Secrets and Laws

Jesse Walker | January 19, 2005

Another mystery regulation from the TSA. Or from an airline applying a unique interpretation to the TSA's rules. Or just from an airline using the TSA as an excuse. Who can tell?

Comments

|1.19.05 @ 10:51AM|#

After several minutes, her supervisor appeared and said, after introducing himself, "Sir, this is for your own protection."

Oh well, you should have said so! Please, let me give you a complete rundown!

|1.19.05 @ 10:57AM|#

God, I am so glad I don't need to fly.

|1.19.05 @ 11:00AM|#

Funny, when I was going through customs, after the customs agent found out I had been in Egypt, he asked me what I did and who I worked for. My girlfriend, who had the same itinerary, but an Anglo name, didn't get asked the question. Since, I had a connecting flight, I decided to answer the question without a stink.

|1.19.05 @ 11:00AM|#

Keeping my friends names and adresses a secret from total strangers would be for my own (and their own) protection.

Brendan Perez|1.19.05 @ 11:13AM|#

Is it a crime to lie about who you're staying with?

"Who's Jack Mehoffer and Richard Harder?"
I was going to suggest the default and cliched "Michael Hunt", but figured it was too obvious. Well, maybe not, we are talking TSA personnel here...

Side note-I had a slightly "learning disabled" kid in my high school art class named Richard Harder. He never passed up an opporitunity to put down "Harder,Dick" as his name.
/good times

|1.19.05 @ 11:44AM|#

Why is the rest of the story omitted in the link? Did "Take Scissors Away" force him to surrender his friends' addresses to the database?

Was he subjected to more official harrassment/intimidation after his protests to the supervisor?

|1.19.05 @ 12:09PM|#

Anyone who actually reads the link (and the link to the letter he sent) will note that after he challenged the "potentially" non-existent reg (is a law really a law if a bear can't hear it from the pope's ass...or something like that) it was determined that since he was a platinum flyer with AA, whe did not have to comply with said attempt at Leninism.
"Sir, I'm sorry, you are a Platinum AAdvantage member and shouldn't have been asked this
question."-Supervisor

Cory's question in his letter to AA: Do non-Platinum flyers have to provide dossiers on their friends on demand from an AA officer? Why?

My Question...I love CD's work, especially Down and out in the magic kingdom....I know he lived in the US prior to moving to the UK, where does he hold his citizenship, I think he is a US citizen, for what miniscule value that has in the face of our new found love of soviet style rules and regs.

|1.19.05 @ 12:15PM|#

Brendan Perez,

It is almost always illegal to lie to a fed. Check out Martha Stewart, not convicted of lying under oath, not convicted of insider trading, but convicted of lying to fed agents.
You may have the right to not speak, but when you do....

|1.19.05 @ 12:18PM|#

Goiter, the "It's for your own safety" line appears to be incredibly effective on the sheeple, based on the travelers I see interviewed every time a new (almost certainly useless) security measure is imposed. "A full body cavity search for my 8 year-old daughter? Well, if it makes flying safer...."

Cory Doctorow|1.19.05 @ 12:28PM|#

I'm a Canadian, actually -- also, keep in mind that this *wasn't* a fed! These questions were posed by the *airline*, who said that the Feds required them to ask them.

|1.19.05 @ 12:29PM|#

I don't think people would feel safe is flying was convenient.

|1.19.05 @ 1:07PM|#

I've so far been rather unsuccessful in getting others around me on the snaking TSA lines to hum "We shall overcome" along with me.

|1.19.05 @ 5:08PM|#

I don't know how "We Shall Overcome" goes, but while in line I can go "moo" or "baa."

|1.19.05 @ 5:09PM|#

... or I can say, "There'd better be a damn big piece of cheeze at the end of this maze."

|1.19.05 @ 5:21PM|#

Goiter, the "It's for your own safety" line appears to be incredibly effective on the sheeple

SR, praytell, what on earth would make you say such a thing? I know that what the people in charge do for me is in my own best interests, don't you?

|1.19.05 @ 10:20PM|#

Somebody's been watching "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events".

|1.19.05 @ 10:39PM|#

Stevo, you can't say any of those things. There a sign posted at the beginning of the line that specifically outlaws indigination.

That and if you're too snippy, the TSA guard can use his powers to detain you at his discretion. For any reason he that pops in his head.

Don't forget to take off your shoes.

The sad part is that any creative and determined person can get what they want onto a plane, while Johnny Testosterone frisks old ladies.

|1.20.05 @ 1:44AM|#

Customs handles international incoming, not TSA.
TSA only worries about who and what gets on planes inside the US.
And if you don't like the lines and searches: would you prefer no searches? More cursory searches? Arm every wingnut who wants to fly? Hire one federal security agent for every prospective flyer?

|1.20.05 @ 1:57AM|#

And, yeah, if you cause trouble you will almost certainly miss your flight, probably pay a fine, and possibly go up on charges, depending on how annoying you are.
If you've ever worked retail, picture the obtuse, snippy customers getting up in your face, claiming they're "always right." Then remember that TSA isn't selling anything, and doesn't have to worry about turning a profit.

|1.20.05 @ 2:02AM|#

But, yeah, as for the original article:
people impersonate cops, airline people might pull stuff and claim it's 'TSA rules.'
Question authority, yeah, especially authority that smells fake.