Traveler Detained for Anti-TSA Message

[Ping898]

On Slashdot today is a stopry from a guy saying he was detained cause he wrote an anti-TSA message on a baggy with his toiletries. Now, personally I have little respect for TSA as an organization and the job they supposedly do. I feel overall I am less safe now flying than I was 5 or 6 years ago before TSA took over airplane "security", especially when I converse with people who travel more frequently than I do. But I have to wonder if say you voiced those opinions just in a conversation to friend, said in normal voices, simple discussion with no inflamatory words/actions suggested etc and it was overheard, could similar actions happen. Would a TSA worker automatically feel threatened, just because I felt the organization he/she worked for is a joke at best?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=606142

"A traveler frustrated with recent changes to airport security procedures found himself detained in Milwaukee after writing a message critical of the TSA's leader on a plastic bag presented for screening. The message, which read "Kip Hawley is an Idiot," resulted in a confrontation with law enforcement, the traveler being told that his right to freedom of speech applied only "out there (pointing past the id checkers) not while in here [the checkpoint]." The story, which is detailed in a rapidly-growing thread on a discussion forum catering to frequent flyers, has attracted the interest of the ACLU, an AP reporter, and many others. The incident raises a number of interesting questions and concerns regarding just where our rights end."

I wonder about this comment:

When he didn't respond, I then repeated that the TSA Supervisor stated my First Amendment rights didn't apply at the TSA check point and I asked if he (the deputy) agreed that was the case. He responded by saying "You can't yell fire in a crowed theater, there are limits to your rights.

At this point I chucked again

I asked how this was even remotely like shouting "Fire" in a crowd, and his answer was "Perhaps your comments made them feel threatened."

Is making an anti- whatever statement just cause for being threatened, if not violence or actions are mentioned, the statement is made "once" i.e., on the baggie, not repeatedly said over and over, is it by default threatening?


And obviously this is only one side of the story, the guy may have left relevent info out that put him in a bad light and it even may just be something that has been made up to try and make TSA or whomever look bad, but still I wonder what would occur if the event did take place even if this isn't true

 

[CoryKS]

We've become a society of sullen children who demand the right to do anything that we want to without any notion of responsibility and without care for who might get hurt by our actions.

People constantly ask why our society seems to be getting so violent. Know what I think? It's because you can't ask people to control themselves anymore. All you get is, "Kiss my ***, I'll do what I want". Children. I had to ask a guy at the McDonalds' indoor playground to stop throwing f-bombs around. His response? "Who the hell do you think you are?" Homey was ready to throw down, too, until I told him I'd call the police if he didn't back off. If the only thing you will respond to is violence, then that is how people will respond to you.

Do I think this guy was mistreated? Man, I don't care about this whiny little half-man. Society is a two-way street. If he feels so much contempt for these people that he has to dump on people trying to do a job of protecting his sorry behind, he shouldn't be surprised if the feeling is mutual. At some point, somebody at the TSA will - or has - decide that these people aren't worth protecting. And then the fit will hit the shan.

 

[elder999]

TSA=Revenge of the "C" Students:angry:

 

[OUMoose]

We've become a society of sullen children who demand the right to do anything that we want to without any notion of responsibility and without care for who might get hurt by our actions.

People constantly ask why our society seems to be getting so violent. Know what I think? It's because you can't ask people to control themselves anymore. All you get is, "Kiss my ***, I'll do what I want". Children. I had to ask a guy at the McDonalds' indoor playground to stop throwing f-bombs around. His response? "Who the hell do you think you are?" Homey was ready to throw down, too, until I told him I'd call the police if he didn't back off. If the only thing you will respond to is violence, then that is how people will respond to you.

Do I think this guy was mistreated? Man, I don't care about this whiny little half-man. Society is a two-way street. If he feels so much contempt for these people that he has to dump on people trying to do a job of protecting his sorry behind, he shouldn't be surprised if the feeling is mutual. At some point, somebody at the TSA will - or has - decide that these people aren't worth protecting. And then the fit will hit the shan.

Causing a public disturbance is one thing (especially since the guy from McD's sounds like a jerk). Writing a comment on a bag as a form of semi-silent protest is hardly destructive and in no way deserved that kind of treatment. If the article is truely what happened, it's merely indicative of the growing trend in airport security acting like some sort of gestapo. I know I'm planning on air travel this coming holiday season, and the idea of flying doesn't bother me. Thinking about going through customs/security does. Did I forget anything? Are there new rules? Can I only hop on one leg through the security checkpoint, lest I be detained with no explanation? Bleh.

TSA=Revenge of the "C" Students

I don't know whats scarier. The idea that they're C students, or that C students are the best we could get to be the front line of defense for domestic airways.

 

[CoryKS]

Causing a public disturbance is one thing (especially since the guy from McD's sounds like a jerk). Writing a comment on a bag as a form of semi-silent protest is hardly destructive and in no way deserved that kind of treatment. If the article is truely what happened, it's merely indicative of the growing trend in airport security acting like some sort of gestapo. I know I'm planning on air travel this coming holiday season, and the idea of flying doesn't bother me. Thinking about going through customs/security does. Did I forget anything? Are there new rules? Can I only hop on one leg through the security checkpoint, lest I be detained with no explanation? Bleh.

I don't know whats scarier. The idea that they're C students, or that C students are the best we could get to be the front line of defense for domestic airways.

You're missing my point. The traveller may have the right to his lame little protest, but what good is it to have a right if you alienate the people who are in a position to defend it? What happens when those who are in a position to protect the public decide that the public aren't worth defending? Who will protect his rights then? College kids with big dumb papier-mache puppet heads?

 

[arnisador]

the growing trend in airport security acting like some sort of gestapo.

"Don't make jokes at airport security" is hardly new advice. yes, he should have the right to protest. But, he should also have the common sense to know that something like this is going to get him pulled over for questioning. A judge may well let him goo--probably should--but a minimum wage bag-checker has to err on teh side of caution.

A comparison to the Gestapo is...grossly unwarranted (and invokes Godwin's Law). I don't like the TSA's actions either, but they aren't dragging people out of their houses at midnight and murdering them in the streets. If you worked for the Gestapo, you were doing evil. If you work for the TSA, you're at worst doing stupid.

Policy at the national level should be set intelligently, but a single screener has to use his or her best judgment, without the benefit of a law degree.