To paraphrase:
Secret secrets are no fun. Secret secrets hurt someone.

:) :D ;)

punishing families of leo's and screeners sounds a lot like the days during the cold war when the iron curtain countries would gather the families of defectors and throw them in prison or line them up against a wall and shoot them. i suppose it was a pretty effective deterrant, but horribly inappropriate.....

What does that mean? :confused:

Michael Scott benefited greatly from this advice. He also got 3 hours of phone answering service. :D

http://gizmodo.com/5620625/know-your...photo+bullying

Some good info.

And this is part if the sever problem with many of the members on this site - the do not read what was actually written.

Where did I say or imply what you wrote here:

"How is ostracizing TSA screeners who break the law and their family members violating anybody's civil rights or liberties?"

First of all, i was talking about LEOs and their families. Secondly, I was only critical of the idea of utterly ostracizing the innocent family members. I made no comments about whether or not it was a good idea to ostracize TSOs or LEOs.

Amen. Count me in.

Bruce

I do the exact same thing for LEOs and their families as well, if that makes any difference to you. :rolleyes:

When law enforcement and government becomes more of a threat to the innocent than a help, they should no longer be a welcome presence. Those are words I routinely live by.

Same here.

Bruce

I didn't get into that part of this discussion but you seem more concerned with this than what happened at the airport and instigated by TSA employees.

Isn't the real issue what happened to an innocent person who took someone to the airport and while waiting for their flight to depart snapped some photos?

I would suggest that when public servants act in a manner contrary to established rights and laws of this country then negative words will follow.

I agree completely and would never knowingly associate with anyone employed by TSA. They are traitors to the United States and anathema to all of our longstanding principles of freedom.

Bruce

I actually dumped a potential suitor after they admitted working for the TSA. When I asked what they did, the response was always "I work at the airport" - when I finally got them to tell me the details, it was ADIOS!

Sorry, but I could just not set aside my hatred for the organization to embrace the individual. Same reason I would not date a cop, FAM, etc.

... in a successful attempt to bait the TSOs into harassing me when they could not understand my bizarre behavior. FTFY.


Look, I have no love for the TSA and like everyone else I know that current "security" procedures are largely useless. But what the OP describes is simply a game. Like the cop who sets up a speed trap at the bottom of a hill next to the sign that announces a suddenly lower speed limit, the OP used his superior knowledge of the law to ensnare his adversaries.

If this exercise had a chance to accomplish anything useful, I might agree that it was worthwhile and even worth emulating. However I see no possible benefit to anyone other than possibly to a dim-witted terrorist who is so extraordinarily inept that he makes himself obvious.

TSA policies will only change through the political process, and stunts like this will not change public opinion in the direction that the OP desires. Therefore I assert that the only value of this incident was entertainment for the OP and readers here.

If the OP wants to raise the stakes on his game, I suggest that he attempt something similar at a location where the President is speaking. I'm sure the results will be more dramatic and therefore even more entertaining for all of us. Please post the outcome here.

So would it be your suggestion that people should just give up trying to photograph things around airports at all? Or is it OK, just as long as one has received some sort of official permission to engage in an activity that's already supposedly protected by the First Amendment?

Sometimes these games need to be played to show how absolutely ludicrous others' positions have become. I'd dare compare the OP's actions to that of Rosa Parks.

If TSA wants to stop people from taking pictures in the airport, then I'm sure there's a procedure for that and they need to go through it. But for TSA to state that it's OK to snap away on their blog and then have their agents harass (at a minimum) the OP for doing the very thing they say is OK to do... well, that's just wrong.

Any time restrictions are placed upon our collective rights as a society, it ought to be the outcome of public debate and directly result in some good being achieved. Restricting photography in airports or other public places does not fit this description.

Unfortunately it seems as though the only way one can possibly have a chance of putting TSA in their place is through the courts. But that's pretty much how thugs and despots act, so we shouldn't be surprised-- just ashamed that we as a supposedly free nation have let our government get that far out of control.

I don't see that it boils down to : Ha, Ha, I baited the TSOs. Maybe I missed something? :confused:

I think that this is an example of poor training.

The OP was taking some photographs for his work, the TSOs were taking overzealous exception to his First Amendment protected activity.

Yes the courts will decide, but each misstep TSA makes is another reason for hope that they will be reined in soon.