MacBook Air Confuses Airport Security

Ant writes "MacNN reports that the thin design of Apple's MacBook Air is causing some confusion for the technically ignorant, according to one blogger who says that the ultra-portable caused him to miss his flight. When going through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security checkpoint, blogger Michael Nygard was held up as security staff gathered around his MacBook Air, trying to make sense of the slender laptop/notebook. One of the less technically knowledgeable staff points out the lack of standard features as cause for alarm..."

Comments

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[QuantumG]

Besides that, it seems they were confused as to which set of procedures they had to apply to it. Is it a laptop or is it an "electronic device".. Seems the definition of a laptop included a hard drive.

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[innerweb]

It really boils down to the technically ignorant doing work that requires at some point a certain minimum level of technical competence. Kind of like a PHB making computer and networking decisions. I have not flown commercial in many years. The more stories I hear from my friends who still fly, the more I will take the train. There may be a case where I will fly again some day, but not if a viable alternative is available. I used to like to fly. I liked zipping into different cities, doing my job and popping back. It was exciting. Now, it would just be painful. Not my cup of tea.

BTW, if you fly on private craft, my experience so far has been a decided lack of idiots to deal with. Kind of makes the cost and time to get a pilots license that much more attractive.

InnerWeb

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[ushering05401]

"It really boils down to the technically ignorant doing work that requires at some point a certain minimum level of technical competence. Kind of like a PHB making computer and networking decisions."

I don't think you are being fair.

Protecting travelers from new attack vectors in real time based on an x-ray and basic visual inspection is not a job that can be performed reliably with any standard skill set. What the TSA actually appears to be aiming for is people who can identify a gun/knife/conventionally designed incendiary device, so that nobody has to stand in front of the cameras after an incident and explain how we missed the conventional threat during screening.

Unconventional threats cannot reliably be prevented through the methods the TSA is currently employing, but no one wants to admit this and pierce the illusion of security that these measures provide the average traveler.

Instead of relating TSA grunts to PHBs making decisions they are not qualified to make you could keep it simple and call it what it is: Politicians fronting like they have solutions, and average citizens (TSA workers) set up to take the blame when those flimsy solutions fail.

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[Nefarious Wheel]

Kind of like a PHB making computer and networking decisions

I categorically resent that. Historically our business transformation architecture achieves multipoint synergies by the close-tracking of business channel optimisation strategies, and our decision workshopping with regard to procurement of necessary infrastructure precludes the detail assessment quid-pro-quo with regard to non-executive decision makers. If I say we need duplicate DHCP servers then by god I want them to be exact duplicates, from their highly redundant address lists right down to the tiny little rubber feet!

And I have great hair! Just ... not much of it any more.

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[StrategicIrony]

See.... "private craft" is all well and good, but unless you can afford a Gulfstream or some other such ridiculousness, you're stuck in a Cessna 172 doing about 140knots. After paying for the aviation fuel and spending and hour dicking around getting it out of the hangar, checklists, etc, then worrying about where to put it when you arrive... and what to drive...

Your break-even distance is almost 8 hours... in other words... if you aren't expecting to have to drive 8 hours, use your car or take a bus.

If you're going further than 8 hours by car, it's going to be like 5+ hours by Cessna and just suck up the 45 minutes to get through security (and the $500 in fuel) and take Southwest Airlines for $99.

I've only ever heard of about 3 situations where it was actually ECONOMICAL (both time and money) to take a private plane, unless you're god-awful rich and can afford a pilot to handle the checklists before you arrive.

SI

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[TheLink]

That sort of thing is not their fault.

The whole thing is actually more of a "show" nowadays, put on to make people feel safe and that the government is doing something. I mean banning liquids= joke.

After 9/11, the odds of such an incident being repeated went down a lot. In fact one of the planes didn't hit the target because of the passengers (who learnt what was happening), so that proves my point.

Now:
1) Cockpit doors are reinforced
2) The "unwritten rules of hijacking" have been invalidated- so more than a few passengers might think it is worth losing their lives to take down hijackers (esp if they think the hijackers are going to kill them all anyway). More importantly, serious hijackers know that (the crazy ones are a different matter).
3) The bomb scanning stuff has already been around for years, so the small stuff is invalidated by 2).

So, if terrorists now wanted to use planes to kill lots of people, they'll use private aircraft like you suggest ;).

AFAIK private planes don't have as stringent luggage requirements as long as you know the pilot (or are the pilot). Those stars don't appear to have problems putting illicit drugs and stuff on their planes.

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[CrossChris]

It's entirely fair! The airport "security" is just silly "security theatre" and does nothing to improve safety. At the risk of a holiday in Cuba: it's trivially easy to knock an airliner out of the sky with ordinary, innocuous materials. No amount of "security" checks can prevent this!

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[ushering05401]

"The airport "security" is just silly "security theatre" and does nothing to improve safety."

I think you need to re-read my post. My entire point was that the current security schemes will only work against obvious conventional threats, nothing more.

And yet we have built this egregiously cumbersome security mechanism... which will most likely fail against the first unconventional threat that comes its way.

And who will be blamed for that failure? Surely not the architects of the system, because they will clearly point to all the measures they have taken, and the immense budgets they have alloted to secure flights. Therefore it must be the TSA grunts who failed to perform their appointed duties...

Maybe I needed to state my point more concisely in the original post. The system will fail and the point of failure will not be identified correctly.

If we are not in agreement please let me know.

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[Fred_A]

YES!!!!

