Constitutional Law

Traveling for the Holidays? Or Just Celebrating? Know Your Rights!

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU

Heading to the airport for the holidays? By now, you know there's a possibility you could be pulled aside for a secondary screening and asked to submit to naked body scanners . If you'd rather not give TSA screeners a holiday peep show, you can opt for a full-body pat-down, but just be sure to read our fact sheet that describes what that'll entail .

If you feel your rights were violated during the TSA screening process, tell us about it! (And more than 1,000 of you already have; thanks!)

But even if you breeze though security without incident, you can still take action against the TSA's naked power grab by sending a message to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano calling on her to rein in these invasive body scanner and pat-down searches, and to implement security measures that respect passengers' privacy rights. (For good measure, a copy of your message will be sent to your U.S. Senators and your member of Congress.)

And as you know, with all the festivities, especially around New Year's, there will be increased police presence on the roads. Be sure to print out and carry our Know Your Rights card in case you're stopped by law enforcement.

The ACLU wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday!

Full post as published by Blog of Rights on December 23, 2010 (boomark / email).