Originally Posted by
Andy1369
Searches at the airport are upheld and has been going on since the 70's. When you buy a plane ticket, you're consenting to a search at the checkpoint. This has been in effect since the 70's, and the only big difference nowadays is that a federal agency, as opposed to private security firms, are taking over the searches.
I think there is a difference. As Lynn points out in today's entry in the
TSA Blog, if a federal screener discovers evidence of an unrelated crime, such as possession of illegal drugs, the federal screener is obligated by law to report it. It's not clear to me that a private security firm, employed only by the airline or the airport, would have the same requirements.
Hence, the complaint that the TSA checkpoint essentially becomes a dragnet for all sorts of search activities that wouldn't have had probable cause for a search otherwise.