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TSA Shuts Down Airport, Detains 11 After "Science Project" Found
OverTheGeicoE writes "A group of students and a professor were detained by TSA at Dallas' Love Field. Several of them were led away in handcuffs. What did they do wrong? One of them left a robotic science experiment behind on an aircraft, which panicked a boarding flight crew. The experiment 'looked like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding.' Of course, the false alarm inconvenienced more than the traveling academics. The airport was temporarily shut down and multiple gates were evacuated, causing flight delays and diversions."
Why the "Scare Quotes" in the title? Is someone implying that it was actually a bomb, and not a robot? TFA does not.
There's no such thing as too much fear.
The terrorists aren't trying to get on our airplanes. The terrorists are blowing up Planned Parenthood clinics.
How many things actually happened in the entire history of commercial flights before the TSA existed? And why do they still exist in light of that? Sheesh.
Like, until you're about 35 years old.
They were right - the revolution did not get televised. It was posted on YouTube instead. All in 120 characters. SLOOSH!
Thanks, SCOTUS.
Zero.
Number of people nude Xrayed or sexually groped (on their breasts or crotch) or strip-searched or locked in glass jails for carrying breast milk or ..... (this list could go on several pages).
Millions.
I hope none of those machines were malfunctioning and ejected lethal doses. They are never checked. TIME TO END THE TSA. And the Fed (give the power back to the State central banks).
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
They grounded us with science...
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
What kind of moron takes something that "look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane?
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
I used to carry stuff like this on airplanes, and through international customs. My company made and sold products that were hacked together PCBs slapped in a box with a motorcycle battery - looked awesome on X-ray.
What more can I say. Dallas, TSA, Southwest---we aren't talking about the brain trust here.
I am surprised someone just didn't scream NERDS!
Americans would probably collectively die of fright if they realized that their cell phones and computers actually run on electricity, the same magical force used by TERRORISTS for nefarious activities...
If it got on the plane, someone checked it somewhere and gave it a thumbs-up. That makes it more likely to be a toy, just like it looked.
I'm as against the TSA as anyone.
But come on. Considering what was found, why should any authority there NOT freak out? The flight crew did.
It's really annoying it had such a large impact but in this case it was I think fully warranted. Even though I think they should have been allowed to enter the plane with the whole kit unscanned, once they left it behind all bets are off.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What kind of moron takes something that "look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane?
What kind of moron LETS SOMEONE take something that look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane? I mean, if snow globes are verboten, how in the world could that contraption possibly get on board in the first place?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The device obviously got through security in Dallas thus it must not have been a threat. It isn't like that was something that was easily concealed or concealed in a bag if the crew found it. The TSA have stopped exactly zero terrorists while harassing and groping millions innocent people and have multiple lawsuits filed against them costing taxpayers more money then their already ridiculous budget. TSA is a waste of taxpayers money, plain and simple.
Just because you are wrong and I called you out on it doesn't mean I am a Troll.
While not the best decision, I think the point is that he shouldn't have to worry. If it was on the plane, it made it past the TSA, and assuming they did a good job at their theatre, was safe. This whole fiasco is an exercise in how useless and overbearing the security is in airports these days.
Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the Arabian sea .... Osama Bin Laden is laughing his ass off. His face is shot so that is the only thing he got left to laugh with.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
and then forgets it
I'm guessing they wanted to cause a scare.
I've flown in the US with Robots Anywhere systems in my carry-ons before (http://www.robots-everywhere.com) and had no real hassle. I've had to explain them to security guards before, but I haven't had them do anything to me except the usual harassment and mistreatment of property.
Look at the bright side. They probably got their robot back. If it wasn't for the TSA, they'd never have seen it again!
Under no circumstances should anything the TSA responds to ever actually appear threatening to a reasonable person. This flies in the face of everything I know about that organization. Where were the real police who should've been dealing with this?
Honestly I'm perplexed why the TSA let the kid board with the robot. I mean that thing is at least as likley to crash the plane as a pair of nail-clippers.
Also this implies that robots could be good mules for smuggling stuff onto airplanes.
Increasingly these doofuses are resembling the scene from Airplane where the security is harassing the old woman while an obviously middle eastern man walks into a duty free store to by one of the time-bombs they have on display.
Obviously someone who thinks that the Goons at the TSA have an IQ somewhere north of 80.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
"The device looked like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding."
Let's assume for a moment that it was exactly what it looked like, a cell phone on a toy car with some wires hanging out. This is cause for alarm why? You'll notice that the description does not say "it looked like an IED."
And once having determined that their childlike notion of bombmaking had generated another red herring, the TSA had cause to further detain the students why?
You know, pretty soon we're going to have an Apple law, which states that all electronics carried in public must have aesthetically appeasing housing. I can only imagine a TSA goon walking down the aisle of an electronics store. "My god man... there are bombs... bombs everywhere!"
Losing crops before you can harvest energy much?
Okay. These people happened to be flying with something that looks very suspicious. A cellphone wired up to some other electronic device. Okay. Occasionally people do fly with suspicious looking items that are completely innocent. Then these same people "forget" it and leave it on an airplane? When's the last time you forgot a piece of carry-on luggage on a plane? I'm sure it happens occasionally, but when people are flying they are usually careful about such things. Now put the two together. What are the chances that a group of people bring a very suspicious looking electronic device onto a plane and then they all simultaneously forget it there? Isn't it possibly a bit more likely that they were playing some sort of a prank, or trying to test security at the airport and it backfired? Just a thought.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Honestly, TSA is in a no win situation here. Based on the description, I'd say that falls under the "suspicious" category. Some "mightier than thou" folks will laugh at the TSA for taking it seriously. But in this rare case, I"m glad they did. ESPECIALLY, since the cleanup crew, who must see lots of horrible things, thought it looked suspicious.
