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TSA Agent Claims Videotaping Against the “Rules” Declares TSA Above The Law

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SugarShack Donating Member (979 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 03:19 PM
Original message
TSA Agent Claims Videotaping Against the “Rules” Declares TSA Above The Law
TSA Agent Claims Videotaping Against the “Rules” Declares TSA Above The Law
November 26, 2010 by Alex
Filed under Intel Hub Featured Articles, Orwellian Police State
http://theintelhub.com:80/2010/11/26/tsa-agent-claims-videotaping-against-the-rules-declares-tsa-above-the-law/

The Intel Hub

The TSA has now been caught denying American citizens the right to videotape their encounters with airport security. It is very clear that TSA believes they are 100% above the law.

Forbes

My wife and I arrived at the airport for our annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage Tuesday evening, and like millions of others, came face-to-face with the TSA’s upgraded security measures. I breezed through; My wife, who apparently looks far more dangerous than I do, was pulled aside for a pat-down.

Her frisker was very polite and the procedure was barely invasive, if a bit more aggressive than in the past. But while she was being systematically searched from head to toe, I pulled out my BlackBerry to take some pictures and record a souvenir of the Great Gropefest of 2010. Within seconds I was being shouted at sternly by another TSA agent, who told me that “either you stop taking pictures, or I take your camera.” When I asked him why I couldn’t take photos of my wife in a public place, he said that it was “against the rules.”

Apparently, the TSA goon was not even aware of his own rules. No where in TSA regulations does it say that TSA agents have the right to deny American citizens their right to film in a public setting.

See, the TSA needs to ban cameras in airports so that citizen journalists can no longer document their molestation at the hands of an agency that should have no legal authority to supersede the Constitution.

Not only did the agents declare videotaping illegal, they went as far as to claim that TSA is above the law!

He describes one piece of his conversations as follows.

TSA: Don’t you have normal operating procedures at your work?
Me: Yes.
TSA: How would you like it if somebody came to your work and disrupted your procedures? How would you like it if people took pictures of you at your work?
Me: I don’t work for the government. Government agencies need to be accountable to the public, and therefore suffer disruptions like this.
TSA: Not all parts of the government are accountable to the public, especially the TSA.
Me: Wow. No, ALL parts of the government are accountable to the people, especially the TSA. I’m not sure what type of country you think we live in.

Not all parts of the government are accountable to the public, especially the TSA?! This is a perfect example of the mindset these individuals are taught to operate under.

Americans MUST continue to stand against this tyranny and demand that TSA follow the same laws as the rest of the country.

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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 03:20 PM
Response to Original message
1. "F" is for "Fascism."
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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 03:28 PM
Response to Original message
2. k&r. screen cargo, not crotches and get the TSA under control.
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Goldstein1984 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 03:33 PM
Response to Original message
3. Hit them in the only place America feels pain -- $$
I'll be making a "business case" for curtailing my work-related travel in 2011. "Cost savings": we can email, teleconference, video conference, leverage on-site talent. My real reason is the TSA. Cost savings = less money in the pockets of airlines, rental car companies, hotels, restaurants and other service industries.

If people keep lining up without dissent to be herded through security checkpoints like cattle through a feedlot nothing will change. In fact, no significant response implies no significant objection, which leads to more infringement of liberty.
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the redcoat Donating Member (510 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 03:39 PM
Response to Original message
4. I would also have said "How am I disrupting your procedures?"
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redirish28 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 04:20 PM
Response to Original message
5. Well they finally came for the cell phones (especially the one with cameras.)
I'm not going near a airport now.
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jberryhill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 04:22 PM
Response to Original message
6. Apparently, that TSA agent was wrong
Edited on Sat Nov-27-10 04:23 PM by jberryhill
"Her frisker was very polite and the procedure was barely invasive"

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ixion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 05:43 PM
Response to Original message
7. The TSA is distinctly un-American... "Not all parts of the government are accountable to the public"
BS.

