The TSA's Michael Bay-style Blogger Hunters: Privacy Rapists [Bloggers In Peril]
Author: Foster Kamer

The TSA's looking not-so-great these days, seeing as how their uber-reactionary measures to security breaches could technically be classified as some "PT Barnum-level shit." So how do you think they react when bloggers leak their directives? Subpoenas and door-busting, naturally.

Remember Enemy of the State? Or The Net? Or even Hackers? They were movies about people who got their hands on information—by accident or otherwise—the government basically wanted to kill them over. Civil rights and due process go out the window, and commence shady government agents showing up at your door. Most of the time, the information they get is often something the public should know, or isn't that valuable, except for the people who hold it proprietary, simply because it's proprietary.

A blogger named Chris Elliott got the memo on those new asinine TSA regulations leaked to him by someone on the inside. And of course: he didn't know who it was! He published the leak, and as it turned out, it wasn't anything people didn't already know (or were about to know). But the TSA was pissed. So: what'd they do to figure out who leaked the document? Try "showing up at his door to steal his computer."

Though there are cute anecdotes to the story like this:

(Incidentally, my kids liked Special Agent Flaherty. They've been calling him "our friend from the TSA" all evening. Probably because he had a cool badge and got along with the cats.)

This blogger makes the TSA look leaky, and the TSA gets a federal subpoena and sends their agents down to play with the guy's kids and cats while he gets on the phone with a lawyer and incurs legal expenses so he doesn't get his lappy jacked. Another blogger wasn't so lucky.

Steve Frischling actually did get his laptop taken away by the TSA. Again: so they could investigate the source of their leak. What's funny, though, is how they tried to do it the first time:

Frischling, founder of the Travel Strategist blog, said TSA agents came to his Connecticut home Tuesday evening to question him about his source, leaving for a brief time to go to Wal-Mart to buy a hard drive in a failed effort to copy his hard drive that night.

Since that didn't work and the Geek Squad was obviously unavailable, getting their Jungle Juice ready for the following night's festivities and all, they just took the entire computer.

On the 30th of December the same two US TSA Special Agents from the previous night returned to my home and removed my laptop from my house at approximately 10:30am and returned it around 4:20pm.

Interestingly enough, Frischling also notes that the TSA's got some nice guys working for them!

First let me say this, the two agents were polite and professional.

It's almost whimsical. If the government's gonna clamp down on you, you'd hope they'd be nice, right? And as the story ends, the TSA pulls the subpoenas and without much explanation, at that.

Frischling said he was contacted Thursday evening by TSA Deputy Chief Counsel John Drennan, who told him the agency was "no longer investigating how I came into the document." Drennan "apologized on the heavy-handed tactics the TSA agents took," Frischling said.

"Heavy-handed" would be one way to put it. "Shady and slightly rapey of due process" would be another! And the TSA is, as we're all now well-aware, familiar with this style of work. Especially since the former FBI agent the Obama administration has tapped to lead the TSA is....now being investigated for lying about violating privacy acts that keep fellas like him away from knowing what magazines I subscribe to! [Full Disclosure, guys: I haven't read AdBusters since 10th Grade.]

Elsewhere in TSA news, Obama basically said "fuck a conflict of interest, let's find the best guy to find out who did what wrong and nail them to the boards," which you know, would be nice. Except for the fact that the TSA can't actually protect us from the greatest threat in the skies right now: American Airlines pilots.

Brazilian Adventure - Summary

I did not really have to go to Brazil for the delivery of the Embraer Phenom 100 -- JetQuik demonstrated that they could have done it very professionally on their own -- but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. No doubt about it, this was an educational experience. Although a somewhat experienced pilot with 500+ hours of flying, that was a drop in the bucket compared to what I learned over the course of nearly ten days with Bill and Mark and the Embraer team. Reading a great deal about the Phenom was informative but nothing compared to spending a week in the hangar and 15+ hours in flight. It is an incredibly well engineered airplane and I will have more comments on the technology aspects of it in future posts.

After arriving in Connecticut from Ft. Lauderdale, Bill and Mark took the Phenom to Stevens Aviation in Dayton, Ohio where it is undergoing some enhancements. Embraer had thought of just about everything but not quite everything, especially in the areas of collision avoidance systems, air-to-ground communications, and audio/video. The interior walls of the plane have to be removed and a half-dozen wiring harnesses have to be installed. The FAA has to inspect and approve every minute detail. The plane will return to Connecticut before the middle of November.  Just so happens I will be in Ohio at that time for a board meeting and will return with the Phenom. 

After yet another FAA inspection, the Phenom will be put into "service" with Diamond Air Charters, Inc., a charter aviation company in Danbury. The plane will be made available to anyone through flyDiamond.com. Federal Aviation Regulation Part 135 provides stringent standards -- above and beyond what private ownership requires -- to insure excellent safety, properly trained and experienced pilots, and regular inspections of all operational aspects of the aircraft and the business. Will the demand be there? Remains to be seen but I believe it will. The VLJ -- very light jet or "microjet" -- fills a niche that is getting harder and harder to fill by normal commercial aviation. The market segment I am referring to is traveling between small and medium sized towns and cities. 

If you need to fly between San Francisco and New York City, you can not beat commercial airlines -- as of this writing $242 round trip with one stop. On the other hand if you want to go from Danbury, Connecticut to Roanoke, Virginia is costs $904 and takes seven and a half hours plus the time to drive to Laguardia and be there in time to park and get through security. In other words it takes a whole day to get there. The Phenom can go direct from Danbury to Roanoke in 80 minutes. Admittedly it is much more expensive, so it comes down to how much is your time worth. For many busy business executives their time is worth a lot. Being able to be in Roanoke in time for coffee, make a presentation, close a deal, and be home for dinner is very good from both a business and personal point of view. Roanoke is a random example -- there are more than 5,000 general aviation airports, most of which are not accessible to commercial aviation but are accessible to very light jets. The U.S. Congress put a wet towel on aviation temporarily but there is another side to the story. See No Plane No Gain.

t was a pleasure to share the Brazilian Adventure in JetBrief and patrickWeb. Below you can find links to each of the stories and a printable document that includes all the stories.

  Day 1 - Flight to Brazil  Day 2 - Intro to Sao Jose dos Campos  Day 3 - Test flight and barbecue  Day 4 - Squawks and the FAA  Day 5 - FAA Redux  Day 6 - Campos do Jordao  Day 7 - Geocaching  Day 8 - Departure and fuel  Day 9 - Caribbean islands  Day 10 - Florida to Connecticut  Trip Summary  Printable version including all the stories