Camera vs. the TSA
 

Wanna see a TSO look dumbfounded for like, 5 minutes? Make them read something from their own propoganda ministry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfNbj...layer_embedded

I give a ^ to the TSA employee. It doesn't look like his training covered passengers rights, including allowed photography at the check point thoroughly enough. When presented with new information, he integrated with it what what he knew and used that new knowledge to make a quick, correct and well thought out decision.

As to the 'dumbfounded' it looks like he was taking the time giving it a thorough read.

If more TSA employees were open to being educated, or TSA training covered more on passengers' rights there would be a lot less issues.
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The gentleman taking the video is Carlos Miller, of Photography is not a Crime. Carlos has been flighting the photography battle for a while now. He focuses on law enforcement, 'public' non-sworn security and private security as the subject of the photo/video and where people's rights are being violated.

Of course, if the TSA's "training" covered the right stuff, maybe they'd waste less taxpayer dollars in "retraining" the idiots who just make stuff up and then try to enforce their made-from-whole-cloth "rules."

I agree. The TSA employee was typical in that he was unaware of his own agency's rules. Like most TSA employees he didn't really know what he was doing. He was, however, exceptional in that he was willing to be educated. That puts him ahead of 90% of his co-workers in my book.

I consider him exceptional in being able to cover his own ignorance quickly - note the section in which he immediately finds the only possible applicable rule: "No photographing the screens" and claims that it applies to the entire checkpoint.

When confronted with the simple fact that he's *wrong* he doesn't immediately admit it. He simply adjusts his argument so that he appears to be less of a moron than he really is.

I see it a bit differently.

TSA took the time to post on the TSA blog a big piece about checkpoint photography. I would hope they did something in the same light on the TSA internal communications so everyone would be on the same page.

If they did then this TSA employee making decisions missed that. If not this TSA person making decisions is still responsible for knowing TSA policy and it seems very clear they did not.

I never saw the stripes this guy had but based on the conversation I'm betting he was a two or possibly a three striper. If that is true and he did not know TSA policy on this matter then he should have the stripes removed.

Of course expecting TSA to hold employees accountable and require them to know policy is just one of my pipe dreams.

What bothers me about this specific situation isn't so much that he didn't know the rules, it's that he made one up. The fake rule probably didn't originate with this particular screener, but somewhere along the line, screeners are making up and passing along countless fake rules. What's with that??

I agree. If the sceeners can remember fake rules, why can't they remember the REAL rules?

I think the video shows once more that TSA isn't in control of its training processes and security processes if a passenger could walk in with piece of paper that the TSOs would then use in place of the telephone-game rules stored in their heads.

If the actual rules were accessible at the checkpoint in some usable form, then the TSO wouldn't have to read and apply the potential terrorist's representation of the rules.

It's a similar defect to checking the potential terrorist's credentials against the potential-terrorist-supplied boarding pass.

I agree with Mr. Gel-pack.

What kind of security is that? If anyone can bring in a print out from a website and convince a screener that those are the rules, then we should all be concerned.
I can fabricate anything on a computer with all the bells & whistles of official DHS/TSA emblems and make it look so official, yet it contains absolute false info.
Getting a TSA screener to change their minds over some website print out is scary, and in this case it was harmless, but maybe next time it will not be.

The person presenting the the rules did so in a rational fashion. The TSA employee probably in the back of his mind remembered "Don't photograph the screens". This happened once. Is it likely behavior for a terrorist to sneak through or call extra attention to themselves?

There have been many Joe and Jane travelers who have showed up at the CP with printouts of the web site, which documented legitimate rules, and were told to go and get stuffed. No numbers exist on how many times the events in the video have occurred at a CP where Joe or Jane brought the rules, and the TSA employee followed the rules after bring reminded.

If someone probing the CP does this, it's no guarantee that they will get the same result from TSA. If they actually try and create a piece of paper that says they can bring in something explosive there's still a chance that ETD will catch it, assuming the bag X-Ray doesn't show something weird. If it's a non-explosive prohibited item they intend to use, the cockpit door and passengers/cabin crew will make this likely to fail.