You must appreciate the IT Director who demands (and I mean vehemently demands) that all 5000 computers deployed MUST HAVE FEET. I think it's so that they can evacuate in case of fire. Makes sense to me.

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[Skreems]

It doesn't even succeed against known threats. They have regular security screenings where a TSA agent sneaks through a fake bomb disguised as a back brace or something innocuous. Less than a 50% success rate at stopping it. If "the terrorists" actually get to that point, it's more likely than not that TSA will let them through.

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[cheater512]

It looks quite obvious that its no threat with just a quick glance.
I cant imagine any gun shaped objects inside it either (hell do they make a gun that thin?).

They dont need to know what it is - they only need to know that its not a thread.
Asking him to turn it on would suffice.

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[mcrbids]

Kind of makes the cost and time to get a pilots license that much more attractive.

I will SECOND that motion! It's a rare month that I don't fly, I often fly 3-4 times per month. I recently got my private pilot's license. (yay!)

Flying to Oakland, CA? Go on a commercial jet, and you experience:

1) 1.5 hour trip to the nearest "major" airport.
2) 1-2 hour long wait at the security line.
3) Rude staff.
4) Lousy amenities.
5) Destination airport virtually guaranteed to be 1-2 hours drive away from the actual destination.
6) Cramped seat.

Now, I'm flying more and more privately, I'm in negotiations to buy into a partnership. Here's what I see so far:

1) Local airport, 5 minute drive.
2) 10 minute wait checking the plane out before flight. Effectively no security check.
3) Friendly staff that make it a point to remember your name.
4) Gorgeous bathrooms, with plants, tile, and free hygiene kits. (shave, toothbrush, etc) Free coffee, dough nuts, etc. Often catered luncheons for free as well. Leather seats, free waiting rooms with DVD collection, free conference room!
5) Destination virtually guaranteed to be anywhere from 10 minutes drive to ACROSS THE STREET from a small, local airport.
6) Cramped seat. (Hey, some things never change!)

Seriously, the difference is NIGHT AND DAY. Commercial = cattle. Private = red carpet. And, for shorter flights, the price difference is less than you might think.

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[aadvancedGIR]

"I've only ever heard of about 3 situations where it was actually ECONOMICAL (both time and money) to take a private plane"

How many of them did not involve drugs?

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[El Yanqui]

It was a device that deviated from what what the TSA workers considered normal.

I'm not completely in disagreement with you, but this means that the TSA needs to be kept up to date with all bleeding edge devices worldwide. MP3 players from Japan can look quite different than the bog standard iPod. I've seen mobiles in Europe that I never saw back in the States. If they are only looking for things that they saw on their last trip to Best Buy, that's going to be a problem.

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[Alioth]

No one flies light planes because it's economical. They do it because they love it.

It doesn't take an hour to get going in a light plane, even if you need to file IFR. In my situation, the typical IFR trip was: drive to the local GA airport (5 minutes) and park. Walk to the hangar, pull the club's Beech Bonanza out. Pre-flight would take around 15 minutes. If the weather looked shitty, I'd probably have already filed the IFR flight plan the evening before. The airport line man would have already fuelled it, because I'd have made a quick phone call to ask for the plane to be topped off, and it's common for fuel to be on your account at your own airfield.

Then off you go. No security lines. No one rifling through your luggage. Your luggage will actually arrive with you.

Going to the airline airport was a 45 minute drive through Houston traffic to arrive an hour early and fight the crowds.
Driving meant going through Houston traffic then the dumbass drivers on the interstate on the way to Austin.

Flying privately was just far more fun, far more pleasant, and I could beat the airlines door-to-door on any trip less than 600 miles in a 160 knot Beech Bonanza: 90% of the airports in the United States have no airline service, and generally I could go to an airport that was close to my intended destination instead of one 45 minutes away through city traffic.

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[Stanislav_J]

After 9/11, the odds of such an incident being repeated went down a lot. In fact one of the planes didn't hit the target because of the passengers (who learnt what was happening), so that proves my point.

Hell, before 9/11 the odds were slim to none. If security was so piss-poor before, then why had there only been maybe half a dozen or so (I don't have a list in front of me at the moment) incidents of, say, bombs being used to blow us U.S. originated airliners? And hardly any incidents of hijackers actually taking control of a plane and crashing it? For that matter, why have there never been mass suicide bombings in our malls or other public places a la what happens in some other corners of the world? In theory, it should be stupidly easy to walk into the Mall of America at lunchtime and blow yourself up, taking a few dozens shoppers with you.

It boils down to this: 9/11 was an anomaly. It was so far out of the norm that it had never been done before, and is not likely to be replicated anytime soon. The risk is always there, but it is infinitesimally small in relation to the number of flights and passengers annually. You can be 99.9% safe and, in the process, majorly disrupt and complicate airline travel, negatively affect the economy by costing businesses and their travelers added expense and delays, plus expend billions of taxpayer dollars on added security. Or, you can use the same common sense precautions that had always been used, and still be, say, 99.5% safe. The difference is not worth the expense. Of course, if you happen to have a loved one killed in such an incident, you will say that ANY improvement in security is worth ANY additional effort and expense, but when it comes to the big picture, common sense must trump emotionalism or we will all be held hostage to fear.

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[bigdavesmith]

If you can't tell the difference between a laptop, and a bomb, you are not security.

What the TSA actually appears to be aiming for is people who can identify a gun/knife/conventionally designed incendiary device, so that nobody has to stand in front of the cameras after an incident and explain how we missed the conventional threat during screening.

