Saturday, February 12, 2011

"Citizen Beats TSA: You Have the Right to Fly Without Showing ID"

Citizen Beats TSA: You Have the Right to Fly Without Showing ID

Posted by Greg Scott Big Brother, _Featured_ Friday, January 28th, 2011

A Win For Citizens Against Tyranny

Yesterday was a win for the U.S. Constitution and civil rights. Phil Mocek was found “NOT GUILTY” of all charges by six female jurors after being arrested last November 2009, while in a TSA security checkpoint in the Albuquerque airport on his way to his Southwest Airlines flight.
Phil Mocek was exercising his Constitutional right to travel according to papersplease.org. It isn’t completely clear as to what exactly triggered his arrest though he was officially charged with criminal trespass, resisting, obstructing or refusing to obey a lawful order of an officer, concealing his identity with intent to obstruct, intimidate, hinder or interrupt, and disorderly conduct.
Regardless of all of the allegations, the prosecution did not prove that Mocek broke any laws. He did not attempt to conceal his identity and he behaved in a calm, peaceful, nonviolent manner. Many citizens are intimidated by the TSA but Mr. Mocek stood up for his his right of transit by the airline as a common carrier was guaranteed by Federal law, through the airport and the TSA checkpoint and by the First Amendment, and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Papersplease.org is curious to know if Mr. Mocek was arrested for refusing to show identification credentials, holding back information about his identity, and/or perhaps attempting to photograph and record his interactions with the TSA and police – all of which were activities protected by the First Amendment and other laws.
Paperplease.org hopes Mocek’s acquittal will encourage others to stand up for their rights and not be bullied by the TSA. They state that this includes demands to waive your Fifth Amendment rights, providence evidence of identity, and submit to virtual naked body scanners which a judge has now allowed the Department of Homeland Security to store and keep scanned images secret, being groped, as well as photographing and recording encounters with the TSA and the local law enforcement officers.
If you want to know your rights when your travel, papersplease.org has provided a full FAQ on their website which can also be viewed here:

TSA “screeners” are not law enforcement officers. Despite wearing police-type uniforms and calling themselves “officers”, they have no police powers and no immunity from any state or local laws. At some airports, notably San Francisco (SFO) and Kansas City (MCI), they aren’t government employees at all, but rent-a-cops employed by a private contractor. They cannot legally arrest or detain you (except as a citizen’s arrest, the same way you can arrest them if they commit assault or battery). All they can do is call the local police.
You have the right to remain silent, including when questioned by TSA “Behavior Detection Officers.” Anything you say may be used against you.
You have the 1st Amendment right to film, photograph, and record what happens in public areas of airports, including your interactions with TSA and screeners. Photography and recording in airports and at TSA checkpoints violates no Federal law or TSA regulation. Any state or local laws that purport to prohibit this are likely to be unconstitutional. You have the right, for your own protection, to document what happens to you and what is done to you.
You have the right not to be assaulted or battered (sexually or otherwise), falsely arrested, unlawfully detained, or kidnapped. You should consult the applicable laws, including local laws, and/or an attorney if you plan to do any of these things, but you have the right to make a criminal complaint and/or a citizen’s arrest of someone who assaults you, and/or to sue them for damages.
Under most airlines’ conditions of carriage, you have the right to a full and unconditional refund if the airline refuses to transport you because you won’t show ID or won’t “consent” to whatever they want to do to you in the name of “screening”. Read this first: Here’s what to do to protect your right to a refund. If the airline refuses to give you a full refund, you can sue them for damages and request that the US Department of Transportation investigate and fine them.
If an airline cancels your reservation or refuses to transport you, you may be entitled to collect damages, and you can request that the US Department of Transportation (and, if you were denied passage to the USA from another country, that country’s authorities) investigate and fine or impose other sanctions on the airline.
You have the right to freedom of movement, guaranteed by the First Amendment (”the right of the people… peaceably to assemble”) and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a human rights treaty to which the US is a party: “Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence. Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own…. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.” Federal law (49 USC § 40101, part of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978) requires the TSA to consider “the public right of freedom of transit” by air when it issues regulations.