so what are our rights re: TSA searches, etc.

[Laurie4b]

What the heck are our rights and why don't we know them? Criminal suspects get their Miranda rights read to them. I saw one recording of a guy who kept asking a TSA agent if he was required by law to answer x question and the agent wouldn't tell him--just called the police and told police he refused to answer. The guy said, "No, I didn't refuse to answer; I asked whether I was required by law to answer." This went on indefinitely... I am not 100% sure that was real (there was no visual but if not real, it was really well acted) but real or not, it brought up the question of the fact we don't know our rights.

 

For instance, some guy got arrested for recording his TSA search with a cell phone, yet the only reason we know how bad some of these searches are is because of recordings. Are we allowed to record interactions with the TSA or not?

 

Another woman (happened to be a reporter--bad luck for TSA I guess) reported getting a search that involved a TSA screener's hands inside her underwear. The head of TSA later said that that was not "proper procedure." Well if we don't know what proper procedure is, how do we protect ourselves from improper procedures?

 

And with 65,000 employees why the heck can't they hire someone with medical training to do screenings of people with knee replacements, ostomy bags, prosthetic devices, etc. The stories I've read about people with medical challenges are horrendous. We are profiling ALL people with implanted medical devices.

 

This is not only stupid (we must be giving belly laughs to terrorists watching the Keystone Cops approach to security ) but inhumane and destructive of our rights when we can't even know what they are or protect ourselves from having them violated.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Laurie4b1

[mazakaal]

And it doesn't help that the policies are constantly changing.

[Mejane]

I think at this point our only right is the right NOT to fly. :glare:

[Parrothead]

Didn't the TSA agent who was searching Mr. Junk tell him that once the ticket was bought all rights were suspended?

[Nakia]

I really haven't paid a lot of attention to any of this because we never fly. I have only flown once in my life. But then I remembered that I am supposed to fly out to Texas in February or March to spend a weekend with one of my girlfriends, and now I am really concerned. :glare:

[Nakia]

Didn't the TSA agent who was searching Mr. Junk tell him that once the ticket was bought all rights were suspended?

 

:blink:

[TravelingChris]

I am so inceribly angry about the whole medical procedures deal of this thing. I don't have any implants, bags, pumps, etc. so it isn't affecting me personally. But the total absurdity that we have to humiliate and improperly search each and every time a diabetic or a colostomy or a cancer patient or myriads of other patients travel is absurd. The fact that someone is a cancer survivor does not make them a higher risk for being a terrorist. The fact that someone is a 80 year old grandmother with diabetic syringes doesn't mean she is a terrorist. Elderly people with implants of any kind are being groped. I am not saying only target people who look like Muslims since that is absurd anyway since Islamic belief is not a race. We have had Americans of all kinds of racial and ethnic backgrounds decide to become Islamic terrorists including some white woman who went to Ireland to meet with terrorist planners. SO no, I don't think that racial profiling gets us anywhere. But behavior and intelligence profiling would. They aren't doing an adequate job of intelligence and this is their lame attempt at doing something at all. We could have easily kept that underwear bomber off the plane if the man had been put on the no fly list when his father reported that he suspected him of becoming a terrorist. Or they could have stopped him when he showed up for a flight to Detroit in winter without suitcase not adequate clothing.

 

With the disabled and medically challenged people, they need to get them in the system and keep them there so they don;'t have to accost them each and every time they fly. Some 60 yo cancer survivor is unlikely to suddenly develop an urgent need to join Al Qaeda. THen, they also need to use the wipes and simply carefully wipe the area in question and check for explosives. Behaviorally and with intelligence, you can catch the terrorists rather than harass so many innocents.

[AuntieM]

I would like the right to read the bio and background check of the agent assigned to fondle me when I opt out of the nude-o-scope, as well as the one who expects to extend his or her hands within 5 feet of any of my children.

 

We expect to be doing a lot of driving as long as these measures are in place. But between this mess and QE2, our future plans for international travel are becoming far less exciting. :glare:

[Sue G in PA]

Let us not forget the woman who recently blogged about having her 2yo son taken from her, out of her sight, by a TSA official, with no reason why, etc...just to do a search on him. OUT OF HER SIGHT! The woman was hysterical. HYSTERICAL. Panic-attack, almost passed out, etc. Policy says that a child will never be taken from a parent in order to do a search. Hmmm....seems like TSA agents have more power than the president. :glare:

[AuntieM]

Truly, what good does it do (or I should ask, what harm does it prevent) to be told after the fact that certain agents "weren't following proper procedure"? That is a terrible representation of the old adage "it's sometimes easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission."