There is a difference between people doing their best with limited resources, and airport security, which continually employs the most inadequate individuals I have ever seen in the workforce. I get better service at McDonalds than I do airport security.

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[deroby]

It does not nullify the threat, it simply makes it less obvious. These guys see thousands of computers going through there x-ray machine every day, and regardless of the make or model, they all look more or less alike. And then suddenly one comes by that not only misses some 'key components' both visually (ports) as though the x-ray machine (HDD). Heck, the thing doesn't even have a VGA output (yes, it has that mini-DVI thing), but the issue here is not "what are the tech specs of the Mac Book Air ?", the issue is "Why does this so-called computer look so different ?"

What most people here seem to miss is that these guys are not looking for computers, they are looking (amongst other things) for "stuff disguised as computers".

Man I am disappointed in the moderation going on here, common sense obviously has left the building =(

PS: As for the parallel port, maybe I should have said "serial" port and yes, my Latitude D830 has one and no, I haven't found a use for it (yet).

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[falsified]

All of the airports I've ever been to, the security screening area is an open room with several galley-style lines that all of the guards are standing along. You put your laptop, separately, into the x-ray machine, and you're standing at the other end of the x-ray machine waiting for it to come out.

If you're able to get your laptop stolen in that environment, you shouldn't have been using a computer.

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[Plunky]

> 1) 1.5 hour trip to the nearest "major" airport.
When I was in Philadelphia area I was less than 1/2 an hour away. YMMV. Literally.

> 2) 1-2 hour long wait at the security line.
Never been more than 1/2 hour for me.

just out of interest, based on the above - if you were aiming for a flight that departed the runway at 12 noon, what time would you leave your house.. 11am?

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[seededfury]

.....because we all know that terrorist read slashdot for ideas.

Ok - this is just getting silly!

[The Ancients]

Now even the (supposed?) lack of features in the MacBookAir is a security issue??? I knew some individuals got a little worked up about it, but really!

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[JoeCommodore]

I bet during training they are told to look for things that may be designed to "look like" common things, and a laptop without ports would probably gain the notice of less tech savvy screeners.

I am sure those uber tiny laptops get as much attention as well.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[corsec67]

That surprises you?

This is TSA: even water is a dangerous substance, except when you throw it away.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[The Ancients]

I'd be a bit careful about water. Everyone who has ever died on this planet has drunk water at some stage in their life. Coincidence? I think not...

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[KiloByte]

I bet during training they are told to look for things that may be designed to "look like" common things, and a laptop without ports would probably gain the notice of less tech savvy screeners. To the contrary, it seems like they get confused by things unknown to them. A long, long time ago I went to the USA and had a similar gathering of security staff because of a box of 3.5" floppies... It was before looking for terrorists was in fashion; they could possibly taken the floppies for some spy devices or whatever (being found on someone from ex-eastern bloc) -- but I can't think of any plausible explanation.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[TheRealMindChild]

Hey man. I have never drank water and I AM DEAD, you insensitive clod!

wait...

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[enoz]

Perhaps those technically adept people choose not to stand behind an X-ray scanner for 12 hours a day.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[tverbeek]

Back in 1996 or 1997 I got some funny looks from security after the wire connecting the main AA cells in my Psion Series 3a PDA broke, in the International terminal at Boston Logan. The button cell that served as backup power for the memory wouldn't last the duration of the flight to London (where I might have gotten it fixed professionally), and I had data in it that I'd need after I got there. So I bought a travel sewing kit* at the newsstand (the safety pin made a good fine tool), got out my tweezers and Swiss Army knife* to help disassemble the PDA and to strip the wire a little, and spent the half hour before my flight in the waiting area at the gate, hunched over the "device" and performing emergency field surgery to make a solid connection between the AAs and the electronics. I snapped it all back together just as they called for boarding.

And the in-flight movie? Executive Decision, in which the Bad Guy uses a Psion Series 3a as the remote control for a bomb on the plane.

*Did I mention that this was way before Sept. 2001?

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[Robert1]

This seems very reasonable. No ports, no disc drive, completely metallic instead of plastic. I could see how it would set of some warning bells that there might be more to this guy's laptop than he claims. Taken in this light it actually raises my views of the TSA and certainly makes it seem like they're actually looking out for potential safety threats.

Either way, had he been there a little earlier he could have had plenty of time to explain his new gadget and boarded the plane. TSA (and common sense) - 1, jackass blogger - 0.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[Hes Nikke]

well, water IS 2/3 hydrogen, and 1/3 oxygen... and thats what they use to launch the space shuttle, so water must be an explosive!

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[nmb3000]

And the in-flight movie?Executive Decision

Ah, I remember Executive Decision. As I recall it was the first Steven Seagal movie that was any good!

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[director_mr]

Actually water is the main ingredient in dihydrogen-monoxide. DHMO.org has confirmed this is a dangerous and deadly substance.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[mfnickster]

> I don't think they were referring to the fact that it won't run 99% of software out there

I know you're joking, but you are aware that Intel Macs can run Windows, Mac and Unix software these days... right?

In fact, I can't think of a single machine ever marketed that runs as much software as an Intel Mac. :)

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[jbellows_20]

Ah, I remember Executive Decision. As I recall it was the first Steven Seagal movie that was any good!

