I’m sure most of you today read the big news about the TSA detaining U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Surely Rand will wish to obtain a copy of the video footage of this incident, but like most who have requested checkpoint footage, it’s likely that footage simply “won’t exist.”
The TSA is finishing preparing (redacting) its reply to my FOIA request from the day the TSA detained me at FLL airport, but it has unofficially informed me that its reply will contain no video footage. Broward County, the owner of the airport, similarly said it has no video footage. Which is funny, because I distinctly remember waiving to a video camera as I exited the terminal.
So, who, exactly, owns these cameras?
We’ll find out soon.
–Jon
January 24, 2012 at 8:12 am
You would probably have to file another FOIA to learn who is the legal owner of the cameras at the airport. Then another FOIA to learn who owns the photographic media in those cameras. Then another FOIA to learn what the media contains. It obvious the TSA and associates will continue to obfuscate and delay. The TSA likes to presume legal immunity. The German Gestapo did the same.
January 24, 2012 at 9:52 am
Keep up the good work, the TSA has to be stopped. Isn’t it amazing how all the camera footage is ALWAYS gone.
January 28, 2012 at 7:41 pm
Thanks again for the update. I have just returned from a cruise ship holiday because I continue to boycott air travel, so I hadn’t heard about Sen. Rand Paul’s experience.
January 29, 2012 at 8:28 am
When the TSA wants a legal remedy, they will find a court or a judge or a legal jurdisdiction and h i d e behind it as long as it is necessary for them to obtain the desired outcome. TSA is patently disingenuous in that regard. See, State of New Mexico V. Phillip Mocek. (Mocek won the case!)