Rail against the TSA for lots of stuff, but I don't see how this is one of those things.
Isn't the point here that it got on the airplane? That makes the TSA look like they are CYA by making a little show of handcuffing kids. Shouldn't this be a wake up call that the TSA isn't effective? One of dozens this week perhaps? nope.
Of course kids can be trained as terrorists, so maybe they should be shot immediately and the news of such blacked out - so I don't get distracted from buying things and supporting the economy. I dont' want the terrorists to win after all.
"Southwest Airlines cancels more than 40 flights at Dallas Love Field in Texas in the aftermath of #tornadoes. " http://on.cnn.com/Hc37c4 Very next day. I think it's clear who the real terrorists are. Tornadoes.
That is what the flight attendant said it looked like. That does not mean that it looked like that in the slightest. /. once had an article where the police were called on the halo devs for carrying a AF-47 around in public, the AF-47 was in fact a 10 foot long halo sniper rifle replica that does not even look real (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/11/medium_3ce16ecb6851fdac6329346672baea73.jpg).
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Someone going to a robotics conference?
So let me get this straight. Terrorists would leave a "device" on a plane so that it detonates once the plane is on the ground, there is little fuel left, and all the passengers were off?
I'll relate a story to contrast how far we've come. When I was about 10 years old I built a "device". We played manhunt which was really just hide and seek in the woods. I made a device to act as a detector. I got a foot of copper pipe, two AA batteries, a switch, a mercury switch, and a siren. You would stick it in the ground and tie a string between it and a tree. If someone ran by and knocked it over the alarm would go off. I lost one and it turned up in the street as a copper pipe with wires sticking out of it. A frantic mother called the bomb squad. They came and my friends ratted me out. The cop came to my house and asked me if I built it. I told him yes and what it was. He had me go out and identify it and that was it. No cuffs, no big deal.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
It already passed through TSA the first time. Are you telling me that that's not an effective countermeasure?!
> 'looked like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding.'
So, it didn't look like a bomb? Do people know what bombs look like? Do people think they look like robots?
Also, doesn't this seem like a terrible target for a bomb? Do terrorists normally plant bombs in plain sight where they can be found?
That kind of stuff never makes it through security.
They were released with no charges after the situation was cleared up, right? Also, were the handcuffs really necessary?
Better question - if they let it on the plane, then why didn't TSA ask the flight crew what the thing was instead of treating it like a bomb? Seems somebody should have already known it was on the plane during the flight.
Take a good look folks. Here's your security theatre in action. They were on there way BACK to Houston from Kansas, with a layover in Dallas, from an honors conference.
Ex:
Plane lands and passengers unload. Airflight attendants check entire plane for any leftover luggage and clean aisles. Discover robotic car with wires which was obviously on the flight. Alert TSA to possible dangerous device rather than announces over the Airport PA for passengers of Flight ###, please verify that you have all electronics.
Common sense, you have lost.
Handcuffs, really? Couldn't this have been solved in a matter of minutes if the TSA just asked a few questions of the students and teacher?
The same with the shooting in Florida. If both guys had just talked/asked questions that teenager would still be alive.
you don't talk about bombs much less take some thing that looks like one on to a plane in the post 9/11 world.
Just out of curiosity, how did it get on the plane in the first place? Isn't it TSA's job to spot that BEFORE it gets on the plane and not after it has been left?
Of all the things for them to freak out about, a robotic looking thing attached to a cell phone on an airplane might be something genuine. I know if I saw it, without any context of where it came from, I would not feel very comfortable around it. I hate the TSA, and think that the security theater is ridiculous, but this one I think I'll let slide...
today is spelling optional day.
Editors, PLEASE learn your TLAs. The TSA didn't / doesn't detain anyone. The TSA run x-ray machines, search baggage and grope grannies. They have no power of arrest or detention. For that they call law enforcement, such as the police or air marshals. The TSA cannot and do not lead people away in handcuffs.
plane get reloaded with fuel at the gate and move to the next city and if you have a big boom you may also hit the airport fuel tanks / take out a big chunk of the gate area.
It doesn't matter WHAT these type of devices look like. Anything unfamiliar is liable to cause BLIND PANIC for the (delegated) powers-that-be. It's almost as if a simple intended-to-be-viral ad campaign could trigger a panic on the part of law enforcement.
blog
Let me get this straight:
Flight crew makes a mistake
Students get hauled off.
On top of that, shouldn't the TSA have caught this "cell phone like thing" with it's magical terrorist preventing scanners?
If it looked questionable, why didn't they see it in the screenings, and why didn't the let the flight crew know about the strange object?
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Just to be the devil's advocate, imagine the following scenario.
Professor reaches TSA, shows the package, passes it through X-ray / opens it to show there is no chemical / explosive, and answers questions to the fully satisfaction of TSA (yes I am teacher these are the children I teach...).
Sometime later, someone else (who of course has not been told that there was such teacher with such object in the previous flight) finds the surprise. Even if the artifact was competently investigated by the TSA, the people who found it probably had no way to verify that ---> panic button.
To me, this article is bussiness as usual, and per se (the devil lies in details) it does not show up any incompetence / abuse
Why can't
Or applesauce. The TSA had a conniption about a fucking tub of cinnamon apple sauce, because it was 3.9 ounces, which is .9 magical ounces over the amount of applesauce real Americans feed their kids.
So the lesson is, if you want to bomb an airplane, enclose your bomb in a smooth, brushed aluminum and/or plastic case?
Palm trees and 8
they will get it back as a court room evidence
To be fair, a cell phone /left behind/ and /attached/ to another item is pretty damn suspicious. A flight attendant with any sense will clear the area PDQ and alert Security.
