Federal Agents seize travel bloggers computer

Old Dec 30, 2009, 8:54 pm
  #61  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
MSNBC may have one or two headline names sympathetic to the bloggers or who can be made sympathetic to the bloggers.
Top headline story on msn.com/MSNBC News, from AP. "TSA subpoenas bloggers, demands sources" ^ More publicity for the Galestapo.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:01 pm
  #62  
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This is starting to sound like a perfect storm for TSA.

Now if they'd only implode because of this and we could start over ...
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:08 pm
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Originally Posted by N965VJ
this is the part that got them in trouble:

No other dissemination may be made without prior approval of the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration. Unauthorized dissemination of this document or information contained herein is prohibited by 49 CFR Part 1520 (see 69 Fed. Reg. 28066 (May 18, 2004).
So the document gets sent to every international airline flying to the US. Let's take Thai airlines as an example. How are employees of that airline bound by a US CFR? If they were to send it to Elliot and removed the notice, how did anybody break any law or violate any regulation?
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:16 pm
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Looking at the statute references in the subpoena and the directive I am beginning to notice a trend with the TSA. The legal team at the TSA pretty much sucks wind and is not above lying on official documents.

Take the subpoena If you notice where the TSA references thier authority they give the exact statute. Where they reference the punishment they give the Title number without the exact statute. Look at Title 18, it is huge and somewhere buried in it is a statute(s) that might be able to be used by the TSA. I looked and the only one that I could find was the ones on criminal contempt of COURT.

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 21 > § 401

§ 401. Power of court

A court of the United States shall have power to punish by fine or imprisonment, or both, at its discretion, such contempt of its authority, and none other, as—
(1) Misbehavior of any person in its presence or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice;
(2) Misbehavior of any of its officers in their official transactions;
(3) Disobedience or resistance to its lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command.

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 21 > § 402

§ 402. Contempts constituting crimes

Any person, corporation or association willfully disobeying any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of any district court of the United States or any court of the District of Columbia, by doing any act or thing therein, or thereby forbidden, if the act or thing so done be of such character as to constitute also a criminal offense under any statute of the United States or under the laws of any State in which the act was committed, shall be prosecuted for such contempt as provided in section 3691 of this title and shall be punished by a fine under this title or imprisonment, or both.

Such fine shall be paid to the United States or to the complainant or other party injured by the act constituting the contempt, or may, where more than one is so damaged, be divided or apportioned among them as the court may direct, but in no case shall the fine to be paid to the United States exceed, in case the accused is a natural person, the sum of $1,000, nor shall such imprisonment exceed the term of six months.

This section shall not be construed to relate to contempts committed in the presence of the court, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, nor to contempts committed in disobedience of any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command entered in any suit or action brought or prosecuted in the name of, or on behalf of, the United States, but the same, and all other cases of contempt not specifically embraced in this section may be punished in conformity to the prevailing usages at law.
For purposes of this section, the term “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
Then if you look at the statutes cited on the directive you will see one points to an interim rule from 2004 and the other one involves SSI. Unless the directive was properly marked as SSI per Title 49 Sec. 15.13 the TSA has nothing.

Title 49 Sec. 15.13 Marking SSI.

(a) Marking of paper records. In the case of paper records containing SSI, a covered person must mark the record by placing the protective marking conspicuously on the top, and the distribution limitation statement on the bottom, of--

(1) The outside of any front and back cover, including a binder cover or folder, if the document has a front and back cover;

(2) Any title page; and

(3) Each page of the document.

(b) Protective marking. The protective marking is: SENSITIVE SECURITY INFORMATION.

(c) Distribution limitation statement. The distribution limitation statement is:

WARNING: This record contains Sensitive Security Information that is controlled under 49 CFR parts 15 and 1520. No part of this record may be disclosed to persons without a "need to know", as defined in 49 CFR parts 15 and 1520, except with the written permission of the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration or the Secretary of Transportation. Unauthorized release may result in civil penalty or other action. For U.S. government agencies, public disclosure is governed by 5 U.S.C. 552 and 49 CFR parts 15 and 1520.

