Agency Making Good On Threat To Look At Fines Up To $11,000

John Tyner, who (by now) famously told a TSA screener "if you touch my junk, I'm going to have you arrested," is reportedly being investigated by the federal agency.

Sign On San Diego is reporting that the head of the TSA office at San Diego Airport said during a Monday news conference that the incident was under investigation. Michael Aguilar said the civil penalties could range up to $11,000.

When asked why not the $10,000 that was mentioned in the video recording made by Tyner last Saturday, Aguilar reportedly said "That's the old fine. It's been increased."

Tyner's story has obviously touched a nerve with those who are very concerned about privacy issues stemming from the use of backscatter body scanners and "enhanced" pat-down procedures recently put in place by TSA. During the news conference, Aguilar said that Tyner was not facing anything more than the standard pat-down. (But that is not the impression one gets from listening to the audio on Tyner's blog post, ed.)

Aguilar said that, once a person enters the security area, they have a "legal obligation" to allow the process to go to completion. He also said that the more aggressive pat-down was not designed to encourage more people to submit to the scan.

He did caution people about staging a protest against the scanners on "National Opt-Out Day." He called the effort to encourage people to forgo the use of the device that is "in place specifically to protect the public." 'really irresponsible'."

FMI: www.tsa.gov