Originally Posted by
sbagdon
I'm really torn by this one.
MOA is a business, and not public space (by some definitions). They aren't a highway, or a park, or a beach (or at least public versions of those examples). And they can conduct their business any way they wish... just as any of my local malls, or gas stations, or grocery stores are businesses. If "security" for a business asked such follow-up questions (at a Best Buy, or a Home Depot, or wherever), at that point, I have the choice of conducting my business there... or not.
On the other hand, these businesses also have to follow the law. If a private non-LEO security guard shared private information, and this sharing violated a law, I look forward to that business being litigated into debt or even bankruptcy. And it might also be the discovery process, to identify if private entities are permitted to treat their customers this way.
MOA is turning the information over to the FBI. I listened to the NPR segment on this last night. The FBI is creating lists from this data and investigating people who were reported. Last night they played an interview with a man whose elderly father had left his cell phone in the food court. The FBI went to the son's house to interrogate him about whether he was part of a terrorist plot. Probably because they have a foreign sounding (i.e. possibly middle eastern) name.
I don't really care what MOA does. They won't get my business, but they're a private entity. But DHS is encouraging these actions (see something, say something). And the federal government is actively investigating people for such benign behavior as forgetting their cell phones or taking photos of a tourist attraction, instead of telling the overzealous, anxious people who work at MOA to go pound sand.