End the reign of the TSA.
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Angry Dragon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 05:50 PM
Response to Original message
8. There was a post on DU within the last couple of days
TSA stated that filming and taking pictures was okay as long as it did not interfer
with their job. Not sure of the post.
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LisaL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:15 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. Here is the article.
"Smith advises: "If you are flying and decide to turn on your phone to take video of TSA checkpoints, that is legal as long as you do not film the TSA's monitors, or interfere with or slow down the screening process. However, if you do videotape TSA checkpoints, then you should have the TSA public affairs (TSA's Office of Strategic Communications) number plugged into your phone: 571-227-2829."
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-25/tech/shooting.video.tsa_1_tsa-s-office-tsa-checkpoints-shooting-video?_s=PM:TECH
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PeaceNikki Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:04 PM
Response to Original message
9. I question your source's validity
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jefferson_dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:12 PM
Response to Original message
10. Oh please...
Edited on Sat Nov-27-10 06:12 PM by jefferson_dem
Now DU has become the dumping ground for half-baked, sketchy-sourced conspiracy "theories". Great! :eyes:

I think it's about time for a GD-TSA forum.
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LisaL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:20 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. What about the account strikes you as "sketchy?"
Edited on Sat Nov-27-10 06:22 PM by LisaL
For instance, the guy who stripped down was arrested and he says his camera and iPhone were confiscated.
"He said he refused to put his clothes back on and was then taken into custody and cited by the San Diego Harbor Police Department for refusing to complete the airport's security process and for attempting to record what was happening. Wolanyk said his camera and his iPhone were confiscated."

http://www.10news.com/news/25885183/detail.html
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jefferson_dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:28 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. This fool voluntarily stips down to his underwear in an airport...
and refuses to put his clothes back on. :crazy:

Then he *says* his camera and his iPhone were confiscated. Why should I believe a word this dude says?
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LisaL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:30 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Why shouldn't he be allowed to strip down to his underwear
Edited on Sat Nov-27-10 06:33 PM by LisaL
to demonstrate to TSA he isn't hiding anything under his clothes? There was a girl who stripped down to her bikinis and she wasn't arrested.
And by the way
"The incident was confirmed by Harbor Police Sergeant Rakos who said Wolanyk was arrested on two misdemeanors, “failing to complete the security process; violation code 7.01 and illegally recording the San Diego Airport Authority (they confiscated his iPhone); violation number 7.14 (a).”"
http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego/tsa-airport-screeners-gone-wild-san-diego-again
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NutmegYankee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 07:56 PM
Response to Reply #14
22. I fail to see what was wrong with the man's action.
The man didn't want to be physically touched so he stripped down to his underwear. The TSA, in an example of inflexible bureaucracy, refused to complete the pat-down inspection until he was fully dressed. The TSA wanted him to get dressed so they could "check him for weapons or explosives".


As for naked or in undies, the man would already have a complete stranger see his naked body in the imaging system, so why is it wrong for him to choose to allow other complete strangers the option to see he is free of weapons without the radiation dose?

Oh Yeah - land of the free...or something like that
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pecwae Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-28-10 07:37 AM
Response to Reply #10
25. You have a Hide Thread function.
Why not use it for all these horribly annoying threads?
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AsahinaKimi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:19 PM
Response to Original message
12. Wasn't there a posting
Edited on Sat Nov-27-10 06:21 PM by AsahinaKimi
About a story where the Police said it was against the law to film them, using videos cameras and cellphones? I seem to recall reading that somewhere on DU. While its okay for the US government to wire tap our phones, and spy on us without a bench warrant, we are not allowed to return the favor.
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Edweird Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:52 PM
Response to Reply #12
17. Yes, but those 'rules' are always overturned in court.
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NutmegYankee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 07:22 PM
Response to Reply #12
18. Link: - The motorcyclist won the case.
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AsahinaKimi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 07:25 PM
Response to Reply #18
19. Thats good news..
I wonder how other Judges will feel about it?
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NutmegYankee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 07:42 PM
Response to Reply #19
20. Hopefully few others have to make that call. nt
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Catherina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 06:31 PM
Response to Original message
16. In a police state, whatever the enforcers say, is the law.
Ah, that fresh smell of freedom.
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pinniped Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 07:52 PM
Response to Original message
21. Sounds like every asshole that works there has a big fat head, and attitude.
.
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Lucian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 07:58 PM
Response to Original message
23. But the gropings, the molestations, and the shooting of x-rays keeps us safe!
:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:
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The abyss Donating Member (930 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Nov-27-10 08:02 PM
Response to Original message
24. Travel Record & Report in Style!
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