So, for anyone who has been following the saga of the TSA's new "scope-n-grope" security requirements, the now-infamous experience of the "Don't touch my junk" guy, John Tyner, has gone viral worldwide.
After being shunted from the standard metal detector line in favor of the Naked Machine, he opted out of going through that scanner, and was diverted to secondary screening. After having the procedure described to him (which, the TSA officer did appropriately as they should), Tynan declared, "If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested." And then things got really really interesting from there.
The audio (and some limited video) of the incident was captured using his cell phone which he turned on before placing in the bin for inspection.
After objecting to the Naked Machine and the enhanced patdown procedure, he was then escorted back to the airline ticket counter where he was refunded by the airline for the flight he wouldn't be taking that day. But before he could leave, he was then told by a plainclothes TSA agent that they would be bringing charges against him that could result in a fine of $11,000.
This is the point that this diary is about. $11,000? Really? So, what law is it that that says if you don't want to either have naked electronic images taken of yourself, or that you don't want to have your private parts felt up by a total stranger, all in order to just fly on an airplane, that you could be charged $11,000 for not complying? I was skeptical. I had never heard of a law that said if you changed your mind and decided to leave the security area that there was somehow anything wrong with doing so. In all of the articles I had read thus far on the incident, I also had not seen any reference to a specific law of any kind to that effect.
But. Apparently there is.
The actual answer is slightly complicated....it's sort of correct (in the regard that there could be a fine), and sort of not (in that it's nowhere near $11K).
The correct answer (at least according to the information I was able to dig up in my own meager research) is that you can indeed have fines imposed for two items that seemed to apply:
- Entering Sterile Area Without Submitting To Screening $1,000 - $3,000
(49 C.F.R. § 1540.107)
- Entering or being present within a secured area, $1,000-$3,000
AOA, SIDA, or sterile area without complying with
the systems measures or procedures being applied
to control access to, or presence or movement in,
such areas.
(49 C.F.R. § 1540.105(a)(2))
These seem to be the only items that could apply to the situation where one starts to go through security, decides they don't want to comply, understands they then won't fly, and just wants to leave the airport.
You will notice, however, that the fines for those items range from $1,000 - $3,000. Nowhere near he $11,000 mark that the TSA rep apparently mentioned.
But, looking further at the document I referenced, there are a couple of items that go as high as $10,000. What are they? Well, for having the following discovered on your person while going through a TSA security checkpoint:
- Explosives
a. Blasting Caps, Dynamite, Hand grenades, $6,000 - $10,000
Plastic explosives & All other "high explosives" Plus Criminal Referral
or for having the same in your checked luggage:
- Explosives
a. Blasting Caps, Dynamite, Hand grenades, $6,000 - $10,000
Plastic explosives & All other "high explosives" Plus Criminal Referral
Now, I think that deciding you don't want to be felt up by a total stranger, and as a result accepting the consequences of not flying, really isn't on par with the penalities of showing up at a TSA checkpoint with a live grenade in your pocket, wouldn't you agree? As a result, whoever that plainclothes TSA person was (assuming there is not more current information to the contrary) that threatened Tyner with an $11,000 fine was pretty much full of crap, and was making their best effort at intimidating and bullying Tyner into "cooperating" far past the point that he was required to.
First off, if you're going to threaten someone with penalties and fines, at least have the decency to make sure they are the correct ones. Especially when they are something that any random person can verify doing a google search. If I can look that up in seconds, you can bet that someone's civil liberties attorney can Encyclopedia Brown the hell out of that in less than that.
Second, give fair warning.
In all of the various experiences I've read about (and there are many), a common theme I have seen is that no one has reported seeing any signage at any airport about the new procedures one will be subjected to at that airport as a requirement of getting on the airplane. Not only are there no reports of such signage, there are many, MANY reports that specifically say they haven't seen any information at all at airports on the new scanner or patdown procedures.
There are signs about putting one's liquids in a ziploc baggie, hell I recall recently even still seeing signs about how you don't have to put unexposed camera film through the x-ray machines. I find this terribly amusing since I honestly can't remember the last time I used an actual "film" camera instead of a digital one.
But, there are no signs that outline what you are now subjecting yourself to in this new era of Scope-n-Grope, or what you rights are in regards to these procedures. So, you will likely be entering the security area of an aiaport without knowledge of the following:
* The AIT scanner (aka Naked Machine) captures images of your naked body under your clothes to be viewed by TSA personnel.
* The AIT scanner exposes you to low levels of radiation, the effects of which are cumulative over a lifetime.
* That you have the right to opt-out of that scanner in favor of a physical pat-down.
* That going through the AIT scanner doesn't mean you couldn't also be pulled aside for secondary screening and a physical pat-down anyway.
* That the new patdown procedures will likely involve having a TSA screener touch on your breasts, buttocks, and genetalia, both outside and possibly inside of your clothing.
* That this procedure can be performed on anyone even, if they deem it necessary, a child of any age.
* That you have the right to have this procedure conducted in private.
* That if you are pulled aside for this secondary screening you have the right to stay within visual sight of your belongings.
* That if you are pulled aside for secondary screening, you have the right to have a traveling companion present.
* That this pat-down should be performed by someone who is the same sex as the traveler (for whatever dubious comfort that may be worth).
* If you decide not to complete the security screening procedure once you've started it, you not only won't get to fly, but you could also be subject to up to $3,000 in fines for not doing so.
Most people don't know their rights in these situations, and TSA personnel are not only not going to help protect those rights, they likely don't know and don't care. The evidence thus far suggests that they certainly aren't trained in respecting the rights of travelers whatsoever.
If you are going to travel by airplane in the near future (and with the forthcoming Thanksgiving holiday, it's likely that many will), it's important that you not only know your rights, but that you are able to prepare yourself and your family members for the gauntlet they may be faced with when they arrive at the airport on their way to grandma's house this holiday season.