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The precedent is set: you can show up without ID, and filming the TSA is legal.

Law & Courts

Jury Finds Phil Mocek Not Guilty of All Charges From TSA Arrest

By Keegan Hamilton, Mon., Jan. 24 2011 @ 2:42PM

After an hour of deliberation Friday evening, a Bernalillo County, New Mexico, jury found Phil Mocek not guilty of all four charges he faced after refusing to show his ID and using a video recorder at a TSA checkpoint in 2009. If you're keeping score at home, that's Mocek: 1, TSA: 0.

Reached by phone, Mocek was obviously pleased with the verdict. "A jury looked over the situation and found I wasn't guilty of the things I had been accused of," he said. "That's satisfying."

Mocek says he did not plan on being arrested when he walked into the airport last November, but he did anticipate a hassle since he didn't have his ID.

"I definitely planned to fly home when I walked into the airport on that day," he says. "In the past, when I flew without ID there was always at least some additional hassle. And when I have either flown without ID, or when I presented ID but simply asked the TSA representative what would happen if I didn't have ID to show, most of the time they were not familiar with TSA's stated policies. So it's reasonable to expect that no matter the circumstance, if you go to the airport with a boarding pass and no documentation of identity, there's going to be additional hassle."

Mocek also noted the value of recording his interaction with the TSA officials, and encouraged other citizens to do the same when dealing with police and other public servants.

"People who have something to hide while working as public employees and interacting with the public tend to prefer not to have a record made of their interactions with the public," Mocek says.

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