4 ms·

TSA actually spent only $47,000 on the random assignment app

18 points by capote 11y ago

draw_down 11y ago
This whole story is so silly.
- capote 11y ago
  I can't get enough of it
  - draw_down 11y ago
    You and the rest of HN, apparently. First it was 400k then some millions then this. I mean, honestly.
    - capote 11y ago
      That's what makes it fun!
ahallock 11y ago
'Only'? There will be lots of rationalizing, of course, as to the final cost but this is real money that could have helped the tax payers it was stolen from. Instead, it's been redistributed to overpaid contractors.
- nmrm2 11y ago
  The app was used at 100 airports. If you include the cost of the iPads then it's like $7000 for the actual app. Still high for a couple hours of work, but you figure most of that is overhead inherent in contract-style work. I never charge less than 1k for a project because it's not even worth the time it takes to place a bid and manage the paperwork, and I don't have to put up with government BS. The ironic thing is that the person who made the FOIA request is complaining about lack of transparency when transparency is a perfect example of the sorts of perverse incentives that cause government projects have insane amounts of overhead. One of those spend a dollar to prevent a penny of fraud things. I don't really have any solutions, but there's no free cake. 'course the elephant in the room is that TSA itself is a waste of money even without expensive software contracts.
  - ahallock 11y ago
    > If you include the cost of the iPads then it's like $7000 for the actual app. These articles imply it was for the app development. $7000 is high, but not outrageous.
eggy 11y ago
I think all of the tech discussions misses the bigger picture of why a random app to begin with. It is to ensure racial profiling or other profiling is not the trigger to put people on one side of the line or the other. Frankly, I find this a bit too PC, and from my experience in life, a bit of common sense, and using your 'eyes' (judgement included) is needed here. You will have idiots using their own eyes and judgement sure, but you will have idiots using the TSA iPad app too without using their 'eyes'. I grew up in Sunset Park Brooklyn, NY. I could get beat up 4 times a week if I didn't simply 'racially profile', and cross the street when seeing a group of hispanic-looking guys drinking beer out of brown paper bags after school (a hint they had nothing better to do). Being white in a +90% Puerto Rican / Dominican neighborhood with platinum blonde hair until age 14 made me stand out to say the least. If I had used a random 'cross the street' | 'stay on this side', I could expect to get beat up 50% of the time ;) I learned how to avoid the common prejudices of some of the morons in my neighborhood, while maintaining some rational level of discrimination and common sense. Yes, sometimes you will miss the radicalized Nordic-looking or UK youth, but I bet the odds of the discriminatory eye will beat a random search any day in a large population sample.
- true_religion 11y ago
  There is a difference between racial profiling on the individual level and racial profiling on the government level. On the individual level, a single person simply doesn't have that much power. As a representative of the US border and custom institution, a TSA agent's poorly thought out hunch can have far ranging effects. Additionally, TSA agents are not subject to stringent educational requirements nor tested for having good quality judgment. In reality, they have been shown time and time again to have shockingly poor judgment. For instance, in one case they believed that a man who showed up to the airport without eating must have been doing so for Ramadan and, therefore, required 'enhanced scrutiny' which made him miss his flight. This resulted in a missed work opportunity, and over 2000 worth of costs in non-refundable plane and hotel fees at his destination. In reality, he skipped breakfast to catch his early flight for a tech conference, and had the poor luck of having a darker than caucasian tan skin colour.
  - 11y ago

18 points by capote 11y ago

draw_down 11y ago

This whole story is so silly.

capote 11y ago
I can't get enough of it
- draw_down 11y ago
  You and the rest of HN, apparently. First it was 400k then some millions then this. I mean, honestly.
  - capote 11y ago
    That's what makes it fun!

ahallock 11y ago

'Only'? There will be lots of rationalizing, of course, as to the final cost but this is real money that could have helped the tax payers it was stolen from. Instead, it's been redistributed to overpaid contractors.

nmrm2 11y ago
The app was used at 100 airports. If you include the cost of the iPads then it's like $7000 for the actual app. Still high for a couple hours of work, but you figure most of that is overhead inherent in contract-style work. I never charge less than 1k for a project because it's not even worth the time it takes to place a bid and manage the paperwork, and I don't have to put up with government BS. The ironic thing is that the person who made the FOIA request is complaining about lack of transparency when transparency is a perfect example of the sorts of perverse incentives that cause government projects have insane amounts of overhead. One of those spend a dollar to prevent a penny of fraud things. I don't really have any solutions, but there's no free cake. 'course the elephant in the room is that TSA itself is a waste of money even without expensive software contracts.
- ahallock 11y ago
  > If you include the cost of the iPads then it's like $7000 for the actual app. These articles imply it was for the app development. $7000 is high, but not outrageous.

eggy 11y ago

I think all of the tech discussions misses the bigger picture of why a random app to begin with. It is to ensure racial profiling or other profiling is not the trigger to put people on one side of the line or the other. Frankly, I find this a bit too PC, and from my experience in life, a bit of common sense, and using your 'eyes' (judgement included) is needed here. You will have idiots using their own eyes and judgement sure, but you will have idiots using the TSA iPad app too without using their 'eyes'. I grew up in Sunset Park Brooklyn, NY. I could get beat up 4 times a week if I didn't simply 'racially profile', and cross the street when seeing a group of hispanic-looking guys drinking beer out of brown paper bags after school (a hint they had nothing better to do). Being white in a +90% Puerto Rican / Dominican neighborhood with platinum blonde hair until age 14 made me stand out to say the least. If I had used a random 'cross the street' | 'stay on this side', I could expect to get beat up 50% of the time ;) I learned how to avoid the common prejudices of some of the morons in my neighborhood, while maintaining some rational level of discrimination and common sense. Yes, sometimes you will miss the radicalized Nordic-looking or UK youth, but I bet the odds of the discriminatory eye will beat a random search any day in a large population sample.

true_religion 11y ago
There is a difference between racial profiling on the individual level and racial profiling on the government level. On the individual level, a single person simply doesn't have that much power. As a representative of the US border and custom institution, a TSA agent's poorly thought out hunch can have far ranging effects. Additionally, TSA agents are not subject to stringent educational requirements nor tested for having good quality judgment. In reality, they have been shown time and time again to have shockingly poor judgment. For instance, in one case they believed that a man who showed up to the airport without eating must have been doing so for Ramadan and, therefore, required 'enhanced scrutiny' which made him miss his flight. This resulted in a missed work opportunity, and over 2000 worth of costs in non-refundable plane and hotel fees at his destination. In reality, he skipped breakfast to catch his early flight for a tech conference, and had the poor luck of having a darker than caucasian tan skin colour.
- 11y ago