GaryD

My Youtube search came up with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9SEv3sN6oU

I trust you have found examples of what you describe. I haven't.

EDIT: found a better Youtube video, "officers" backed down:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8pkK...eature=related

spades097

Oh, my apologies for not being up-to-date on all of the acronyms. Again, you're right -- anyone who disagrees with you must either work for the TSA or be part of the AFS crowd!

If you're arguing against someone going beyond their authority then fine. However, arguing over a title is among the more asinine things I've read in this thread. If I get a parking ticket, by a meter maid (We'll say the official title is Parking Enforcement Officer), and the law says only an officer can write me a ticket then does that mean I don't have to pay it? Whether I agree with the ticket or not, if I don't fight it through the appropriate channels then I'm going to lose and eventually get booted. The, "Well, I don't personally recognize the title therefore I don't have to do anything" is absolutely ridiculous.

CZBB

Carlos Miller; http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/ an excellent website.

Caradoc

Anyone who's willing to put up with the TSA's shenanigans because they're afraid of missing their flight is part of the problem.

So, while you may not be taking a paycheck from the TSA, you're certainly working for them.

Caradoc

You haven't found any video showing a TSA employee telling the videographer that they need to turn the camera off?

spades097

Of course, I'm working for them as some kind of quasi contractor because I don't see the point in fighting a TSO over his title. If you're going to argue against a real issue (e.g. an overstep of authority) then fine but thinking that your slick because you're going to tell him how he isn't an officer even though you know exactly what a sign means when it says officer is absurd.

In ATC, supervisors are called front line managers even though everyone still calls them supervisors. We all know exactly who they are talking about when a document comes around saying "FLM" but does it matter? No. It doesn't change a thing. Just like air traffic controllers technically aren't air traffic controllers -- we're air traffic control specialists. Does it matter? No.

Find a real issue.

Caradoc

Hardly.

You've already said that you're not going to raise any complaint at all against the TSA for fear of missing your flight.

Or, perhaps I should use language more understandable to you:

"Baa. Baaaaa. Baa. Baaa, baaaaaaa baaa, baa baaaa."

spades097

You're right...I did. I also said I would write complaints, make phone calls, etc... when I got home. I'm not going to ruin my vacation. I guess you're okay with it, though. Good for you.

Caradoc

Write complaints and make phone calls to whom?

If you make them to the TSA, you might as well not do it at all.

As for vacations, the TSA won't be ruining one for me unless I happen to run into one of those asinine "VIPR" fusterclucks. I don't fly any more. I see no need to pay for the privilege of having my genitals fondled by thieves, thugs, and morons while they're poking through my luggage looking for stuff to steal, all while they're spouting the absolute lie that it's "for my protection."

T.J. Bender

Very true. The TSA has a special process for dealing with complaints. First, they put the complainant's name in the "increased chance of SSSS" list. Then, they put the complaint itself in the trash. If it's high-profile enough, they'll issue the cursory, "The TSO acted professionally and in accordance with TSA guidelines," statement to the media and through Bloghole Bob.

Believe it or not, one of the most effective ways to drum up passenger discontent towards the TSA is to verbally disagree with their more asinine or intrusive procedures. I've gotten positive comments from other pax when opting out at a BKSX airport, simply because I respond to the TSO's inevitable safety rant with, "If they're so safe, why won't your agency allow you to wear any form of radiation measurement device to work, even one you've purchased yourself?"

Not too long ago, a one-striper on a power trip decided she was going to go a step beyond checking BPs at the WTMD and started asking people to state their name. She'd already irritated me by barking at me about taking my shoes off before entering "her" line (which, had she looked, she would have seen that I was in the process of doing). When I approached and was told to state my name, I replied, "I'm Spartacus." Hilarity ensued and a threat was made by her to have me "thoroughly searched in a private room" if I ever tried that again. As I was collecting my belongings, the passenger behind me (who I'd been talking to in line) replied, when asked to state his name, that he too was Spartacus. That passenger is now one more person who's been exposed to the idiocy of the TSA, and is that much more likely to have a negative opinion of the organization.

Write to the TSA? No. But if enough complaints make their way onto the desks of Representatives and Senators, we'll see something done. And how do we get those complaints onto their desks? Give people something to complain about. If it takes an argument over semantics when I've got four hours before my flight anyway to make someone else--someone who might send a letter in to their Congresspeople--notice that the TSA is harassing and attempting to detain me over a legal, expressly permitted activity, then I'd say that's time well spent.

I thought VIPR activity had, to date, been restricted to commercial vehicles on highways? Unless subway searches fall under that domain as well. I seem to recall reading somewhere that one of the rail lines into NYC uses MMW screening--am I hallucinating on that?

GUWonder

The "keyboard kommandos" equivalent then were those (then living in what may have been their mothers' cellars) setting type on printers and arguing with others for hours on end at the neighborhood tavern or while at some inn on the road.

Those whom you may wish to mock as "keyboard kommandos" today would have been the mocked "pamphleteers" of yesteryear who so mightily energized a people against the intrusions of a government beyond control.

There is a reason why the DHS/TSA is so obsessed about what Americans critically post about the TSA on the interent. Modern-day equivalent of the "pamphleteers"/communication channel activists are the only opponent the TSA fears. Not a surprise when terrorists are amongst the TSA's best-friends in rank and file, particularly as terrorism give more power to the TSA in a way that TSA critics playing "keyboard kommando" do not.

Caradoc

In theory.

In practice, VIPR stupidity has been seen in places like Savannah, GA - where the morons were searching people getting OFF of a train.

GUWonder

I go on vacation for experiences that I can share with others who may or may not be part of my travel party. If part of the experience involves not tolerating ridiculously personalized nonsense from the TSA, all the better. The more people that hear a narrative about the TSA's nonsense ways, all the better.

If the TSA tries to get in the way of my work, that may be for all the better. More employers/clients should be pushing back against the TSA's nonsense ways, and that is what would occur if the TSA steps on too many toes of major/strong employers/clients. [The TSA had started to fear that very strong employers/clients may have been getting closer to pushing back against the TSA's nonsense ways that were hitting their employees/hired parties, which is why the TSA has tried buying them off by including many of the biggest US employers' employees in the "PreClear" stupidity.]

GaryD

I haven't found any video showing a TSA employee attempting to tell people that photography and/or videography at the checkpoint is "prohibited" or "illegal."

So I would treat a sign that says:

"Please cease any recording or photography if directed by a TSA officer."

just like a sign that says:

"Please reveal your breasts if directed by a TSA officer."

or

"Please do a handstand if directed by a TSA officer."

No, thanks.

Caradoc

Here's one of the TSA telling the videographer that photography at the checkpoint is prohibited:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=NGMNHnQdoNc#!