Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
- 58,308
- 5,100
- 245
It seems that the TSA is trying out some behavioral profiling after all. I just do not get why complaining about stupidity is a sign that you might be doing something wrong. This seems like another excuse to take away our rights, and a way to formalize "contempt of cop" into suspicious behavior.
TSA security looks at people who complain about ... TSA security - CNN.com
CNN has obtained a list of roughly 70 "behavioral indicators" that TSA behavior detection officers use to identify potentially "high risk" passengers at the nation's airports. Many of the indicators, as characterized in open government reports, are behaviors and appearances that may be indicative of stress, fear or deception. None of them, as the TSA has long said, refer to or suggest race, religion or ethnicity.
But one addresses passengers' attitudes towards security, and how they express those attitudes.
It reads: "Very arrogant and expresses contempt against airport passenger procedures."
TSA officials declined to comment on the list of indicators, but said that no single indicator, taken by itself, is ever used to identify travelers as potentially high-risk passengers. Travelers must exhibit several indicators before behavior detection officers steer them to more thorough screening.
But a civil liberties organization said the list should not include behavior relating to the expression of opinions, even arrogant expressions of opinion.
"Expressing your contempt about airport procedures -- that's a First Amendment-protected right," said Michael German, a former FBI agent who now works as legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "We all have the right to express our views, and particularly in a situation where the government is demanding the ability to search you."
TSA security looks at people who complain about ... TSA security - CNN.com