It could have been better. Ten minutes with him in the movie was a little long.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[jaavaaguru]

there might be more to this guy's laptop than he claims

If you can fit more inside a MacBook Air than Apple claims, you're doing *really* well.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[Firehed]

Don't bother. I like my Mac too, but I've long since given up wasting my time explaining why to haters. People who want to hate Macs will, and I can't imagine why you or I should care if other people are moving over. Save it for people that are asking for recommendations for a new machine and will actually listen to what you have to say.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

[hesiod]

> you've never had a situation where something baffles you and you call in the help of some colleagues?

If I call in colleagues and they all agree they they don't know what the hell is going on, we try to find someone who does instead of standing around staring at a computer.

TSA has a hard job

[BadAnalogyGuy]

TSA agents have a difficult job as it is. How much harder do Apple fanboys have to make it for them by insisting that their toys are "computers"?

Is this news? or marketing?

[Ironclad2]

Anyone who's ever tried to bring a less-than-common piece of electronics through airport security has probably had them happen to this. I've had TSA agents inquire about my TI-89 on two separate occasions. Is this story really news? or just cleverly embedded marketing?

Sounds like his fault

[Anonymous Coward]

He should've gotten to the airport earlier. It sounds like he was operating on razor-thin margins, and got bit. Tough. Deal with it.

Re:Sounds like his fault

[ters a-zA-Z0-9$_. !*]

mod this troll but he was probably a typical "mac" user and was just getting hassled by airport security. 1. Possibly wearing John Lennon glasses 2. Maybe wearing a save padro t shirt or whatever the fuck 3. Answered whats this with "Thats THE Laptop what are you a caveman beige box wielding fuck" and so on until "Travel Companion" stepped in 4. Perhaps wearing sandals well if he had linux on it he probably would have got the cavity search, at least he wouldn't have liked it Christ i have a Compaq evo with no drive and well lots of ports but that thing isn't that small

Re:Sounds like his fault

[T-Bone-T]

If everyone left earlier enough to account for everything, nothing would get done because everyone would be waiting around somewhere else.

Re:Sounds like his fault

[cerberusss]

What is this straw man argument? He's not saying that people should account for everything, just to try to be on time. This is slashdot, it's better to not use logical fallacies ;-)

Ignore this shitty, fake story

[Anonymous Coward]

Just more viral advertising by Apple Corp.

Ooga Chaka

[ZeroFactorial]

In other news, the Ooga Chaka tribe brutally murdered a tourist to their village who was carrying a double-blunt-ended walking stick.

Apparently, the "spear with a lack of features" was cause for great alarm among the Ooga-Chakas.

Re:Ooga Chaka

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, blunt spears are no joke. Ever tried catching a fish with one? You can't just stab & enjoy, you've gotta beat the sucker senseless first. Ever tried clubbing a bass to death. Its hard work.

But with the new MacBook Air, I don't need to bludgeon my trout anymore. I can just pluck it out of the water with my newly developed mind powers and have it baked with a side of waterfowl before it even hits the ground. Yummers, pyrokineticly cooked duck! Thanks MacBook Air!

Re:Ooga Chaka

[LaskoVortex]

You're a fucking idiot.

Which part exactly do you object to?

Re:Ooga Chaka

[klubar]

Like many mac laptops the air gets so hot that not only can you use it as a computer, but it doubles as a cooking implement. And in case of an emergency you can always use the battery as a firestarter. It's really three tools in one!

Nothing like the smell of baked trout on your mac toy.

Question about missed flight

[Midnight Thunder]

Its a real bummer that these TSA guys end up being no better than night club bouncers, but heck I suppose technology is not their forte, which is kind of ironic given they need to understand recognise what's going through the machine.

Anyhow, my question is if you miss a flight because of these TSA guys, does your airline put you on the next available flight at no extra cost?

Re:Question about missed flight

[p0tat03]

Actually, I know some night club bouncers, and they would probably be insulted to be compared to TSA screeners. The bouncers I know are in general quite intelligent, capable of quick, rational risk assessment, in addition to being built like a castle. They might not have Ph.D's in quantum physics, but their intelligence is WAY further along the scale than your average TSA monkey.

Re:Question about missed flight

[megaditto]

Hey give them a break. You try working full-time for $20k/year, lifting heavy bags all day and dealing with smug assholes that think they are better than you.

Frankly, I am surprized one of those guys/gals doesn't pull a gun and go postal.

Re:Question about missed flight

[LaskoVortex]

Frankly, I am surprized one of those guys/gals doesn't pull a gun and go postal.

Patience, my friend, patience.

Re:Question about missed flight

[Eivind]

Atleast in Europe they would. Conditions say, you check in atleast 30 (45 for abroad) minutes prior to your scheduled departure-time. Assuming you make -that- time-limit, the airplane is liable if you still miss your plane.

Which is logical, the security-check-people are (indirectly) hired by them afterall, if they want to they can hire more people and handle more people in parallell to make the lines shorter.

Re:Question about missed flight

[grassy_knoll]

Frankly, I am surprized one of those guys/gals doesn't pull a gun and go postal.

The TSA screeners at my local airport appear to be unarmed. There are armed airport police, but they're not Federal employees.

Re:Question about missed flight

[halber_mensch]

Frankly, I am surprized one of those guys/gals doesn't pull a gun and go postal. I think the government pension system deters most TSA employees from seeking employment in the postal system, and even so I hope you don't think that bringing a gun to an interview is an acceptable substitute for submitting a well written resume.

Re:Question about missed flight

[Fri13]

20k$ in year? Hah, i was one summer (3 months) working as "bag-rat" (lifting bags to/from airliners and from/to wagons and my salary was 22.5/h, it's about 4 years now from that summer (i was 22 then) and it was bretty bad for body because work conditions (tight and low place where trowh big bags) but paycheck was good.

