Pic of the Week: TSA Cupping
I’ve always thought that terrorists must find some of the attempts to thwart attacks quite amusing, Nudiescanners and TSA groping included. I recently stumbled across this picture and thought “this is probably not far from the truth”.
Either way, I found it funny so thought I’d share.
Man Thrown Out of Airport for Refusing Pat-down
Hot on the heels of my last post about body scanners and invasive pat-downs, John Tyner apparently decided to opt-out and told the TSA agent at San Diego airport (SAN) that he did not want his groin to be touched. Specifically his words were: “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested” – which is a phrase we should all say to a TSA agent at least once in our lives (women that includes you). To cut a long story short, the situation was escalated and resulted in him being thrown out of the airport. He then went home and posted about the incident on his blog, along with videos that were surreptitiously recorded by his cell-phone. Drawn-out but worth a watch listen (unless you like watching a ceiling move):
When asked by his father-in-law why he was being so obstinate about opposing this encroachment on his civil liberties, John replies “if I don’t do it, nobody will”. It’s nice to see someone have the junk to stand up for what they believe in, especially if they’re willing to miss a flight because of it. My guess is he really didn’t want to fly with his father-in-law.
Funny thing is that after being ‘thrown-out’, he was told that he couldn’t leave the airport or face a civil lawsuit and a $10,000 fine if he didn’t come back and finish the screening. Clearly John didn’t want the screening, so at that point I’m wondering whether he might have to live within the confines of the airport for the rest of his life. Thankfully he told the TSA to “bring it” and just left. You tell ’em John.
In related news: BoingBoing suggests this book on how to explain to your child why they will be felt up by a random stranger in a uniform the next time you fly. I hope they use baby oil…
Source: Network World
[Related] Body Scanner Images Leaked!
Airport Body Scanners: Questionable Security and Privacy
The idea of naked images of children aside, something about this picture is particularly disturbing to me. I don’t know if it’s the criminal-esque ‘hands-up’ pose the kids are forced to adopt, the big yellow radiation warning sign, the fact that anyone on the other side of the machine has a clear view of the screen, or that the kid in front appears to have taken a bit too much radiation to the head. Ok, I jest with that last one, but there is something inherently wrong with this image. Read more
Non-Security and Civil Liberties
Two Miami photojournalists, Carlos Miller and Charles Ledford, attempted to enter the Metrorail system to take pictures of stations and trains, but were instead banned for life from the transit system. Despite getting confirmation from the Head of Security of Miami-Dade Metro that photographing the transit for non-commercial purposes was allowed, the rent-a-cops on the ground that guard each station insisted that photography was banned due to “terrorism reasons”. In the end the police were called as the pair refused to stop recording video outside the station (a public area).
Apart from the obvious futility of banning photography in what is essentially a publicly-accessible environment (from a security perspective), what irks me most is law enforcement’s ignorance of the actual laws regarding photography both in that transit system and in public areas. We all know that anyone taking pictures of a transit system for the purposes of “terrorism” (or any other illegal act) would most likely do so regardless of restrictions, and would most probably do so in an inconspicuous way. In some ways this reminds me of the a message issued by the UK government a couple years ago, encouraging the public to report anyone taking pictures of CCTV installations, as this could be deemed ‘suspicious activity’.
The video below, filmed by Carlos Miller, shows the pair’s attempts at entering the transit system.
Loading ...