Security has to take a bomb threat as real, otherwise what's the fucking point of Security? So hell yeah, lockdown on the area (airplanes are full of kerosene, remember?) -- clear all civilians and let the Emergency Response people have plenty of room.
And the people thought to have left it behind? Hell yes, handcuffs. It's people plural. Even if it's just one people, if it's an actual nutbar they may make a grab for a Security Guard's weapon. Handcuffs until it's absolutely sure that it's safe to remove them.
This was not an unreasonable response. Now the TSA in general, please don't get me started. That's an utter cockup. But this isn't.
That would clearly violate the TSAs guidelines on logic and sanity.
What kind of moron takes something that "look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane?
Uh, someone that does not want the device utterly destroyed?
Checked luggage gets the shit beat out of it. Also, very often, security personnel will go through your luggage, and break even more stuff, through plain negligence, or just plain re-packing it poorly.
Here's an interesting info-graphic I saw for the first time today. Pretty much falls in line with the rest of the sentiment here.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Better question - if they let it on the plane, then why didn't TSA ask the flight crew what the thing was instead of treating it like a bomb?
Because the flight crew had no idea what it was. They're the ones who reported it. This was the incoming flight crew that had just walked onto the plane. And the outgoing flight crew certainly doesn't know what every passenger is carrying, so even if you could find them, they couldn't help.
Well, if the flight crew is freaking out, then either the TSA let it through or gave it the OK because it's ON THE PLANE.
I'm sorry, but that's an incredibly stupid and naive thought.
The flight crew did not scan the passengers. Also by that time there have been a number of ground crew interacting with the plane. It could have even been assembled in mid-air. The crew has no idea where this thing might have come from.
There's not way you can expect a flight crew and even law enforcement to not reasonable consider some very roughly assembled electronics as possibly dangerous when found with no owner.
As I said I'd even be for the guys waltzing onto the plane with no security carrying the thing. That is fine by me, but equally fine is treating something like that as a threat when found totally unattended.
I mean, lets turn your argument around. You say it's OK because obviously the TSA is awesome and let it on the plane to start with, so obviously t came with a passenger. Great then, since now we "know" it was brought on by someone who went through TSA - WHY DID THEY LEAVE IT?
I mean, why on earth would someone who carefully constructed such a thing leave it behind? That makes no sense either, in fact even less sense to me. I would be pretty concerned if I saw that because anyone who had the skills to build such a thing obviously would care about it very much and have the intelligence not to forget they had it. I would be more prone to think something like that left behind was nefarious in purpose exactly because it had been left and forgotten.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So if I put coloured epoxy over the wires so they cannot be seen ...
The point is that the people claiming that this looks like "a handmade explosive device" do not know what "a handmade explosive device" looks like.
It just looks UNUSUAL so they panicked.
How ridiculous the TSA and security theater are. Even the flight crew doesn't trust them to weed out/screen dangerous objects. If the TSA is (or considered to be) effective, then why is the first response to anything weird on an airplane "OMG A BOMB?"
Yes, this. If TSA at the departure gate gave it a pass, why would anyone at the arrival gate have an issue? The only thing I can infer from this situation is that even the TSA thinks the TSA does a bad job.
It was 2002, and I was taking a course in digital electronics. One of the well-known projects for this course was to build a digital clock from regular 74xx and 74xxx IC's. We were to complete the projects on our own breadboards, and we could, if we wanted to keep the result, buy our own electronic components as well. I bought my own electronics, and as a result, could work on it when I was not necessarily in the lab. I was in a fairly reclusive hallway in the school around lunctime, testing out a circuit I had designed which would get incorporated into my final project, and I was using some LED's for feedback, which flickered quickly as my circuit ran. I was concentrating on what I was doing, and was surprised when someone from campus security came up to me and grabbed me by the shoulder. I spent the next 15 minutes in the office of campus security explaining what I was doing, and as it happened, one of the people from campus security knew the professor and could vouch for the story I was giving. They had called my professor for the course anyways, who came to security, chuckled at the whole incident, because he recognized me immediately, and said that he knew me and that I was okay.
Later that afternoon, during the class lecture, the prof relayed the anecdote to everybody with much amusement, not mentioning exactly who it was who, evidently, got him called down to the security office because they thought one of his students was building a bomb. He advised us all that we should be building our projects in the lab only, and not in the hallways of the school.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
What kind of moron takes something that "look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane?
The contents of any business person's carry-on bag looks like that on an X-ray scanner. Phone, MP3 layer, USB cables, laptop and power brick, bent paper clip to reset dodgy devices, RSA security key for remote VPN access, prototype PCB for the embedded device my company is working on, etc. By the time that tangle of wires gets to the airport, it WILL look like a horrid science experiment that is a pound of C4 away from blowing up. Yet such tangles regularly pass through security with a brief 2 second eyeball from a bored TSA grunt. The only difference here is that the tangle was left behind on the plane.
http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N40/simpson.html
It used to be that police would investigate intelligently, and lay charges appropriately. Now, it appears that everything must reach a judge before common sense is applied. We are living in the days where losing a cell phone will cause a plane to be grounded. We need to get people to use their brains again, and not make major incidents out of false alarms.
If it was left on the plane, how did they get it through security in the first place? Did TSA just take their word that it was a science experiment or did security not catch it? Neither one makes me feel any more comfortable with the TSA...not that I'm comfortable with them to begin with.
And how did this device-that-looks-like-a-bomb get onto the airplane in the first place?
Where in the Constitution is the TSA mentioned?
Is it in the section labeled "unreasonable search and seizure"?
Or is it the section about "warrantless searches of citizens"?