If we call common sense a security issue, we can kiss common sense good bye.

...or just locked in the Plexiglas "penalty box" until after their flight left, but I'm pretty sure that sort of punitive measure happens more often when the traveler is a regular who filed a complaint about the DSOs at that checkpoint the week before.

+1

It just amazes me that these clerks can't remember the rules.. If I were in charge, they would be fired on the spot, especially if they lied to pax.

You can see some of their other experiences with TSA & Miami PD on this video.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8pkK...ist=QL&index=1

Yeah, I can see that. Its cool that he was willing to recognize the error. I'm thoroughly convinced that they are trained to tell pax that filming is against the law. We've seen it too many times. I think the low level managers push them to do this, while the propoganda ministry proclaims that this is still a free country, and people aren't being told to stop filming at checkpoints.

Just like you're told you can opt out in the media or blog, but not at the checkpoint. And if you do opt out, you'll be questioned like you're doing something wrong. I don't think the front line workers are just doing this on their own.

The Terrorists/TSA Have Won...
 

...because I finally watched the video. I make my claim because of the comment his mother made at the very end of the video: "I was afraid they were going to arrest you."

The screening clerk appeared calm and didn't do a full-testosterone attack on Carlos. But, I'll be he was throwing things around back in the break room. He was "had" and he knew it.

Agreed. I don't think the average Blue Zeppelin is intelligent enough to formulate their own rules. It's being pushed down from somewhere above.

One "problem" with what happened here, is a person like myself could easily fake a TSA website printout. I could make the printed page contain all the correct markings in all the correct places. It's very easy for a "geek" to do this. It would be completely indistinguishable from a genuine printout of the genuine website, except that whatever text I wanted to change would be different.

However, I'm not sure I could come up with a suitably creative idea, as far as what to change, to be useful or demonstrative at all. Plus, there's the 0.00001% chance of getting caught, and this is probably a huge crime - though they may have a tough time proving you actually did it, since it is easy to blame it on other types of electronic abuse by an unknown third party. Somebody who's actually attempting to do something illegal would obviously not care about the legality much.

How about emphasizing that pies or certain sterile medical liquids are not to be treated as liquids and therefore do not need anything more than x-ray.
The two alternatives for medical liquids are x-ray or visual screening, and if they can't be cleared visually, they don't fly. Per http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav...al_1374.shtm#4 it's visual or x-ray -- you can't sample and swab a hypochondriac's PETN-cut and sealed homeopathic remedy without letting him choose the other alternatives of x-ray or refusal. Adding that same language to BB's foodie posts would help "clarify" the ill-specified additional screening procedures for the under-trained TSOs and allow the passenger to walk back out of the X-ray with a suspicious but un-swabbed terror-pie, exactly as they commonly allow the potential terrorists carrying suspicious, but un-swabbed high energy drinks.

And hey, if you are one of the less-than-1-in-a-many-billion mythical terrorists that actually manages to get caught by TSA, a forged blog post will be the least of your worries.

It's not that they haven't been told what's prohibited and what's not. It's not that they can't remember the rules. It's just that some people enjoy hassling other people. That's all it is about with these fake rules at the checkpoint.

My niece read the TSA website and chatted up a rep at SWA before she booked a return ticket home. She had ridden with family members in the car when she came to visit me and didn't bring her DL on the trip, and she was trying to sort out whether she might be able to fly back without ID.

When we got to the airport, the document checker acted like he had never heard of such a thing as flying without ID and basically told her that until she produced ID she wouldn't be flying. She heard him out, let an awkward pause pass for a few seconds, and then said "I've read the TSA website; I've talked to Southwest; I know this is do-able; I'm willing to undergo additional scrutiny."

I was busy calling up the TSA website on my phone and was going to show it to him, if he didn't back off. He called for a supervisor and it was resolved, but it was pretty clear he was just getting his jollies making up a rule that resulted in hassling a young woman. He wasn't stupid, he wasn't ignorant...he was just small and needed to feel willy, willy big for a few seconds.

Was it a fake rule or one that was made up locally by the FSD.

It was made up by somebody, and I'm not sure it matters who made it up.