Call the TSA's Office of Strategic Comms when you're threatened with arrest for airport photography

Cory Doctorow 8:44 am Tue Nov 23, 2010

Flyingfish knows he's allowed to photograph TSA checkpoints from public areas in the airport. He knows this because it is the TSA's publicly stated position.

But a refused-to-identify-himself TSA agent and a state trooper at Hartford's Bradley International Airport don't know this, so they detained Flyingfish, told him he was in big trouble — that he had, in fact, committed a "federal offense."

Flyingfish called the TSA's Office of Strategic Communications at (571)227-2829, and within 20 minutes, Flyingfish had been released with an apology. This is an admirable degree of integrity and responsiveness from a busy federal agency.

I just wish they were as efficient at actually explaining TSA policy to their own staff.

I've just added the Office of Strategic Communications to my speed dial, along with the TSA Office of Civil Rights at (571)227-1917.

So…I Got Detained By The TSA At The Airport Today

(via Reddit)

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