Do TSA cameras record sound?
 

I always wonder if those surveillance videos record sound. I never see any airport video with sound. Is it a violation of privacy if it does record sound as it could record people's private conversation with their banks/credit card reps over the phones?

Let me know if they do record sound and a clip of it. Thanks.

It would be nearly impossible to do an audio recording of a TSA checkpoint and pick out individual conversations over the ambient noise level. That's why it's so important for us to record any confrontations with them on out own video equipment. The only way for the airport camera operators to do this would be to use one of those large parabolic reflectors you see at football games to pick out a single conversation.

No, the technology is available. I work for a security equipment manufacturer and it is entirely possible to have audio on each lane of a checkpoint that isolates individual conversations.

As to whether the TSA uses them, I don't know. You'd have a difficult time with the privacy argument since there is little or no expectation of privacy at the checkpoint.

It's apparently difficult enough to get a video from a checkpoint, I highly doubt TSA would ever allow video and sound recordings to be released as the jig would be up for them if the world could actually hear screeners at checkpoints.

That is why I'll be making my own video and audio recordings - every time I pass through a TSA screening point in the near future. I'm just waiting for the equipment to arrive.

In most all video/audio recordings we've seen - the TSOs evenutally knew that they were being recorded sometime during the process. I'm hopeful that the system I will be employing will be so discrete that they'll never be aware recording is in process. I expect that we will see more outlandish behavior on the part pf the TSOs and their supervisors when they have no idea a camera is recording their every action and spoken word...

I agree, except that the camera views the TSA releases are always overhead surveillance cameras. The TSA has nothing to gain by being too good with video and audio checkpoint surveillance.

This question came up last year:

Audio recording at the checkpoint

And a TSA employee's response:

If they record sound, then should people be read the Miranda rights as everything they say can and will be used against them in the court of law?

Why in the world would anyone have a conversation with bank reps over the phones while in line for a security checkpoint?

But even if they did, since an airport is a public place, there is no expectation of privacy. Anything you say can be freely heard and recorded.

This is absolutely untrue. For example, if you are standing in a corner, having a whispered conversation with your spouse/significant other, the fact that you are in an airport does *not* mean that someone can record what you are saying with a parabolic mike.

Wrong. In fact, there are a number of states in which it is a criminal offense to record someone without his permission.

People have certain right to certain privacy. Wiretaping is a very serious offense. To the best of my knowledge, one cannot be recorded unless one consents to it. I know that is how phone companies, bank, credit credit companies, and insurance companies operate; they ask for your permission before recording you.

With airport, it is pretty mess up that you loose your 4th Amendment right but loosing a 5th too is pretty bad. With the video recording, it is the gray area and they use security as a way to bypass getting your consent. However, I can't see how wiretapping is legal when video recording as well as security and law enforcement are present.

So I ask again, do they record people talking at checkpoint and while asking you questions during the pat-down. For example, if I make a nasty comment while being stuck in the x-ray machine, which radiate harmful ray at me, I don't want that statement to be used against me in the future. I could be saying that if someone owes up to the truth that these machines are harmful, I will suit them to the poor house and hope they all rot in jail. That is a private conversation and I am entitled to it. If I want it recorded, I'll make my own copy and release it.

Agreed. If you have a fifth, you should hold on to it very tightly.

This is also not quite right.

First, it matters (a lot) which state you are in. Some allow you to record a conversation where you are participating, without getting others permission. Some require the permission of everyone involved.

Second, it matters (a lot) whether you are using the telephone for the conversation or whether it is face-to-face.

Third, it matters (a lot) whether there is a "reasonable expectation of privacy." DO NOT CONFUSE WITH PHOTOGRAPHY, WHICH HAS DIFFERENT RULES THAN AUDIO. So the fact that video recording is happening has little to do with whether audio is allowed. Now, if you are in a public place (airport) and if you have having a loud interaction (calling to your significant other 20 feet away), even if you are saying something intimate, you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy. But if you are talking quietly to a ticket agent, at the counter, you might have a reasonable expectation of privacy for the conversation. On the other hand, if you are at a TSA checkpoint, and especially if there is a sign saying "Audio and video recording may be in progress" then neither you, nor the TSA employee, nor the LEO, nor the stranger standing near you probably has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

No-- a person is not in custody just because there is a tape recorder present.