User:Primalbeing/John Tyner

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John Tyner is an American software engineer and blogger from Oceanside, California. He came to public attention in the United States and worldwide press when on November 13, 2010 he posted on his blog and on YouTube video footage and a personal account of an incident that occurred that morning at San Diego Airport.

Incident at San Diego Airport

Tyner was going through security screening at the airport in order to board a flight to go on a hunting trip with his father-in-law. As part of the screening procedure, he was asked by a TSA employee to submit to screening by a full body scanning machine. When he refused, he was told that alternatively to being screened by the machine he would need to undergo a pat-down by a TSA agent. A male agent came and escorted him to an area where the pat-down was to take place. The agent explained to him that the pat-down would include a "groin check" and would involve the agent touching Tyner's inner thigh. Tyner told the agent "if you touch my junk I'm gonna have you arrested". The agent summoned a supervisor, and an argument ensued, with Tyner insisting that he should not have to consent to what would legally be defined as a sexual assault if it were performed by anyone other than a representative of the federal government, as a precondition to flying. Tyner was eventually told that he would not be able to fly and would have to be escorted out of the airport. He was escorted back to the unsecure area of the airport and to the airline counter, where his ticket was refunded, and was about to leave the airport when a TSA representative accosted him and told him that he was not allowed to leave the airport after having started the screening procedures, and that he would need to accompany him back to the screening area or face a lawsuit and a potential $10,000 civil fine for violation of airport security regulations. Tyner asked whether he was being forced to remain in the airport, and when the agent clarified that he was not being detained, but that leaving the airport could result in a lawsuit, Tyner left.

Aftermath of the incident

The incident received wide coverage in the press and on the internet due to the way it highlighted the increasingly invasive and unpleasant security procedures implemented at airports in the United States by the TSA the Department of Homeland Security as a measure to prevent terrorism on airplanes, and probably also thanks to Tyner's memorable phrase "If you touch my junk I'm gonna have you arrested". Tyner's principled stand against being (in his words) sexually molested and his refusal to cave in to TSA demands, at the cost of not being allowed to fly and the risk of a lawsuit and fine, helped galvanize a public outcry against invasive airport security procedures that are either degrading and offensive (pat-downs) or violate passenger's privacy (the use of full body scanners), and are deemed by some to violate the fourth amendment protection of the U.S. Consitution against unreasonable search and seizure. The TSA's procedures, under fire by critics, are currently being debated by the public and legislative bodies. On Novmeber 17, TSA chief John Pistole defended the TSA's screening policies in a Senate committee hearing, and was quoted as saying "I’m not going to change the policy".

External links

• John Tyner's blog
• Wikipedia article on air safety