I really hate flying. Actually, it’s not the flying that I hate, it’s all the BS at the airports.
Here is a story by a travel writer – someone who flys all the time – about how he got harrassed and almost arrested for asking some simple questions about who was asking to see his identification at the airport.
This is a story of TSA officials and police officers run amok. And the fact that there is NO accountability for their actions make this really scary.
The TSA can (and does) refuse to let you fly for ANY reason they like. They can detain you without counsel, strip search you without permission, and have you arrested without cause.
I hate interacting with the security people at the airport and I don’t create waves. It is tempting to me to do some of these simple push-backs, but I hate the idea of getting hassled by the rent-a-thugs. And I can’t afford the lawyers to fight a case.
I’ll close this entry with the last paragraph from the story – which you should really go read – and tell you that it sums up my feelings exactly.
To give an added frisson of resemblance to countries with corrupt or dysfunctional police and governments, the people in uniform demanding people’s credentials are lying about being government employees. The real government employees watching them don’t care. And if, like me, you so much as ask a few polite questions about what is going on, you are detained, threatened with arrest, searched, investigated, your papers copied by the government for your permanent (I can only presume) dossier, and the unaccountable third party (and, in the case of an RFID passport, anyone else within range with a reader in their luggage) left with the unregulated legal “right” to use and sell any data obtained from its government-coerced scrutiny of your credentials.
Oh yeah, and the best part? The ‘regulations‘ about what the TSA can and can’t do? They are secret. You can’t see them. ‘Security‘ don’t you know. Can’t have the terrorists finding out what we check for.
Accountability? Not here.
Makes my blood boil.
