Back from Yellowstone
Last night, I flew back to DC from Montana. After a cold week of rain and snow, the ninety-five degree weather in DC did not seem all that bad. However, despite the lousy weather in Yellowstone (and getting a bad cold), I enjoyed my time out there. I plan on getting my pictures sorted and online over the next week.
I was rather amused by the TSA last week while flying out from Salt Lake City. The airport had computer displays on the wall playing a video about the security process. The video included a warning that passengers should report suspicious behavior, and as an example of suspicious behavior, it showed someone taking a picture of the screening area with a camera phone.
While I'm sure that taking pictures of the screening area is security related, it has less to do with airport security and more to do with TSA job security. As security professionals know, in general, a system that is designed around the principal of "security through obscurity" will fail if exposed to intense scrutiny. Airport screening areas are highly visible areas that can be easily observed. One or two trained individuals could easily conduct complete surveillence on the area without detection, and as a result, airport security cannot rely on any details of the screening area being kept secret.
So why does the TSA want to encourage the belief that taking photos of the screening area is suspicious behavior? Photos and videos taken by passengers could document incompetent screeners, illegal behavior, and civil rights violations. Imagine what would happen to TSA if YouTube started being flooded with videos showing abusive secuity personnel, TSA agents stealing items from passengers' belongings, or TSA screeners failing to perform their jobs. TSA does not want the American public to come to the realization that the system is completely flawed, and is nothing more than mere window dressing against the threat of terrorism.
Plus, this is the same TSA that is deploying millimeter wave scanners to provide images of people under their clothes. Do you really trust some entry-level security person to not enjoy checking out pictures of your naked daughter?
I was rather amused by the TSA last week while flying out from Salt Lake City. The airport had computer displays on the wall playing a video about the security process. The video included a warning that passengers should report suspicious behavior, and as an example of suspicious behavior, it showed someone taking a picture of the screening area with a camera phone.
While I'm sure that taking pictures of the screening area is security related, it has less to do with airport security and more to do with TSA job security. As security professionals know, in general, a system that is designed around the principal of "security through obscurity" will fail if exposed to intense scrutiny. Airport screening areas are highly visible areas that can be easily observed. One or two trained individuals could easily conduct complete surveillence on the area without detection, and as a result, airport security cannot rely on any details of the screening area being kept secret.
So why does the TSA want to encourage the belief that taking photos of the screening area is suspicious behavior? Photos and videos taken by passengers could document incompetent screeners, illegal behavior, and civil rights violations. Imagine what would happen to TSA if YouTube started being flooded with videos showing abusive secuity personnel, TSA agents stealing items from passengers' belongings, or TSA screeners failing to perform their jobs. TSA does not want the American public to come to the realization that the system is completely flawed, and is nothing more than mere window dressing against the threat of terrorism.
Plus, this is the same TSA that is deploying millimeter wave scanners to provide images of people under their clothes. Do you really trust some entry-level security person to not enjoy checking out pictures of your naked daughter?
posted by David at 6/10/2008 12:26:00 AM
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