It's ok honey, it's the Government touching you!

If one is living in a free country, one is free to take photographs or videos in a public place. If government employees feel they are doing something wrong, they will intimidate you to delete what you have on your camera/video. This is not freedom!

The TSA agents knew that strip searching the child was inappropriate, otherwise they would have no problem with it being recorded.

This government paranoia is similar to what happened to us recently at the US Border at Detroit (see U.S. Border Nightmare) where my family endured 2 hours of intimidation merely because I took a camera out of my pocket to put in my car. I didn’t even intend to take a single photograph. I guess I was lucky my family wasn’t physically molested at the same time.

TSA rules state that no child under 12 is to receive the pat down (strip search). Yet children were still strip searched. TSA reiterated last week that no child was to receive the pat down. This boy was strip searched on Friday, so clearly children are still being strip searched.

Yeah, I feel a lot safer knowing that the theatre of security is strip searching little children. There are other videos on you tube of children being molested, including a 3 year old girl screaming “Don’t touch me”!

Who wants to fly to Orlando to see Mickey Mouse? Let’s teach our children that no one is to touch them inappropriately, and then watch helplessly as the government molests them. How does a child tell the difference between “It’s ok honey, it’s the government touching you”, and “I think a grown up did something bad to me, I better tell someone”.

I would like to know how many “terrorists” have been detained using this procedure? El Al, the Israeli airline, says this type of security measure is not effective. El Al screens effectively for real terrorists, not children carrying a snow globe, or other trinkets.

Can we have some real security at the airport, instead of this farce passing for security?

Let’s not forget the real reason behind these new procedures – profit, not safety.

Here is a question I have about those plastic gloves. Why are they wearing them? Are they touching you so intimately that they need to protect themselves from bodily fluids etc? Are they changing the gloves between "personal examinations"? I certainly don't want to catch anything - I would insist the inspector change their plastic gloves.

Here is another question regarding the effectiveness of the scanner/pat down security theatre. In addition to passengers' luggage, airlines routinely carry commercial shipments. How thoroughly are these items scanned? All one has to do is to send a printer cartridge through, and detonate by cell phone.

Here is a comment from the person who took the video. One person asks "Are they harrassing a kid?" I'd rather drive than fly and put my children through this.

“Lets get the facts straight first. Before the video started the boy went through a metal detector and didn't set it off but was selected for a pat down. The boy was shy so the TSA couldn't complete the full pat on the young boy. The father tried several times to just hold the boys arms out for the TSA agent but i guess it didn't end up being enough for the guy. I was about 30 ft away so i couldn't hear their conversation if there was any. The enraged father pulled his son shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent to search, thats when this video begins.

******* THIS VIDEO OCCURRED AT SALT LAKE CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ON NOVEMBER 19TH AT AROUND THE TIME OF 12:00 PM *************

After I finished videotaping the incident I went through the check point myself. I collected my things and went over to talk to the father and son. Before I could get to them a man in a black suit who had been talking with the other TSA officials approached me. He asked to speak to me and I obliged, wondering what was to come. He then proceeded to interrogate me about why I was videotaping the "procedures of the TSA". I told him that I had never seen such practices before on a young child and decided to record it. The man being frustrated at this point demanded to know my plans with the video, of which I didn't respond. Repeatedly he asked me to delete the video, hoping his mere presence could intimidate me to obey, but I refused. By this point it became obvious that he felt TSA had done something wrong and that I caught it on tape. After the interview, I left for my gate. I called my brother who told me I should put the tape on YouTube because this had been a recent hot topic in the news. My gate was a long way off, but about 15 minutes after arriving 2 TSA agents came and sat 15 feet or so away from me. I stood up and moved so that they were in front of me and then took a picture. A 3rd and then a 4th agent came and sat down with the others. They would occasionally glance at me and talk on their walkie-talkies. I don't know why they were there or if it was a huge coincidence but they stayed for 30-45 minutes and left just before I boarded the plan. Interesting to say the least, intimidating? Maybe a little... ”