 

I cannot believe this is my America.

[asta]

Well, apparently we can't go through in our undies:

 

When a San Diego man opted out of security screening using the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) at Lindbergh Field Friday, he stripped down to his underwear in an attempt to avoid the pat-down procedures.

 

[...]

 

Through a statement released by his attorney Sunday night, Wolanyk said "TSA needs to see that I'm not carrying any weapons, explosives, or other prohibited substances, I refuse to have images of my naked body viewed by perfect strangers, and having been felt up for the first time by TSA the week prior (I travel frequently) I was not willing to be molested again."

 

[...]

 

Wolanyk's attorney said that TSA requested his client put his clothes on so he could be patted down properly but his client refused to put his clothes back on. He never refused a pat down, according to his attorney.

Wolanyk was arrested for refusing to complete the security process and for recording the incident on his iPhone, according to his attorney.

 

 

Source: Passenger Chooses Strip-Down Over Pat-Down | NBC San Diego

[Murphy101]

I think the idea that if people know in advance they could circumvent the process, thus permit terrorist to act, is total BS. A solid process is a solid porcess. It shows a lack of confidence in their own procedures.

 

And the notion that they have the right to virtual nude pics of me and have cameras all over the freaking place while they rub their open palms over my breasts and privates yet I has the citizen don't have the right to record the proceedings is just another load of bs.

[Faithseed]

IMO, the fact that you cannot leave line because you suddenly decide that you don't want to be viewed nude nor do you wished to be groped without incurring an obscene fine is tyranny.

 

Frankly, I think the whole thing is.

 

Tyranny, plain and simple.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

What the heck are our rights and why don't we know them?

 

 

I guess we have the right to drive instead of fly. Or, we can fly ourselves (if we happen to own a plane).

[MBM]

Or you could get elected to Congress and bypass TSA altogether.

[Laurie4b]

Let us not forget the woman who recently blogged about having her 2yo son taken from her, out of her sight, by a TSA official, with no reason why, etc...just to do a search on him. OUT OF HER SIGHT! The woman was hysterical. HYSTERICAL. Panic-attack, almost passed out, etc. Policy says that a child will never be taken from a parent in order to do a search. Hmmm....seems like TSA agents have more power than the president. :glare:

 

http://www.elliott.org/blog/what-to-do-if-the-tsa-abducts-your-baby/

The video did not corroborate the mother's story.

[Laurie4b]

Or you could get elected to Congress and bypass TSA altogether.

 

:glare: Yes. hmm. And we know how uncorruptable members of Congress are.

 

I guess I'm allowed to highjack my own post,.... this reminded me of one of those mass emails that get sent around, suggesting we press for a constitutional amendment prohibiting Congress from exempting themselves from laws, etc. they make for the rest of us.

[wulfbourne]

:glare: Yes. hmm. And we know how uncorruptable members of Congress are.

 

I guess I'm allowed to highjack my own post,.... this reminded me of one of those mass emails that get sent around, suggesting we press for a constitutional amendment prohibiting Congress from exempting themselves from laws, etc. they make for the rest of us.

 

Yeah, the problem with that is you would have to get Congress to pass those laws. That's about as likely as them voting a paycut or even a pay freeze for themselves.

[Murmer]

Sorry we have no rights...the 100+ dollars that we spend to buy a plane ticket means we spend 100+ dollars to give up all rights to anything. The biggest problem is there is no policy in place that is consistent of even mildly consistent. I want to do if I have a babe in arms and can't do scanner due to holding said babe am I patted down. If a small child is unable to do the scanner and they then patted down. What about insulin pumps or pacemakers? Or how about the time I sprained my ankle the day before getting on a plane flight to get back home...I could barely put any pressure on it what then pat down. What would said pat down require a visual search of my underwear. Touching of sensitive parts. A request to remove a menstrual pad. There is no policy thus not even a knowledge of what is or is not right.