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Security Tips for Traveling with Tech Gear
securitas writes "Many Slashdotters will be traveling during the next week and PC World has an article about how to travel with tech gear with a minimum of security hassles. The Transport Security Administration maintains an allowable and banned items list (PDF) that you might want to check. Make sure that you have fully charged batteries for any tech gifts you received. I've had big hassles with all the tech gear that I routinely carry, especially when combining business trips with a vacation. One security screener even asked me to log in, decrypt and look at files on my notebook's desktop, which was unnecessarily invasive (not to mention against my then-employer's security policy). He settled for viewing the secure login screen 'to make sure it worked.' Any other horror stories out there?"
I thought this article has some nice information. I printed it out and will be handing this to my father-in-law, sister-in-law, and my two brothers.
Yes, yes, but aren't you getting a bit extreme? Why not type a short sentence into notepad and save it to your desktop for this occasion? This way everyone's happy.
A captain has the authority to refuse to take you on board for whatever reason he/she thinks is appropriate and no-one can do anything about it.
If cracking a bad joke about planes and tall buildings whilst queueing for the check-in can make you miss your flight, giving the security a hard time will certainly disqualify you from the flight.
The owls are not what they seem
I was traveling recently for a factory acceptance test for a peice of industrial equipment. We brought our own PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) with the power supply, CPU, and a couple of I/O cards. Because this is relatively expensive and fragile equipment, we took it carry on - BIG MISTAKE!!!
They made us unpack everything (hassle, but understandable), then they wanted us to try and turn it on and see what it did. When we tried to explain that it required a special power supply to hook into (it is 110, but not a normal plug) and even if we turned it on, without any I/O devices hooked up to the I/O cards, they would see nothing but a couple of LED lights flashing. That made them even more mad.
We tried to show them the manuals for the stuff, hoping that would ease some fears - hah, the techno babble irritated them more.
Fortunately, we were at the airport with lots of time to spare, so we jumped on the cell phone, called a co-worker who then rushed over and picked up the stuff. We had him run it over to a Fed-Ex station and ship it to us at the vendors. Luckily we only lost about 6 hrs of testing time and a bunch of $$$ for shiping costs, but the agrivation and irritation suffered was significant.
Maybe if the TSA hired people with a IQ over 50, things would run a little smoother.
"Murderer? Well, that's a harsh word. I prefer to think of myself as a Mortality Technician."
i was told to go back to the counter and check in a handful of tools i was carrying in (pliers, a bike spanner, a half inch wrench, and a couple of seven-sixteenths wrenches). small stuff really, but apparently since they haven't specified exactly how large of a tool can or can't be brought onto a plane, no wrenches or metal tools can go on board.
When some members of my family were in the US recently, they noticed that people's shoes were checked - except those who were wearing trainers.
Someone should tell the relevant authorities that shoe bomber Richard Reid concealed his explosives in trainers.
Using HTML in email is like putting sound effects on your phone calls. Just say <strong>no</strong>.
I've send my PDA and digital camera w/ memory sticks through X-ray many times, without any apparent data loss.
I've also noticed that in some airports, they've put up stickers on the X-ray equipment stating that they are safe for such devices.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I believe Israel used a working cell phone to kill Yahya Ayyash, a member of Hamas, in 1996. Still El Al seems pretty content if you can make your digital camera turn on, but insisted on opening all the snacks i had brought.
Don't forget the TSA screeners have the ability to ban you from flying. For life. I wouldn't risk it.
Are you a baggage handler by any chance? ;) According to the new rules, you are not supposed to lock your check-in baggage, and if you do, the screeners are allowed to break the lock. I've had enough friends and family members finding that this way things were stolen from their baggage, especially when they flew overseas. As a result, the only think I'm still comfortable with putting into my luggage is my underwear.
In general I've been pleased with how the TSA has run the check points, The level of professionalism among screeners has gone up and gotten more consistant than it was before. Plus they all speak English now (a problem in the past).
Some of this seems to have been fixed. The new list explicitly allows most of the "silly" items, like nail files, blunt scissors, and butter knives.
"But all your emitter and collector are belong to me!"
The FCC doesn't care about 802.11 because (a) they don't care about 802.11 hotspot disruption and (b) said disruption can't happen anyway since 802.11 range is at best about 300 feet, not 30,000.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
They stopped requiring booting laptops a while back. Most US airports I've flown thru use instead chemical "sniffer" devices --they wipe your laptop with a sticky pad and then scan the pad in the sniffer machine. Much better than a simple boot...
"But all your emitter and collector are belong to me!"
I think if the guy wanted to see secure files, it was a misunderstanding.. they are not allowed to ask to look at confidential documents. They ARE allowed to make you prove to their satisfaction the computer is real. That's their job.
Now, yeah, they aren't geeks, how could they be qualified to determine if i'ts real? We could fake one easily? True enough.. but the fact remains: if they think it's not real, it's your problem to prove otherwise. Being calm, and explaining the situation rather than saying "you are trying to look at my confidential documents!" is likely to get you where you need to go.. often they may not realize the implications of what they are asking.
Second... the best advice I have for travelling is pack light. EIther put most of your stuff in your checked bags, or if it's a short trip and you just have carryon, don't bring every toy you have. Look as normal as possible when travelling, not like some geek freak. A laptop and an mp3 player is normal enough, and not likely to cause you problems.
Pack light, don't be that guy in line who holds up the plane, and don't be that guy who gets on the aircraft and makes everyone wait behind him as he tries to stuff his overpacked bags into the overhead bins.