Cameras are everywhere. With the widespread popularity of smartphones, anyone can capture footage and instantly upload it to sites like Facebook or YouTube.

One video in particular, uploaded Nov. 19, 2010, has over 2.6 million views and is only 39 seconds long. It shows a Transportation Security Administration agent taking off a young boy’s shirt and groping his entire body.

A more recent video taken at an airport has also been the focus of discussion in the news. It showed a female TSA agent performing the same full-body pat-down on a six-year-old girl.

Both children seemed very uncomfortable with the touching, searching or whatever word the TSA is trying to call it.

I would call it legal molestation. I do not think I am exaggerating by saying that this sort of action is both inappropriate and appalling.

I understand the need for security measures and am all for fighting the “War on Terror” but I find it hard to believe that a 6-year-old child will be responsible for the next terrorist attack.

The TSA has all kinds of justifications for patting down children: What if parents hid a pipe bomb in their underwear or taped some hand grenades to their inner thighs? But both scenarios seem very unlikely.

Most parents teach their children to be wary of strangers. Even though it can be an uncomfortable issue to discuss, parents also teach their children to tell someone if they feel someone is touching them inappropriately.

What are parents supposed to tell their children now? Tell mom and dad if someone makes you uncomfortable — unless it is a TSA agent?

Who is responsible for asking these “what if” questions about child pipe bombs and the like? At what point can the American public jump in and tell them to cut it out?

For much of the country, Sept. 11 paranoia has been diminishing over the last decade. Many people have moved on with their lives, though they have not forgotten the tragic events that struck fear into the hearts of Americans all over the country.

I am aware that many people were deeply affected by the attacks. I know people who lost family members. But are we making the right choice by living in total fear?

Airport security was just fine before child pat-downs began. While the TSA can justify searching anyone who sets off a metal detector or body scan, it’s disappointing that we have arrived at a point in time where we have to suspect even a child of terrorism.

It’s a horrible ordeal for a child to be taken aside by a stranger and told to stand still while his or her entire body is touched. If anyone besides a TSA agent or a doctor were to perform a search like this on a child, they could face criminal charges.

And while it seems worse for children to undergo the pat-down, the search is invasive at any age. It’s dehumanizing and humiliating, so much so that even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said in an interview with CBS that she would avoid a TSA pat down if she could.

I think the TSA should reconsider some of its practices. The organization is perpetuating paranoia and terror, making themselves the terrorists. At least that’s what they look like patting down children on YouTube.