PV Alert: Can I Take Photos at the Checkpoint and Airport?

I suspect it's a reaction to posters here and on Propaganda Village ripping the TSA a new one about this issue.

Phil, do you have time for an update? Might also be a good idea to add ISP to the list given SDF_Traveler's observation.

I am going through photos from my trip.

I found a photo of me in front of a "the Welcome to ISP" type sign - behind that is the checkpoint and in the background you can see the checkpoint and the no photography sign.

Hahaha. Post it. Blur out your face if you need to.

I'll do that; I have all the photos saved on a NAS server and I'll access them from my Mac in a bit.

Will use photoshop to re-size the file, clean it up, and upload it. Have a few other interesting ones.

Currently running disk utility on the Mac. My PowerBook is throwing fits over disk permissions at the moment.

This is at ISP (eek, not a great pic of me .. but oh well): note the "No Photographs" sign in the background at the checkpoint.

That is a fine pic of you.

I wanted to go to the airport's website to see if there was any mention of photography restrictions but, damn what an ugly site. http://www.macarthurairport.com/

Be on the lookout for this traveler taking photos

I am trying to think of the best way this photograph can be used to shame them into removing the sign.

I believe the sign is also a bit misleading, as the placement of the sign may indicate to some that no photographs are allowed once past the security checkpoint.

Regardless, I don't think the sign should be there per TSA guidelines on photography, unless there is a local, municipal law which overrides the policy laid out on PV.

Perhaps I'll give the airport a call or make an inquiry via the TSA website to see what the photography policy is, as Phil has done with other airports.

With respect to the photo I posted, the actual distance between me and the checkpoint is further than it looks because I cropped out the sign saying "welcome to ISP" when I cropped a portrait photo into a landscape 800x600 pix pic.

Just had a look at the ISP website -- :eek! Hopefully it was done in-house and they didn't pay anyone for it.

I don't have time for a comprehensive update or to clean up this thread (an admin merged several consecutive posts, dumping airport responses into my "cause for concern" post, fouling up my "index post"), but note that I have not received any response from IAH or HOU (Houston International and Hobby), and that the response rate has not changed more than 2% - 4% (one or two airports; I think it hasn't changed at all) since my 4/20 update so a little fewer than half responded, and about half of those provided the information I requested (authoratative answer to the question of whether photography in the airport is restricted or a referral to a specific person who should be able to provide that answer).

Note also that Bob Burns at TSA, who first said that photography of publicly-visible TSA computer monitors at airport checkpoints was discouraged, then later said it was prohibited, still has not said whether such photography is unlawful. On May 18, 2009, in the comment thread for the "Can I Take Photos at the Checkpoint and Airport?" post (remember, you must load that first in order to load the following links to get directly to specific comments), Bob responded by citing 49 CFR Part 1520.5(b)(9)(vi). I promptly responded:

Despite repeated requests for him to do so, he has not responded. Note that despite what the villiage idiots would have you believe, he has not answered the question, and I do not continue to ask "because I don't like the answer" (common refrain over there).

Interestingly, he now seems to be refusing comments that reference this question, even when they are on-topic and in compliance with published comment rules. For instance, despite my submitting it five times and seeing other comments approved between submisstions, the following comment has not been approved (for the "TSA Paperless Boarding Pass Pilot Expanding" post):

Good questions, no?

I have some ideas about creating a method of sending a question or comment to all airports via automated submission of the "Got Feedback?" form, then automatically collecting and publishing responses, but there's probably only about a 20% chance that I'm going to find time to do it. Are others interested in such a thing? I think it would be nice to allow people to query TSA airport representatives and automatically publish responses for others to see, possibly in conjunction with my now-barely-useful TSA FAQ site. TSA should be happy to avoid needing to repeatedly answer the same questions, but I don't see them reporting answers to questions people frequently ask.

On August 3, 2009, Bob Burns at TSA blogged (in a post titled "Got Feedback: Happy Birthday!") about the success of the "Got Feedback?" program he administers, then posted the following comment:

I have submitted two comments there that link to this thread and explain the 50% response rate that I observed using "Got Feedback?", but neither has been approved. Comments submitted by other people after mine have been approved.

My comment about ISP is in the thread and I have now sent an e-mail to Blogger Bob about the matter. Why this wasn't followed up on before when I brought it to their attention in prior threads, I don't know. Why all the extra hoops to jump through?

With the e-mail, I guess I have now have been outed to Blogger Bob.

Not with a little bit of care, it doesn't. I've used Sneakemail for almost 10 years, mostly to provide "throwaway" e-mail addresses so that mail sent to them is forwarded to me, but I don't provide my real address to the untrusted party. You can also send replies through them. The basic service is free, and has worked flawlessly for me.

For true anonymity, you'd need to send mail through the Mixmaster network or similar.