I'm not sure which section it is.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
If it got on the plane, someone checked it somewhere and gave it a thumbs-up. That makes it more likely to be a toy, just like it looked.
No.
The flight crew can not make the assumption that security screeners did their job correctly. Note the occasional story in the news where they miss a real gun. When a colleague and I were traveling the first two checkpoints failed to notice the red swiss army knife (a standard sized basic model w/ 3in blade) on his key ring. It was only at the third checkpoint where he learned that he had forgotten to leave it at home.
Also seeing a cellphone and toy in an unattended or left-behind bag is no indication of safety. Consumer electronics and toys are often scavenged for parts by the bad guys. Go ask an Iraq/Afghan vet about the resourcefulness of the bad guys. The flight crew did the right thing in reporting the bag and letting security handle things.
The real overreaction seems to be the handcuffing of the students.
Panic and submit to authority like a good little boy.
Look idiot, I'm throne who said they could walk on the plane with it.
If you are seriously ignoring some odd electronics that someone should have actually cared about and taken with them, you are not long for the gene pool.
It's not unreasonable to be concerned when something might actually be a problem. It's in no way "submitting to authority" to say that if you leave something technologically sophisticated behind on a plane people might freak out a bit. That is simply a reasonable response to an unusually situation in an area where historically people with bad intentions have really targeted innocent people,
That's way more of a response than I normally give completely braindead AC trolls like yourself, so I'll not be responding to whatever ideating response you might concoct.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It has never been so hard to be a white christian male. Maybe we should get our own political party. Oops, I mean a new political party.
Who'd of thunk it could only happen post-cold war?
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
The terrorists are laughing up their sleeves.
Nazi Fat-Boy Herr Karl Rove and Aldolph Heartless-Bastard Cheney can laugh?
The contents of any business person's carry-on bag looks like that on an X-ray scanner. Phone, MP3 layer, USB cables, laptop and power brick, bent paper clip to reset dodgy devices, RSA security key for remote VPN access, prototype PCB for the embedded device my company is working on, etc. By the time that tangle of wires gets to the airport, it WILL look like a horrid science experiment that is a pound of C4 away from blowing up.
I had a lot of fun like that with TSA about four years ago.
I am an amateur musician, and I was travelling to a musician's conference halfway across the country...with my electric guitar, assorted effects pedals, a drum machine, a sequencer, a portable digital mixing board/digital recorder, enough cables and wall warts to connect everything together, and my laptop. I got to the security line, and TSA is droning on with their "please remove all laptops from your bags" spiel, so I removed the laptop but left everything else packed. They pretty much freaked out when they saw the collection of wires and electronic gadgets in the x-ray machine, but after I explained what I was carrying and placed each electronic gadget into one of their security-approved plastic bins, they calmed back down. I didn't leave my tangle on the airplane, though.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
What kind of moron takes something that "look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane?
A student with a science project that they do not want to check would. Why not? It's not a nefarious device. It sounds to me like the problem is with the authorities and their system, not with the student.
-Turkey
It's probably time to come up with a new Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award or some such for unintentionally causing mass panic and hysteria in "trained professionals" with common household objects. Clearly the 2007 winner would be Turner Broadcasting for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Lite Brite fiasco in Boston. I emphasize "unintentional," because what was seen as a harmless joke when I was a kid can certainly get you 10 to 30 now. We also made our own Thermite and played with it too. That'll probably get you life.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
A smartphone-powered robot with wires protuding? Somebody got scared over that? I mean, has there ever been a bomb that didn't have fucking wires exposed? I hope they remembered to cut the red wire first when defusing this toy. Or was it the white wire? Well, we may as well ban all electronics since they all have wires inside of them. This has nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with us becoming a terror-stricken and easily frightened society. Our fears and risk-aversion are all out of proportion to the actual statistical risk of harm from bombs and terrorism.
I assume the airport will be compensating these innocent passangers for mental anguish caused by the nuclear freakout and arrests.
The chances of a real threat by a competent advasary looking like a hollywood prop are sufficiently remote that if you think any of this was an appropriate response then it must also be appropriate for airports to freak out and close the entire airport whenever *ANY* item is left behind as it could just as easily be a threat.
Assuming that no-one else made any mistakes is grade-A stupid in security. Furthermore, they didn't know where it came from, that is a concern in and on itself.
to show how useless TSA is.
So you'd never investigate anomalous network activity on your network because clearly your perimeter defenses would keep the hackers out?
C'mon now; I loathe the TSA as much as anybody else, but if you don't get the concept of defense in depth you're probably not qualified to throw stones...
Number of people nude Xrayed or sexually groped (on their breasts or crotch) or strip-searched or locked in glass jails for carrying breast milk or ..... (this list could go on several pages).
I must admit that I'm thinking about the scene in Airplane where the security guys frisk the old lady (or was it a nun?) while the shifty looking guy with the comic-book bomb walks straight through. How could the makers of a 1980 comedy film be so prophetic?
Because, yes, in this case the real question is how the hell "a cell phone linked to a remote control car with wires protruding" got as far as the plane without the owner (or their responsible adult) being sent packing with the polite suggestion that they should try opening a newspaper at least once every decade and take some sort of responsibility for what sort of bizzarre objects they tried to carry on a plane?
Anyway, aren't all science projects supposed to be potato batteries, by law?
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Finding something like this on a commercial passenger jet would probably have provoked a security reaction even before 2001.
You will go through a metal detector. You will empty your pockets, take off your shoes and belt. You will have to show an official photo ID.
You may be wanded down, if the metal detector keeps beeping. If the wanding shows an area that is setting off the wand, the agent will search that area with their hand (groping). They are not going to do a full search unless you refuse all electronic means. If you have a pacemaker, you may choose groping over metal detectors.