And because it was 22.5/h it's about 35$/h 4 times a week and 8-10 hoursh shifts. And it was nice because you got almost free flights to anywhere you wanted (example from sweden to italy) and two times even me and my shift group really flighted to italy for pizza and then back.

No surprise really...

[Ekhymosis]

Whilst this might be construed as a troll, and my moderation hit might reflect that, you have to think about the people who are hired as airport security. They are not the best or brightest, and seeing the amount of problems that are caused by simple misunderstandings, ignorance, etc. (although many of these problems are the administrations problems NOT the airport security people), this is just another drop in the bucket. Of course, there are exceptions and I have personally met very bright airport security people, but mostly in the international section of the airport.

Re:No surprise really...

[QuantumG]

Umm.. they're given a bunch of rules that they have to follow. It's not like they are bomb experts. If they were they would be working a higher paid job. This doesn't mean they are idiots. It doesn't even mean they are ignorant, unless you want to compare them to said bomb experts, in which case every one of us who isn't a bomb expert is ignorant.

One of the rules happens to be: separate laptops from other electronic devices. So what makes it a laptop and what makes it a "dvd player"? The keyboard? You can't see the keyboard until you open it.

Another rule happens to be: don't open electronic devices unless a secondary inspection is warranted.

And there's a bunch of other rules to decided if a secondary inspection is warranted.

They're just trying to do their job. It's a joke what the experts tell them but they are the experts so if you want to blame anyone, blame them.

Re:No surprise really...

[Anonymous Coward]

well i work airport security so FUCK YOU!

I was going to ask if you talked to your mother like that, then I realized you must have asked her to type that out for you.

Re:No surprise really...

[anthonys_junk]

I'm guessing you don't work at the international terminal.

Re:No surprise really...

[RealGrouchy]

Airport Security.

They've got electrolytes.

It's what air travelers need.

- RG>

Re:Idiots...

[spud603]

Not to get off topic, but you really can't assume any sort of symmetric distribution with something like "tech savviness". More likely there are a whole lot more folks below the mean than above it (long tail on the high end).

Re:Idiots...

[Stinky Fartface]

Not just any bomb, mind you. It's a really thin bomb. With NO optical drive, which makes it perfectly useless to me.

good logic...

[arse maker]

Look how small it is, it must be a bomb. I personally would try to make something larger to hold a bomb, but hey thats just me. Steve jobs is the only one trying to make bombs smaller and sexier.

Humm, and I going to go to jail for that last comment, its hard to tell what's a crime any more...

Re:good logic...

[bdjacobson]

Steve jobs is the only one trying to make bombs smaller and sexier. [citation needed]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8L39UwOS-Y

I think that video speaks for itself about the uses Steve Jobs has in mind for his products.

I'd say these TSA guys are definitely on to something...

goatse them

[timmarhy]

just load up a nice big picture of goatse on your background, or maybe some tubgirl.

if enough people did it TSA agents would quickly lose their taste for looking at our laptops.

on a more serious note, has there ever been a record of someone attempting to sneak a bomb onto a plane via a laptop? no? then pay attention to real dangers pls just for once.

Similar though completely different experience...

[NoobixCube]

One time, when flying from Melbourne to Brisbane, I had two cans of coke wrapped side by side in a tea-towel (to stop condensation from wetting other stuff) in my backpack. In front of the coke was my Nintendo DS's charger, wrapped up neatly. It did look pretty suspicious on the screen, I must admit, but they wouldn't let me go until they'd used what I guess was a portable mass spectrometer to check every inch of clothing and backpack for explosives residue.

Re:Idiots...

[houstonbofh]

From https://tsacarrers.taleo.net/ Read to the end... I was not scared before I read this, but now...

1802-Transportation Security Officer (TSO) (Screener) - SUN107

Job Description

Apply Online

Description
As a Transportation Security Officer (TSO) (Screener):

You will perform a variety of duties related to providing security and protection of air travelers, airports and aircraft. You will be responsible for identifying dangerous objects in baggage, cargo and/or on passengers; and preventing those objects from being transported onto aircraft. You are required to perform various tasks such as: wanding, pat down searches, operation of x-ray machines, lift and carry baggage (weighing up to 70 pounds), and screening and ticket review using electronic and imaging equipment. As a TSO, you may perform passenger screening, baggage screening or both. You are expected to perform these duties in a courteous and professional manner.

* Communicate with the public, giving directions and responding to inquiries in a professional and courteous manner.
* Maintain focus and awareness within an environment containing numerous distractions, people, and noise.
* Stand and remain standing for periods up to 4 hours without sitting.
* Repeatedly lift and carry an object weighing up to 70 pounds.
* Work within a stressful environment, which includes noise from alarms, machinery, and people, distractions, time pressure, disruptive and angry passengers, and the requirement to identify and locate potentially life-threatening devices and devices intended on creating massive destruction.
* Make effective decisions in both crisis and routine situations.

Work Schedule: Full-time Split-Shift (40 hours per week). A Split Shift schedule is defined as any two shifts, lasting at least two (2) hours each, in one 24-hour period with a break of at least two (2) hours between shifts. Full-time work hours for this position consists of shift-work on any day from Sunday through Saturday, which may include irregular hours, nights, holidays, overtime, extended shifts and weekend shifts, changing shifts, and split shifts. Exceptions include additional shifts to support morning, midday, and afternoon or evening operations. Specific work shifts and schedules will be determined by the airport.

