TSA's own guidelines allow photographs to be taken

In practice, this has not always been the case. It really wouldn't be the TSA though if they decided that they can do pretty much whatever they want to do, regulations be damned. (It's hard to imagine private security who operate at some airports would be much different. Even worse, they're even less accountable.) If the country is going to be subjected to this silly security theater, people should at least have the right to photograph these ridiculous actions. After all, if the TSA guidelines say it's OK, then it should be OK. Maybe it's time the full guidelines are printed and clearly posted at every TSA site, just in case there's another debate. An available hotline that is available on the spot isn't such a bad idea either.

Forbes:

My wife and I arrived at the airport for our annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage Tuesday evening, and like millions of others, came face-to-face with the TSA’s upgraded security measures. I breezed through; My wife, who apparently looks far more dangerous than I do, was pulled aside for a pat-down.

Her frisker was very polite and the procedure was barely invasive, if a bit more aggressive than in the past. But while she was being systematically searched from head to toe, I pulled out my BlackBerry to take some pictures and record a souvenir of the Great Gropefest of 2010. Within seconds I was being shouted at sternly by another TSA agent, who told me that “either you stop taking pictures, or I take your camera.” When I asked him why I couldn’t take photos of my wife in a public place, he said that it was “against the rules.”

The right to photography at TSA checkpoints matters: I was mostly hoping to show my wife her ridiculous facial expressions as she received “love pats” from a stranger. Others might hope to document real TSA abuses, or point out dangerous vulnerabilities in its security measures.