The important thing is to pay attention to the rules about liquids and containers sizes. Put everything you can through the luggage x-ray. Don't forget a metal nail file in your pocket.
If your name is on a watch list, you may be talked to on the side. I have had this happen. My name is the same as a former IRA member who later became a Republican politician in the ROI and was even involved in the Peace talks with US Senator Mitchell. I'm guessing this is the connection. A more senior TSA agent at the security check-in talked to me for about 30 seconds, re-viewed my ID, and allowed me to pass. I would be about 30 years too young to be the other me. I guess if you were African American and your name was 'Bobby Rush', you might expect the same treatment, so don't wear a 'Black Panther' super hero t-shirt.
Also my name is the same as 2 people who were killed in the twin towers on September 11th. Yes, 2 people with the same name were killed. Lists of names are not always accurate ways to identify terrorists and tell them apart from terrorist victims.
TSA personnel seem a lot like postal workers. They are just doing a job. They follow their training manuals and don't have to think outside their protocols. Go with the flow and you won't even be noticed by them.
We elected the people who made all these rules, don't blame the TSA. The fault, ultimately, belongs to those of us who vote. If you don't like the way it works, start voting for someone else.
america has been successfully turned into a collective of shadow-fearing retards. the plan worked beautifully. now if they will only beg to be locked in jail, if only to be safe from 'terror'...
Another reason for the pink "not a bomb!!!!" sticker that only the TSA has access to. I SO look forward to the days when I have to wear one on my forehead to fly.
Or, the departing flight crew could be responsible for sweeping the plane prior to the new crew coming on board and communicating any oddities, like the lifeguards do at my kids' swimming pool. Oh, right, flying, in general, has become re-fuckin-tarded.
Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation causes your worst fears to come true.
What kind of moronic society gets all out of joint about that sort of thing. What is your recommendation, is just not flying enough or should he fully join the idiocracy and use only government approved consumer goods?
Then everybody on slashdot will get detained, probed and then TSA will request additional funding based on the spikes in detaining/probing/confiscations.
You seem to be arguing that the limit of this police function as x -> the readership of slashdot is near infinity, but I don't think that's anywhere near the case, based on these axioms: a) population of U.S. is less than infinity and b) the percentage of U.S. population which can be converted into police and guard to succesfully prosecute and imprison the rest before riots and revolution breaks out, is FAR less than 100%.
How do you feel about underwear and shoes, then? After all, persons have tried to detonate them in mid-air.
How many times do we need to repeat "Security Circus"?
Given all the TSA has got away with so far, it is clear they can do whatever the fuck they like and face no consequences at all.
"When in doubt, use brute force." Ken Thompson
There is a failure of communication between TSA sites. Once the projects and people have been vetted there should have been an e-mail/update advising the landing/connecting airfields that such object is aboard and has been looked at. This would not have stopped the new crew from freaking out but it possibly would have saved an extended arrest.
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
I beg to differ. The students had to have gone by the TSA to get that thing on the airplane. The TSA after the plane landed shutdown the airport to scan it ONLY after the flight crew had a problem. If they TSA had that much of a problem with it at the END of a flight why was it not stopped before the flight or at least put in with checked baggage? Your incompetence is a non standard screen at the start of the flight. Not the competent people at the end of the flight.
Grow up will ya?
Just because Ayn Rand got some things right doesn't make her an oracle, most of her ideals are garbage.
Hell, even those idiots who co wrote the Bible got a few things right too, but the rest is controlling crap.
plane get reloaded with fuel at the gate and move to the next city and if you have a big boom you may also hit the airport fuel tanks / take out a big chunk of the gate area.
I won't bother restating the article details other than to say it was an RC car, left near the cockpit which is too far away from the fuel tanks to rupture them. If it had been a bomb.
Even if it did, the fuel won't explode (the vapors can, but not without the right air/fuel ratio) and even the ignition point of the jet fuel is higher than you would think (140 degrees F according to wikipedia). So even a fire is unlikely unless it was incendiary.
The main point being that an RC car is too small to blow up an airplane, even a little Cessna.
As a counterpoint, when the mythbusters blew up the cement truck they used 850lbs of high-explosive, which detonates (explodes faster than the speed of sound) and generally provides more force for doing work like pushing a cement mixer wall away from another cement mixer wall.
Expansion room is important. Holding an M80 tightly in your hand might blow your hand off, while holding it in your open palm might just burn your skin slightly (I still advise you not to try this)
The same applies in larger scales. If the RC car was a bomb, the explosion of say 5 pounds of material would go mostly up in the air and around all the sides, taking the paths of least resistance. It would probably leave a permanent mark on the ugly airplane carpet, which would need to be replaced.. along with a couple of seats.
The reason small bombs are effectively dangerous is shrapnel. Grenades pack a small amount of explosives inside a metal shell which breaks apart and speeds along into peoples bodies. Grenades are not effective against tanks, vehicles, or airplanes, despite video games saying otherwise.
Why am I saying all this? I want you to understand that even a little bit of panic while remaining uninformed does you and the public a disservice. A stampede to get away from a potential bomb scare would have potentially caused much more harm than anything reasonable you could have done to the plane while it's on the ground.
Using a two pound block of white clay as ballast and calling "Go Boom" were poor choices.
there's a lot to be said about running The Tor Browser Bundle in an encrypted container (TrueCrypt) on a LiveCD, with the hard drive UNPLUGGED and UNUSED!
(just take the hard drives out and never use them again, USB thumb drives are cheap and can be encrypted with TrueCrypt, too, as an encrypted containter, partition, or the whole drive itself, just never use a proprietary OS like Windows or Mac OS X)
As a primer, read:
#Tor OPSEC - Operational Security - Great Resource of Information!
http://cryptome.org/0005/tor-opsec.htm
And:
#Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys
https://citp.princeton.edu/research/memory/
If the keys (TC passwords) are in my head, complex enough, and never written down...