TSA will not pay any pre-employment travel expenses (e.g., travel to and from testing, medical examination facilities and assessment sites). As part of the evaluation process you will be required to travel to a TSA specified medical facility within commuting area of the airport for which you applied.

Qualifications

1. You must be a U.S.Citizen or U.S. National; AND
2. You must have a high school diploma, GED or equivalent; OR at least one year of full-time work experience in security work, aviation screener work, or x-ray technician work.

Possess the following job-related knowledge, skills, and abilities:

* English Proficiency (e.g., reading, writing, speaking, listening)
* Mental Abilities (e.g., visual observation and identification, mental rotation)
* Interpersonal Skills (e.g., customer service, dependability)
* Work Values (e.g., responsibility, honesty, integrity)
* Physical Abilities(e.g. repeatedly lifting and carrying baggage weighing up to 70 lbs, bending, reaching, stooping, squatting, standing, and walking and identifying objects by touch).

All TSOs must meet the following standards:

* Distant vision correctable to 20/30 or better in the best eye and 20/100 or better in the worse eye
* Near vision correctable to 20/40 or better binocular
* Color perception (e.g., red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, brown, black, white, gray) note: color filters (e.g., contact lenses) for enhancing color discrimination are prohibited.
* Hearing as measured by audiometry cannot exceed:

Show up on time, dumbass.

[urbanriot]

Everyone else should read the original blog post, and note that his flight was taking off AS he was talking to customs. Meaning he showed up at or after boarding time. Airlines suggest showing up 1 to 1.5 hours before takeoff, not at the last minute. Furthermore, I call bullshit on this story. I've recently traveled internationally and went through 8 major airports (plus 'random selection' secondary inspection in Philadelphia) throughout the world, with a laptop, Nintendo DS, two Ipod Mini's, and a case of DVD's all stuffed into my laptop bag, while returning from an Islamic nation and nobody asked me to show them anything.

Re:Show up on time, dumbass.

[pavera]

well.. see you came from an islamic country so they couldn't touch you cause they'd get sued for profiling... They aren't allowed to screen people coming from/going to islamic countries...

Seriously, every time I've flown with my family my 8 year old brother gets selected for the "secondary" inspection. It's pretty funny, last time he didn't even try to walk through, walked straight to the yellow feet... and they actually had him selected, they asked "how did you know?" He said 'you always pick me, I must look like a terrorist I guess..."

Kind of makes me wonder what would happen if...

[Mr. Roadkill]

What kind of world of hurt would the person in TFA have had to go through if the battery was flat, or the laptop was defective?

Re:Idiots...

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the purpose of the TSA isn't to stop terrorism but to act as a social placebo, would you really want to waste hundreds of thousands of intelligent and educated man-hours on it?

With that thin design...

[iabervon]

People make fun of the TSA for this, but it's only a matter of time before somebody mounts an Air on a pole and starts wielding it as a battle axe.

Re:With that thin design...

[Dzimas]

it's referred to as a scythe, as the grim reaper just informed me when he sfhq290h H xa, . 42

Re:irony

[Anonymous Coward]

No irony is misspelling the word "first" in a first-post.

Sony X505 - Same result with TSA...

[PCMeister]

While waiting for a connecting flight several months ago, I heard about a guy getting delayed for about 15 minutes at an airport security checkpoint because of his laptop's "suspicious look" on the x-ray machine. It turned to be a Sony X505 laptop. For those not familiar with the X505, this review by Digital Trends mentioned in this /. article back in 2004 details the specs.

What was so suspicious about it? I was told that someone overheard a TSA agent mention that it looked transparent on the x-ray machine. It seems that this was the case with the AirBook.

Perhaps companies like Sony and Apple that develop such advanced portables should notify TSA officials so they could, inturn, teach the line agents to not become alarmed when encountering such a device passing through the x-ray machine? Since that would make too much sense, it probably won't happen. Go figure.

If you happen to own an AirBook or other sub-notebook, good luck!!

Re:irony

[ozmanjusri]

irony: The fist thing I see on this page is an add for MacBooks!

It's not even Alanis ironic.

The whole story is part of a viral marketing campaign intended to establish the Air as different, iconic.

Behind me, I hear the younger agent, perhaps not realizing that even the TSA must obey TSA rules, repeating himself.

"It's a MacBook Air."

It's 1984 all over again...

Not always true

[forand]

I too have been through countless security check points with enough electronics in my bags to make my back hurt. I have never had a problem with the people at security. However, I travel with a wife and colleagues who are not always so lucky. The difference? I am a white guy and they are not. Sad but true. Next time you are in line watch who is being searched or detained.

Re:Not always true

[calebt3]

I had a trip to Virginia and back last year. I got flagged for the expanded screening every single time (4/4). And I am a white male.

Re:Not always true

[FlightTest]

A company I worked for in the past was very slow at paying expense accounts. Since I knew it was ending anyways, I just told them I was happy to travel, but they had to pay me cash up front and I'd document my expenses and return what I didn't spend. Strangely, they didn't have a problem with this, and always gave me more than I spent (but then, I never was the type to pad expense accounts). Since I was ferrying airplanes for them, I was traveling on the airlines one-way.

So, I was a middle-aged white male, paying cash at the last minute for a one-way ticket traveler, with an airplane headset and flying charts in my bag. How many times do you think I got the extra-special treatment?

Every. Single. Time.

