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Are the TSA's New Electronic Device Screenings Necessary?

Posted by samzenpus on from the obvious-answer-is-obvious dept.

First time accepted submitter Amanda Parker writes In July the US warned of a terrorism risk which led countries, such as France and the UK, to step up their security screening for flights to the US. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson directed the TSA to implement enhanced security measures. In his statement on 6 July, Johnson warned that passengers could also be asked to "power up some devices, including cell phones" and stated that "powerless devices will not be permitted on board the aircraft". In light of the US Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) recent tightening of airport security to include stricter screening of electronic devices, is the TSA right to be cautious or have its actions caused unnecessary hassle for passengers?

13 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Betteridge says by Livius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...no.

    I'm surprise they still bother to pretend that all that homeland 'security' theatre has anything to do with security.

    1. Re:Betteridge says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I flew home for nearly 15 years to visit my family. I live a 20 hour drive away. This year I am driving it again. I am fed up with this shit.

      They cram us in like cattle then treat us as criminals. Even if you fly 'first class' they can just randomly decide not to put your luggage on the plane and you still go thru all this crap. Then turn around and nickel and dime you over a small swig of a beverage and some stale pretzels.

      Flying now sucks more ass than driving for 20 hours. The terrorists won. I am tired of having my rights violated for the possibility of someone maybe doing something.

    2. Re:Betteridge says by arth1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I remember when Americans thought pre-WWII German security was outrageous. Papieren, bitte (Papers, please)!

      Americans were proud that they could go anywhere they wanted without being stopped and harassed or even asked who they were, and made fun of those not so lucky.

      These days, if Americans were only asked for papers, they would be confused.
      It has become a land of chickenshit cowards who shiver in fear, and behave like cattle being prodded.

      No, the terrorists have not won, but we have lost far more than what the terrorists could have hoped for: Our hearts.

    3. Re:Betteridge says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ... behave like cattle being prodded.

      You're wrong. If one prods a cow too quickly, it turns and attacks. Electrified prods force the cow to move away and it just keeps going. The cow never thinks the assault is beneficial.

  2. Redundant Question by IonOtter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Are the TSA's New Electronic Device Screenings Necessary?"

    Reformat the question: "Is TSA Necessary?"

    Now you have a question worth asking.

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    [End Of Line]
  3. device boot up won't stop terrorists by kesuki · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i have a postage sized mp3 player from china with a tf/sd card slot it boots up shows a menued screen and plays mp3s. a fake phone that has a plastic explosive bomb could easily use a 'fake' power on screen with menu and the menus would be browsable and possibly functional and also be a bomb.

    so no this doesn't make airplanes safer.

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    https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
  4. (In that Counter Strike voice) Terrorists Win by BitZtream · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Riddle me this: Has the TSA ever done anything to actually make anything more secure? I've never seen an example of the TSA catch any attempt. I've heard of passengers catching people who made it through TSA screening. I've seen people carry pocket knives on aircraft after going through that retarded microwave scanner. I've heard of Air Marshals stoping people.

    Not once have I heard of the TSA doing anything useful.

    On the other hand, the terrorists pretty much did exactly what they said they were going to do, make our lives more difficult and made people feel less secure. Of course they didn't make people feel less secure, the TSA makes us feel less secure.

    Israel doesn't do the silly bullshit that the TSA does, yet they catch more people trying to blow them up and actually have a daily threat from their next door neighbors. Of course they also care more about being effective than security theatre to make certain friends of politicians rich or bullshit faux political correctness. They do intelligent profiling, and no that doesn't just mean go after the guys with brown skin, for obvious reasons.

    If I can get enough explosive or poison into an iPhone to be effective, making the screen light up isn't going to be that difficult. A laptop? Give me a break, trivial to fake.

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    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  5. TSA Has Been Useless Since The Beginning by Bob9113 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    is the TSA right to be cautious or have its actions caused unnecessary hassle for passengers?

    The TSA has done about ten billion screenings since its inception. They have caught zero terrorists. They have missed three. All three failed, for reasons completely unrelated to TSA. TSA screenings are ineffective and unnecessary. This has been apparent for years, this story is just one more bit of security theater. TSA panders to the terror that is the terrorists' only weapon when we should be fighting it.

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    Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
    1. Re:TSA Has Been Useless Since The Beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Now now, they've made BILLIONS of dollars for somebody. That can't possibly be useless!

  6. Re:that pre dates 9/11. laptops from late 90's for by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    being asked to power up devices is not new at all. I had to power up my laptop on a flight sometime Fall 1998.

    Yea but after 9/11 and all the reviews of airport security the "power on your devices" thing was dropped because at the time all the experts said it was useless.

    And yet here we are today.... I'm just waiting for the day when you have to ship all your luggage a day ahead of travel and fly in paper hospital gowns.

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    I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  7. Absolutely. by man_ls · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Once everyone is used to this, they'll introduce "limited content inspections" to ensure devices don't contain "Terrorist materials" before boarding. Any device which the passenger refuses to unlock and hand over for inspection won't be permitted to fly.

  8. Re: TSA is unnecessary by smaddox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sealing the cockpit is necessary. Random bomb sniffing dogs is a great idea. Pretty much all of the rest is extraneous.

  9. Re:Do they have spare batteries? by pete6677 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why on earth are you traveling with HIPAA regulated data on your laptop? Is that truly necessary?