When a TSA agent left a “highly inappropriate” note in a female passenger’s bag, there were bound to be valuable lessons learned for everyone involved.
For the passenger: lawyer and feminist blogger Jill Filipovic, it was about discretion. When she tweeted about her privacy violation, the incident made waves online and off.
“Lesson learned: Don’t tweet anything you don’t want to appear on The View,” she quipped.
For the TSA agent involved, there were far more serious repercussions. The individual has been identified and removed from his or her position and “appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated,” according to the TSA blog.
While its unclear what disciplinary action is taking place, (“Let me guess. They were sent to sensitivity training and will be on the job again in a week,” one comment on the TSA blog post read.) none of it gives Filipovic any consolation.
“When I put it on Twitter,” she told the Daily Dot via email, “I was hoping it would open up a bigger conversation about privacy rights, or lack thereof, in post-9/11 America. It unfortunately hasn’t done that, and even more unfortunately has turned into a media circus.”
In a blog post on Feministe, Filipovic elaborated that she’s not happy with the way the incident has been resolved. She said she hoped it would launch an investigation on “security theater,” not threaten the job of a person that made a mistake. Now, she’s just trying to move on.
“I would imagine that the TSA agent in question feels the same way I do at this point,” she said. “I just want this story to go away.”