Five Finger Shoes

[morcheeba]

One morning the fate of the free world depended on my screener's determination on if a pair of Vibram Five Fingers was a shoe or not. Never mind that I own bulkier socks than this, but apparently it's a shoe.

Re:meh, sounds a lot like bullshit

[Mox-Dragon]

Yeah, but one of the things that baffled the TSA people was the absence of a platter-based hard drive. When's the last time you travelled around with a laptop that had an SSD? I'm sure "weird" is a very different looking thing for visible light and x-rays.

Private Pilot License

[Suzuran]

Don't bother. End of this year the government has a new tax package and special user fees that will increase the costs by over 400% (proceeds going to fund tax breaks for the airlines, of course) and "increase security" for private airfields as well. It was nice while it lasted but the party's over.

Re:Private Pilot License

[Anonymous Coward]

And the real problem is that the airlines fear a total bypass of all of the commercial air travel foolishness. They don't want to be subsidized by general aviation -- they want it to go away. The last thing they want is competition from charter and corporate aircraft flying out of smaller airports, exempt from TSA bu11shit. Honda and Toyota are threatening to start building small jets, which will drive down the price of every small aircraft in the sky.

In a classic example of short-term thinking, the airlines are going to protect themselves in the short run by lobbying for user fees, only to be scratching their heads later when their source of new pilots is gone. If Congress was anything less than totally corrupt, they would force the airlines to set aside huge reserves in escrow for training. After all, the proposed user fees will turn most private aircraft into scrap aluminum and the airlines will then have to train new pilots from scratch.

And this time, there will be no H1-B labor to assist. GA has already been pretty much taxed to death in Europe, and the third world is not exactly a hotbed of aviation activity. Pilots are one of the few US exports that we have not yet screwed up. A disproportionate percentage of pilots on foreign airlines are American. Most people do not realize that English is the ONLY language spoken from air traffic control towers worldwide.

If they were really clever, the Congressmen from aircraft producing states would arrange for the user fees bill to be linked to some kind of carbon tax nonsense that would hold the auto industry hostage at the same time.

Airport security manual

[edwardpickman]

When faced with new and strange technology first

A) Strike with hand, grunt and run away.

B) Strike with rock, grunt and run away.

C) Strike with club, grunt and run away.

D) If first three methods fail strike passenger with club, grunt and run away.

It's not just technology stuff.

[supernova_hq]

We were leaving from vacation in Florida a few years ago (post 9-11), and they stopped my sister at the screener because they didn't know what to make of here Disney pouch of squished pennies. You would think that of all the aireoports in the country, that at least the TSA's in FLORIDA would recognize them! go figure...

Appropriate Quote

[Ace905]

"I'm sick of some guy with a triple digit income and a double digit IQ rooting around inside my bag and never finding anything" -- George Carlin

Not a laptop, but a boom box brought down a 747

[The Breeze]

The fear of a laptop carrying explosives is valid, seeing as how a radio-cassette stereo player - a medium size boom box - with a pound of plastic explosive in it - brought down a 747 - pan am 103 - over Scotland.

Who's dumber?

[Aqua OS X]

I don't know who is dumber, the TSA screeners, or the guy who paid $3100 for an SSD MacBook Air.

Re:Who's dumber?

[mjwx]

I don't know who is dumber, the TSA screeners, or the guy who paid $3100 for an SSD MacBook Air.

I sincerely doubt the Macbook owner could get a job as an airport screener, they are required to think for themselves occasionally.

THIS is how you sneak stuff past security...

[Tracy Reed]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mA3voZUZrk

This dude is hilarious...

User's fault IMHO

[denzacar]

I mean... what did he expect? He wasn't using the MacAir properly.

The commercial clearly shows that it should be MAILED to its destination.

The lifestyle of small-scale private aviation

[daviddennis]

A former boss of mine owned a Mooney prop plane (a bit faster than the Cessna, I think about 170 knots) and I found the routine at private airports refreshingly easy - go to the plane, walk around it to make sure nothing's fallen off, run up the engine and take off. The checklist isn't that hard, and much of it can be done during the brief wait for a take off slot.

I loved the freedom associated with being able to take off and land at any time, at any airport. In this particular case, he could leave out of Van Nuys airport, about 15 minutes from his home, instead of LAX which would have taken a grinding hour and a half to get to.

I will admit that flying a private plane is disappointingly non-luxurious - his interior felt more like a Subaru than a Mercedes - but even though I was not very good at physically flying the plane I enjoyed changing the frequencies on the radios and navigation systems. (This was before GPS took off in a big way - we used the old beacon system.)

I would have surely preferred a jet but I liked flying private better than commercial. As I remember it cost him about $55 per flight hour to run, including overhauls, and he certainly believed it penciled out for him economically. He had to carry fairly heavy amounts of baggage for the trade shows we went to and that definitely helped.

D

The term is "astroturfing"

[transiit]

Note that the article reads like a press release, with the exception of playing into everyone's dislike of the TSA.

Note that the "linux to mac" section of the blog has one article, not once mentioning linux.

Read through it, and ask yourself, who the f*#@ is Michael Nygard, and why should I care?

Re:Idiots...

[xRelisH]

Not just any bomb, mind you. It's a really thin bomb.

Actually only the detonator is in the laptop. The bomb is sold separately as a $99 external USB device.

Slashdot, Reddit, and Digg... Congrats Apple.

[pQueue]

Apple got this same fake story to the front page of reddit and digg also. Steve Jobs should rejoice at his marketing teams success. I wonder if they used companies like Subvert and Profit to get this promoted to front page news?

