more than 75 scrolls from over 10 different states and countries on view, hundreds of people crowded the auditorium at Temple Emanu-El. The scrolls are identified by number and no longer have their original mantles. The current scroll covers range from sumptuous velvet to tartan plaid with an outstanding cover designed in the stripes of a concentration camp prison uniform. The Torahs were carried by Temple members as well as representatives from nearby synagogues and Houses of Worship. The scroll procession was accompanied by a violin playing Etz Hayim (A tree of life) from Proverbs.

 

 

In his emotionally moving words to the audience, Jeffrey Ohrenstein said: “The Torah is the one thing that binds all Jews together. We would like our scroll holders to use the scrolls in a way that reminds people of what we have in common rather than what divides us.”

For additional information, go to memorialscrollstrust.org.

© Dr. Elinor Garely. This copyright article, including photos, may not be reproduced without written permission from the author.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: amp, and, anniversary, around the world, arrival, art, artifacts, audience, author, Awareness, badly, bags, body, Books, brand, Breaking Travel News, British, building, buyer, Camp, caption, chair, city, communist, community, cooperation, countries, country, cover-up, created, crowded, Cultural Travel News, culture, current, Czech, damage, delivered, deportation, designed, destruction, different, documents, Dr, efforts, end, errors, Feature, fighting, first, floor, founding, GO!, government, historic, historical, holy, houses, housing, ID, importance, in, including, information, introduced, Israel, IT, Jewish, Jews, kosher, life, like, London, looking, Manhattan, marvel, May, member, members, memorial, memorialize, miracle, moving, murdered, museum, names, nearly, need, New, new york, New York City, News articles, number, only, opportunity, original, outstanding, over, People, permanent, permission, phenomenon, photos, Place, planned, planning, plastic, position, Prague, prison, professional, purchased, range, ranging, reading, regime, regions, religion, remained, repair, repairs, responsibility, s, said, scholars, scrolls, Square, states, strip, surviving, survivors, synagogues, teaching, temple, text, The World, through, time, to, TO BE, Torah scroll, Torahs, tourism, Travel, Travel Destination News, Travelwire News, treasures, tree, trees, UK, uniform, US, use, used, view, way, We, were, Westminster, Witnesses, work, worked, World, WWII, year, years, York, York City

Search



Recent Articles

  • Minister Bartlett: Jamaica boosts COVID-19 testing capacity to meet increased demand
  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in Thailand as of 22 January 2021, 11.30 Hrs.
  • Michelin-starred eateries shine bright in Bangkok’s new culinary normal
  • Jamaica Tourism Minister officially launches Kenya’s Global Tourism Resilience Satellite Centre
  • Going Green with Silver Eagle
  • Marriott International Signs Agreement With Mario Julen To Bring The Ritz-Carlton Brand To The Swiss Alps
  • Wine Not? American Airlines Launches Flagship Cellars, an at-home Wine Experience
  • TAT launches “Thailand Traveller Voice” online survey platform
  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in Thailand as of 21 January 2021, 11.30 Hrs.
  • Seychelles Tourism Board appoints BRANDit as India Representative

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in