With the amount of RAM present in new computers, I see no logical reason to use a hard drive again when Linux LiveCDs, encryption, and thumb drives are on the cheap or free.
No unsafe hardware sex, either, this means no plugging your Tor/Truecrypt thumb drive into another system, any system, except for your Tor/Truecrypt system.
Run audits on your system, verify LiveCDs, make sure your router isn't backdoored like many or maybe all of the Cisco routers. Keep up to date if you use open source firmware for your routers. Consider replacing proprietary routers with an older PC as a router with an open source OS like OpenBSD or a prerolled firewall distro.
Test your connection with remote nmap, dabble with Snort, Tripwire and other monitoring tools.
Don't use external hard drives.
RAM is your friend, always.
Nah, you're getting "poor impulse control"
Further proof that the TSA is a sick joke.
They LEFT it on the plane, meaning the got it one the plane, and apparently flew in the plane with it.
Being able to find "bombs" left behind on planes after the flight is not exactly good security, is it?
This space available.
I live in the US. Close to multiple airports in fact. But I won't fly. I won't come near a terminal. I'd just rather not play hide and seek with the TSA, and then 400 dollars in airfare. As result, I've driven hundreds of miles away, and paid around 30 dollars worth of tolls for a single car. It's still cheaper, and a lot less stressful...
Goons with a capital G?
You play Eve Online, don't you?
It was only a mistake to let the device on the plane if it actually was a bomb. It is more likely that TSA was suspicious of the device when they went through security, swabbed it, scanned it, and examined it, determined it wasn't a bomb, and let them board with it. Probably asked what the heck it was. If they hadn't, we would be reading a story with the headline: TSA doesn't let Science class board plane because of a "Science Project", and Slashdot commenters would come out in force against it.
Eve where?
Is she hot?
FTFY. Why do you think the number of criminal offenses keeps increasing? Ayn Rand hit the ball out of the park:
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
While I don't know if she was aware of it, her quote is pretty much a paraphrase from something the ancient Chinese Legalist philosopher Han Feizi said.
Except that Han Feizi meant it seriously as a method of ruling that should be implemented (and it was).
Great ploy!
Only, how many of the students, legal children, will be raped by TSA agents. Will Janet Planet intercede to protect the LGBT students?
The Supreme Court has given, in some minds like the dictator President Barak Obama, freedom to rape detainees in cases even of minor offenses, yet to be determined by judical review or course.
So, as President of the United States of America does Barak Obama have the right, God given - Constitutional - Dump Luck - to rape any USA citizen or any human being, even his oun childeren, at his discretion?
Barak these days has a fondness for Ethiopian proverbs, which Ethiopian proverb will the Fucker-In-Chief choose to defend his tortured mind?
LOL
You can't really tell if something's a bomb. If it looks suspicious, the only 'safe' thing to do is to assume it is something evil.
In the 1800s it would be an evil product of witchcraft (satanic device), in the 20th century it would be a communist spying device, and in the 21st century... it must be a bomb.
In any case, whoever created such implement must certainly be arrested.
We must be ever vigilant in the hunt for ( Witches | Communists | Terrorists), otherwise, there is a great danger that lives will be lost.
If we don't know exactly what a device (or a person is), the only safe assumption is to assume the absolute worst
They won. You lost.
I don't have a sig.
This is being successfully terrorized.
They were right - the revolution did not get televised. It was posted on YouTube instead. All in 120 characters. SLOOSH!
well, um, at least, bits of you.
Ironically, the alternative to bringing the item on board is to pack a gun into your checked luggage. That makes sure it is treated with kid-gloves and isn't opened. Seriously. (You tell the airline you have the gun in your luggage and follow the necessary firearm safety laws/ordinances and airline requirements)
And their "overreaction" was a little bit late. They let this device get onto plane and then "panicked" when someone left it.
My feeling is that those TSA pigs wouldn't be happier. They found justification for their crap existence and secured some more of future funding for their parasitic operations.
Regarding all this "terrorist" stuff american crap-media is pushing down our throats every day: stop bombing those folks in Middle East and stop covering Israel's criminal actions and you'll neutralize way more terrorist threat than with all these expensive TSA thugs and equipment.
Oh my GOD! Wires! Exposed Wires! Wires sticking out of that thing! Its a BOMB! Its *ALWAYS A BOMB!!!* Blow it up! Evacuate! Its a wonder they didn't shut down the entire airport and blow up the entire aircraft in the name of safety! Wires! OH! MY! GOD! W*I*R*E*S!!! Wires always means a bomb! Always!
They act "horrified" when they get something interesting but the truth is they _really_ want to be the one to find a bomb, because it's a career maker for an otherwise dead-end job.
Never forget the lessons of Boston and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. "It had a very sinister appearance. It had a battery behind it, and wires." If it's not an American flag, it most be a bomb.
Repeat after me: Because it was NOT a fucking bomb or "terrorist" device. It was a harmless science experiment.
Now, if you want to bury your head in the sand every time you see something you don't understand, go right ahead. I prefer to "analyze", "think" and "understand". If it's not dangerous to the crew, passengers or aircraft, there is absolutely NO reason to disallow something like this on-board. If it looked anything like what was described, I'm sure it was thoroughly screened at the security checkpoint *before they got on the plane*! It was found safe, not a danger and allowed on-board.
This is pure, unfounded panic and TSA over-reaction, as usual.
That's not even hyperbole, just a basic opinion on when "personhood" begins that differs from the majority opinion. If you share that opinion, it would be hard not to be appalled by the rampant infanticide.
