Do Not Flush Your iPod

realjordanna writes "Clearly the bar for what is deemed as a security threat has had to be lowered — but should it be this low? When a rather embarrassed passenger loses his iPod in the lavatory — even admits to the crew his mistake, the plane is diverted to Ottawa and a bomb squad is brought in to investigate. Read the iPod owner's story and take one lesson from this kid's plight — clearly the iPod is not flushable."

Comments

Hate propaganda is illegal in Canada

[hayne]

Unlike in the US, in Canada it actually is illegal to incite hatred against any identifiable group.
See, for example: http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/41491.html
So the only surprising thing is that the customs official didn't know this.

Re:High Alert

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah Yeah AC whatever.

I just wanted to point out this exceprt from the New York State Penal Law:

Section 240.15 Criminal anarchy

  A person is guilty of criminal anarchy when (a) he advocates the overthrow of the existing form of government of this state by violence, or (b) with knowledge of its contents, he publishes, sells or distributes any document which advocates such violent overthrow, or (c) with knowledge of its purpose, he becomes a member of any organization which advocates such violent overthrow.

  Criminal anarchy is a class E felony.

Yeah, it's a little different from hate propaganda, but still.
--Murph

Re:Overreacting? Perhaps, but...

[TheOtherChimeraTwin]

Had he spoken up as soon as he'd discovered hi iPod missing and the suddenly strange behaviour of the flight attendants, they might have brushed off the incident.

He did. The problem was the flight attendants found the iPod before he discovered it was missing.

It all started when I got out of my seat to go to the bathroom. I went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and returned to my seat. A little while later the two stewardesses on the flight crossed each other in the aisle. They had a quick conversation that I was in earshot of.

"I locked off the front lav. There's something in the toilet that's preventing it from flushing. Run some water and see if you can clear it." My face immediately turned red. The seat cover! I thought. It must have been too big to flush! I should have thrown it out!

I was so embarrassed. I tried to act normal ... I took a sudden interest in the contents of the seat pocket in front of me, acted nonchalant and all. I watched as the stewardess got on her hands and knees in the lavatory and did unfathomable dirty work.

Sometime later, I decided it would be best if I forgot the whole thing happened, so I went to put on my headphones and drown myself in iPod music. But ... no iPod. I panicked, checked my other pockets. Where was it? Not under the seat, not in the pockets, not ... anywhere. I looked up to the stewardesses. One of them had run past me in a decent clip. She was carrying a green handbook. She brought it to the other stewardess. They flipped through the handbook, read a page, then made a call. The other stewardess had retrieved a blue metal box and was removing some equipment from it.

I put two and two together. I knew what had happened.

So I walked up to the stewardesses, both clamoring over the handbook, and tapped one on the shoulder.

"So, I had an iPod before I went to the bathroom, and now I don't. I think I know what's in the toilet."

Re:High Alert

[necro81]

Lots of brown-skinned muslims travelling these days will be quick to confirm from experience that when you are at the border, you really don't have any rights at all, and you have very little recourse if you are mistreated.

That could be because, when you are at or in the border, or within customs area at an airport, you aren't exactly in any country. You certainly aren't in the country that the customs area happens to be located in. Consider, for example, London Heathrow or New York's JFK: until you clear customs, you aren't officially in England or the United States. As such, what laws (and rights) apply while in this weird space aren't always clear.

I'm the guy

[riscfuture]

My name is Tim Morgan, and I'm both the author of the WoW post (Stupid), and the person mentioned in the news articles. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of you are suspicious that I am one and the same person, and rightly so. I reckon I have no real way to prove it. So ... for those willing to take it on faith (my WoW sig notwithstanding), feel free to ask me questions.

Also, I'm noticing I'm not coming off very highly in some of your comments. Oh well ... 'tis to be expected when you run the gauntlet of /.ers. :P

Re:It's not funny, don't laugh...

[ruisantos]

Let me remind you that this was an American Plane, from an American airline and the security alert was made by it's american crew.

Re:" They " won

[klang]

schools in England: pork and ham is not on the menu.
schools in England: the three little piglets is not a legal book to read
banks in Englsnd: piggy banks are banned

England is changing.