MAC Air having trouble with AirPort?

[carvalhao]

When will they fix these compatib... oh, forget it!

Completely off topic

[Kupfernigk]

You don't need to spend $250k on a sailing boat. Assuming you don't have one and would like one, and assuming you have or can learn some basic engineering skills to cut down annual maintenance costs and the embarrassment of having to be rescued periodically (if you can make it through Nigel Calder's book, you can probably do it) you can have everything you really need for around $60000.

After years of dicking about the cost I finally went for it four years ago. I've spent $80k in total, spent a few hundred hours fixing and modernising, I have something I can live and work on if I want to. I should have done it 10 years ago.

Re:Idiots...

[flajann]

Ha!

I also find it amusing that they don't think the Macbook is a "device". Man, these morons have even less brains than I had anticipated.

Wonderful Airport Insecurity. Gotta make you wonder.

I just wonder how much longer must we deal with the TSA? I mean, for the actual "threat" of "terrorism", they are overkill to the max. And are completely useless. All a would-be terrorist would have to do is pick a really busy time to come into the airport, stand in the TSA security line, and blow himself sky-high before he got to the checkpoint. Many would die instantly.

The fact that this has not happened since 9-11 tells me the "terrorism threat" is largely nonexistent.

Some level of caution should be exercised, for sure, but not these insane levels. The actual TSA process would make more people vunerable to the scenario I described above because more people would be concentrated in a small area for greater effect AS WELL AS showing egg on face of the US Insecurity measures.

Meanwhile, 41,000 people die each year on our highways, and no one seems concerned about that. When I drive everyday, I am fully aware of this and watch every car around me like a hawk. Everyday I see nutty drivers dancing with death on the highways, and have seen quite a few nasty accidents as well. Improving road safety would cost far less than the TSA and actually save real lives. And improving road safety is easy -- it begins with educating the idiot drivers or get them off the road altogether.

But then, I expect way too much of my government. Bad me!

But they can tax them all!

[Suzuran]

The taxes are built into the fuel costs (That's the base 400% increase) and in the form of fees for air traffic control services. If you want to talk to a controller, you pay. Want a weather briefing? You pay. Want traffic advisories? You pay. Just like the Europeans. (Ever seen a private airplane in England or Germany? No? There's a reason for that.) The airports will die out as their customers die out.

Re:irony

[ArsenneLupin]

That's not irony, that's just gaming the slashdot first-post delayer (tm). If an otherwise first post contains the word first or post, Slashdot delays it until a second post is available, and posts it afterwards. This is meant to protect against overzealous frist psot hunting. Indeed, in the olden days, you had to first wade across some 20+ posts per story which all called out first post, and it became a distraction. They had to put the delayer in, in order to stop the madness. So nowadays trolls just mipsel.

Vigilantism, Rationality

[TerranFury]

I. Vigilantism

Every able-bodied citizen of America who experienced 9-11 will now and forever watch and notice these attributes of their fellow travelers

Devil's advocate: What attributes? Being brown?

This is what vigilantism looks like.

II. Rationality

They won't do it again because taking a plane out of the sky really will make airport security like a military check point, thus also limiting the mobility of the enemy for the reward of taking 1 or 2 planes out of the sky with no hard land target in mind. Not going to happen.

I'm not so sure. Your argument rests on the assumption that the terrorists make well-reasoned decisions to further their cause. They do have objectives -- "get out of the Middle East, U.S!" -- but in my opinion they are horribly misguided in their decisions: If they wanted to reduce the U.S. military presence there, they sure as hell haven't succeeded.

Some people say, "the terrorists have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams." I don't think so. Rather, the current situation is a dismal failure for all involved, terrorists included. It's a failure for the U.S., which is now engaged in a bloody, costly (we have spent more than we did in Vietnam), no-way-out quagmire of a war. It's a failure for the extremists who downed those planes, who rather than convincing the U.S. to pull out of the Middle East has provoked it to deploy even more troops there. It is a failure for "Iraqi" civilians (even if no "Iraqi" ethnic identity really exists), who might have been oppressed under Saddam but who at least had electricity and drinking water. It is a failure for nearly everyone. The only reason this mess continues is that we, the extremists, and everyone else, are stuck together in yet-another (the world has so many) collective action problem.

[The list of those who have benefited from this situation is short -- mainly politicians (in the US and in the Middle East) and government contractors (Haliburton/KBR, etc) happy to multiply the terror and exploit the situation (see the BBC's The Power of Nightmares -- video here). But these people didn't engineer the attacks; they're just opportunists.]

I got a little sidetracked, but the point is this: The terrorists did not plan a well-reasoned attack to achieve their objectives; by most rational metrics I can think of, they have failed. Therefore, I wouldn't put it past them to do something stupid again -- like stage an attack which will ultimately make their task more difficult. That's the part of your post I was disagreeing with -- that these terrorists make smart decisions. I suspect they don't -- not because they're populated by stupid people (terrorists tend to be well-educated. I'm most familiar not with Middle-Eastern terrorists, but with the Japanese terror cult Aum Shinrikyo that released Sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway -- and that organization was full of Ph.D.s and physics students) but because their logical, analytical minds have been short-circuited by a seductive ideology.

In other words, we've got one group of people whose brains have been short-circuited by ideology and anger against another whose frontal lobes have been shut off by a hyperactive fear-and-stress center. I'm not counting on rationality from anyone.