It's sad that geeks are, on the whole, so quick to just dismiss someone with differing values. When someone comes to a very diferent conclusion, we shouldn't be so quick to assume they're stupid, instead ask whther they're starting from different assumptions (certainly 90% of design arguments at work could be avoided by this practice).
*Sigh*
Ok, I'll bite. What "different assumptions" lead to the conclusion that abortion isn't rampant infanticide?
The only two I can find are:
"I want sex without consequences."
"This piece of tissue isn't cute yet, so I don't need to formally recognize it as human."
The former is part of our zeitgiest. That doesn't make it sound reasoning*, but it is conceivably worth addressing. The latter is just an ugly excuse driven by the former. We really could just as easily and capriciously set the age to six months, or potty training.
For the record, the general public is stupid, and the most vocal proponents of abortion are after political power or money. That's not to say that everyone who believes in abortion is stupid, but it's really hard to wrap my mind around. I have not come across a logically sound rationale in favor of it. (at least one that isn't easily applied to genocide or some types of serial murder)
*(I'm NOT addressing sin here. That's a whole different topic.)
I won't join Slashcott. OTOH, If Beta goes live, I just won't be back until it's fixed. Sorry Dice.
What kind of moron thinks that a cell phone attached to a remote-control car with some exposed wires is a device to blow up an airplane? ... you'd HIDE it in something
If you're building a bomb for an airplane:
a) it does not require maneuvering around to get to a specific spot
b) you'll have crap mobile reception for the majority of the voyage
c) if you've decided to hide it in something
If anything, it sounds like a device for taking up-skirt pictures of stewardesses.
There go a few more STEM students who'll turn into business majors instead. And in their place, India, China and Korea will send students to your universities to learn, take their new knowledge and skills home and leave you weaker as a country.
Well done !
And so the staff at the other end are just supposed to assume that everything has been checked with a device? There's no way something could ever slip through security right?
Making that assumption would be the height of stupidity and incompetence.
They found the stable door unlocked after the horse had left. Then burned down the stable and built another one with a new door and lock.
And you say they worked?!?!?!
I had a 100 box car tool kit on board, knives, wrenchs, hell I could have disassembled the entire airplane with it mid flight
They even opened it up at the check in and security check and went uhu and let it pass :)
I flew around Europe with it, in very strict airports, this was pre oh boo hoo 9/11 though :)
the AF-47 was in fact a 10 foot long halo sniper rifle replica that does not even look real (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/11/medium_3ce16ecb6851fdac6329346672baea73.jpg).
From the picture, that actually looks pretty real. Indeed, it looks extremely similar to a Barrett Light .50 if you squint just a little. I think you're being a tool.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No harm was actually done, this was a case of I don't know what I'm looking at. Accidents happen and in this case I hope as soon as the airport discovered it was a robot all parties were let free with a FULL apology and that is that.
A barret light .50 is like 1/4 the size of this gun replica. and neither look like a AK47.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
The same sort of moron that takes a finely-crafted and enclosed brushed aluminum device on the plane, and leaves that behind accidentally. Just because there are wires sticking out of it doesn't make it a bomb. I doubt that most home-made bombs that someone would want to take onto an airplane would look like the Hollywood versions. The morons are the people who thought it was something dangerous. Yeah, Mr. Joe Terrorist uses a remote-control car and makes it *look* like a Hollywood-style "wires everywhere" scary bomb. No, they hide the damn thing and make it look innocuous.
USA epic fail
At least this didn't happen up in Boston. If it had the police would be claiming the students wanted it to look like a bomb, claim it was a 'hoax device', and say how grateful they should be that the police did not gun them down on the spot.
When will Americans wake up and realize they have traded their freedom for security - and now don't have either one. Ben Franklin said it best, and the U.S. seems to have forgotten some of the wisdom of its founding fathers.
So, enjoy your Security Theatre for the Ignorant Masses - you morons.
Perhaps the TSA was freaking out over Lego Mindstorms. The controller brick is slightly larger than a cell phone, and can be controlled via Bluetooth. Those wires connected to the servos and sensors may look suspicious to the untrained eye. But the real threat is the fact that Lego Mindstorms can solve a Rubik's Cube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d0LfkIut2M&feature=related
Since this demonstrates intelligence beyond that of any and all TSA employees, it must be destroyed and it's creators summarily executed.
No, it's actually about 1/2 of the size (I've seen one up close) but some of the proportions are pretty close and while neither looks like an AK47 (or any AK-series rifle for that matter) I didn't say they did. The average person doesn't know shit about guns and will just use the name of the most dangerous gun they've heard of if they see someone carrying a big scary-looking gun. It is irresponsible to carry a real-looking fake gun in public without some kind of additional dressing or effects that make[s] it clear it's a costume piece because you WILL get MWAG ("man with a gun") reports phoned in.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
...Welcome to 'Merica, where to err on the side of any extreme is a good thing.
And common sense is ignored.
~Just as a thing fails if it lacks a kernel, so too it fails if it lacks a skin. ~ Rumi, Discourses
Well considering that it is legal to own and carry in public a AK-47 where that happened I would disagree that it was irresponsible.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
It's legal to own and carry in public guns similar to an AK-47 where I live too, but it's still irresponsible, because it's best to realize that some people get hysterical when they see them.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
They should be doing that in private, not in a driveway! Perverts!
Tell the administration to withhold funding from TSA until they respect the Constitution and the public:
http://wh.gov/RPx
1. Remove and destroy all imaging machines that potentially can "see" under our clothing.
2. Cease and desist all invasive patdowns that involve touching genitalia unless there is probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime.
3. Cease immediately harassment of people who assert their constitutional rights during airport screening.
http://wh.gov/RPx
Thanks for signing.