(d) Other types of records. In the case of non-paper records that contain SSI, including motion picture films, videotape recordings, audio recording, and electronic and magnetic records, a covered person must clearly and conspicuously mark the records with the protective marking and the distribution limitation statement such that the viewer or listener is reasonably likely to see or hear them when obtaining access to the contents of the record.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:31 pm
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Originally Posted by Superguy
This is starting to sound like a perfect storm for TSA.

Now if they'd only implode because of this and we could start over ...
I might have to watch C-SPAN when the congress critters return. This could be good entertainment watching DHS/TSA try to explain their way out of this. I predict a minimum of 25 ahs,ums, etc. per minute from the respondants.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:35 pm
  #66  
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Originally Posted by Olton Hall
I might have to watch C-SPAN when the congress critters return. This could be good entertainment watching DHS/TSA try to explain their way out of this. I predict a minimum of 25 ahs,ums, etc. per minute from the respondants.
The problem is though it would be like a reality TV show. Looks real and Congress may vote, but at the end of the day, nothing of importance happens.

TSA's been screwing up repeatedly and been hauled before Congress before. Nothing's ever come of it and TSA's pretty much given Congress the finger. I'd love for something to happen, but the cynic in me is saying that this too will blow over.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:44 pm
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Originally Posted by Olton Hall
I might have to watch C-SPAN when the congress critters return. This could be good entertainment watching DHS/TSA try to explain their way out of this. I predict a minimum of 25 ahs,ums, etc. per minute from the respondants.
My money's on the "I don't recall"s.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:48 pm
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Originally Posted by Ken hAAmer
My money's on the "I don't recall"s.
Or plead the 5th.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:49 pm
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Hmmm, according to This Post in Newstand the "special agent" in the wired photo may be special because he's not a current government employee but a security consultant. Would this mean he was pretending to be a government law enforcement officier? Isn't that a felony?
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:59 pm
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Originally Posted by gdeluca
Unreal!
You're telling me! They were in my house for a few hours last night...and again this morning walking off with a laptop.

That tends to be a definition of 'unreal!'
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 9:59 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by Olton Hall
Hmmm, according to This Post in Newstand the "special agent" in the wired photo may be special because he's not a current government employee but a security consultant. Would this mean he was pretending to be a government law enforcement officier? Isn't that a felony?
Not necessarily. DoD and OPM send out contractors that are credentialed agents to conduct background checks. This might be different though considering this is more of an LE function.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 10:01 pm
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Originally Posted by Olton Hall
Hmmm, according to This Post in Newstand the "special agent" in the wired photo may be special because he's not a current government employee but a security consultant. Would this mean he was pretending to be a government law enforcement officier? Isn't that a felony?
The agent in the image is a TSA Special Agent, which is a Federal Agent, gun and all. Trust me, I saw their credentials, hard to miss their side arms, especially when they are in your house for a few hours.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 10:11 pm
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Poor guy. If that is the case then his life is going to get turned upside down too. Amazing how TSA can mess it up so well and often!

Is TSA doing this so they can deflect the read problem or do they just not understand how this is going to come back and bite them? A lot of smoke and mirrors nevertheless.

If I was visited by TSA Special Agent I would not have let my kids and cat get to know them. He's got a lot more patience and a thicker hide than I have.

Originally Posted by sefrischling
The agent in the image is a TSA Special Agent, which is a Federal Agent, gun and all. Trust me, I saw their credentials, hard to miss their side arms, especially when they are in your house for a few hours.
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 10:15 pm
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The only reason this got to MSM status was the hard graft of a number of travel writers/professionals raising the stakes and getting this story out to as many contacts as possible.

These links give some good insight into just how much hard work has gone into getting awareness of the story:
https://twitter.com/#search?q=%23tsafail
http://wthashtag.com/Tsafail
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Old Dec 30, 2009, 10:16 pm
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Originally Posted by sefrischling
The agent in the image is a TSA Special Agent, which is a Federal Agent, gun and all. Trust me, I saw their credentials, hard to miss their side arms, especially when they are in your house for a few hours.
I know you've had a horrible couple of days that would never want to have but something doesn't sound correct about this TSA guy. It sounds like he's a Govenment employee yet has a private business that can benefit financially from his action as a Government employee.

Last edited by Olton Hall; Dec 30, 2009 at 10:23 pm
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