I had a friend who almost triggered a bomb threat in high school when his science experiment, consisting of a video game controller fashioned from a football helmet, mercury switches and lots of wires, was found during a routine locker inspection.
While all you say is absolutely correct, it's also pretty damning evidence of the TSA's utter uselessness.
Was any needed?
I am for abolishing TSA and letting airports handle security directly. Possibly forming some federal team of behavioral profilers to be lent to airports, the only approach I feel is worth anything at the moment.
Radiological monitors would be good though just to prevent an airborne dirty-bomb. Only so much lead shielding you can take with you in a carry on.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
S/He should have had enough sense to realize carrying on the contraption was a bad idea. Hey perfesser, ever heard of Fedex?
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
Tidy up those loose wires!
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Does that come with some type of shiny pony?
Couldn't hurt to throw an Apple symbol on it either.
we have grown to a point that our society is restricting the decision from happening at the root, we have polices, process and procedure to limit the impact caused by inability of the poor performer. when we should have been considering firing the poor performer.
The majority of our police are not allowed to investigate intelligently, as a result of a subset of bad employees. We are unable to reset to when police were effective as a result of our societies strangle hold by unions. Its not just police its everywhere.
Simple thing, you don't travel with your "Science Project" you ship it with FedX (not UPS because they break everything I ever sent).. Years ago, when Comdex was in Vegas, FedX had a booth there so people could ship home all their stuff they picked up at the show because who wants the airlines to lose it?
Another reason for the pink "not a bomb!!!!" sticker that only the TSA has access to.
I've never seen that one. What airport do they use that at? And how, once they apply it to the device that is "not a bomb" and hand it back to the passenger, do they keep it out of the hands of a passenger?
Kind of self-defeating if you ask me. A pink sticker they can put on carryon items that they have to take off the carryon items so only they have access to them.
That was a kind of roundabout way of saying it's impossible. TSA may be the only ones who have access to them before they start using them, but once in use, passengers will have them, and a passenger who is carrying "not a bomb" today may be excited to stick it on his "is a bomb" tomorrow. That makes it useless.
Actually they don't have that. I was mistakenly thinking of when I return poor quality items to Wal-Mart. Apologies.
Also, my whole "pink sticker" joke fell rather flat. The point you made so well was what I assumed would make it funny. C'est la vie.
I missed this article yesterday since I was too busy huddling into a basement to avoid tornadoes so I doubt anyone will read this comment, let alone moderate it, but I think there's a small bit of information that might be essential here.
Something that people should realize is: Dallas Love Field, which is where this incident occurred, is a relatively small airport.
Dallas has two airports, Dallas Love Field and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW Airport). Dallas Love Field was the first airport (it's the one JFK flew into right before his assassination), DFW Airport was built in the 1970's.
Dallas Love Field is 1,300 acres and has one terminal. Until a few years ago only one airline flew out of it, Southwest Airlines (there's four airlines now). DFW Airport is the second largest in the country at 18,000 acres, five terminals (that have to be traversed by monorail) and dozens of airlines flying in and out.
The reason I point this out is that there's a lot of outcry in this discussion of "why did this shut down HALF AN AIRPORT" and I think most people are thinking it's DFW Airport they're referring to in the article, not Dallas Love Field (as in, most people not in the Dallas area might think that Dallas Love Field is the main airport of the Dallas area). The reason they shut down half the airport is because the airport is not very big to begin with. The isolated area of DFW Airport that would have been shut down in the same instance is probably the same size as the half of Dallas Love Field they did shut down.
Not that this justifies putting students in handcuffs but I thought I'd point out that the scale of the reaction needs to be considered.
Schnapple
were they strip searched, now legal?
Because if it "looks like a cell phone attached to a remote-controlled car", that means it doesn't look like a bomb, does it?
We just lost a scientist. That kid is going to be too traumatized to ever do science again, all thanks to the TSA. It's possible that the TSA just prevented us from developing warp drive, teleportation, photon torpedoes, or even self-toasting bread.
Reminds me of the time I saw my girlfriend talking to another man. How was I supposed to know it was her brother? Shame she can't walk anymore, but really, nothing abusive or incompetent about my reaction.
Because, at a glance, I could tell it's not a bomb.
Everybody at every level over-reacts and assumes the worst. This is what the USA is all about these days. Hysteria, ignorance, and fear.
Baited Field?
What kind of moron takes something that "look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane?
Uh, someone that does not want the device utterly destroyed?
Checked luggage gets the shit beat out of it. Also, very often, security personnel will go through your luggage, and break even more stuff, through plain negligence, or just plain re-packing it poorly.
Sometimes it's not negligence. Sometimes it's more like "because I can".
I once checked a Hohner Pianet electric piano (electric - not electronic/"keyboard"). There are three screws on the top to completely remove the entire top of the piano, and allow complete access to the insides. When I got it back in baggage claim, the four right-most keys had been pried up and broken, and the phono jack on the back (on the opposite corner from the broken keys) had had something stuck into it and it had been pried 90 degrees leaving an approximately 1.5cm hole (that I assume was used to use to peer into the interior). This obviously destroyed the phono jack (as well as the signal cable to which it was attached, as well as several sound reeds, and dampers). They then left me a very nice note apologizing for "needing to damage" my piano to determine that it was safe.
That was in 2006.
That was also the last time I flew.
What kind of moron takes something that "look[s] like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding" onto an airplane?
What kind of moron supports those eroding all of our constitutional rights by accepting the idea that just because someone does something out of the ordinary, they must be a threat? If the person who brought the device on the plane were a terrorist, he would be a moron. Hopefully there are many such terrorists. The fact that all of us have to start thinking like terrorists to avoid looking suspicious is the best evidence that the terrorists are winning.