31 ms·

TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

385 points by jackgavigan 10y ago

appleflaxen 10y ago
I'm sure they will tell us that this never would have happened if only their budget was tripled.
mlvljr 10y ago
Typo: not -> now
ianpurton 10y ago
My take away from this... Put your name and number on your valuables just in case someone picks them up by accident.
- Xylakant 10y ago
  You can put any message you want on your macbooks login/lock screen. Mine contains contact information just in case I loose it. Might actually pay off to put a sticker on it as well.
  - shavingspiders 10y ago
    The ability to add a lock screen message is under 'security & privacy' on System Preferences. I feel like that's not the right place to put it, but I don't know what would be.
  - kriro 10y ago
    Two sided sword. If the person that took the laptop is actually a thief he/she conveniently knows you're currently not at home upon boot. Since this theft requires at least some criminal energy (I guess there's an outside shot of just being a grab and run) I wouldn't put it past the thief to immediately loot your home or have an accomplice do so.
    - distances 10y ago
      I usually put a friend's email/phone on my phone's lock screen. That way they actually can contact someone (since I just lost the means to do so). I hope a potential robber wouldn't take this as info of a good target, though.
    - Xylakant 10y ago
      That would require the finder/thief to be in a position to exploit that knowledge, something that is fairly unlikely for the general case. There are easier ways to figure out if I'm home (ring the door). If you're concerned about that, just have a dedicated email address on the screen.
    - sokoloff 10y ago
      Use a work address, email address, and a cell phone number. Agreed that home address is a bad idea, just like on luggage tags.
- deleted 10y ago
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- deleted 10y ago
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- joelrunyon 10y ago
  Doesn't do much good when someone making $13/hour[1] hands your stuff off to someone else without a second glance. [1] http://work.chron.com/tsa-officers-make-16008.html http://work.chron.com/tsa-officers-make-16008.html
  - mseebach 10y ago
    I doesn't solve the problem flat out, but it does make it much easier for an honest person to figure out what to do next. Not everybody is comfortable opening up a strangers computer to poke around for contact info, especially if they're also worried that they might be in trouble for having the computer in the first place. Even more so if it's handed in to lost and found. Those guys are definitely not going to do forensics. Come to think if it, there's a good chance that the laptop is in the lost and found of whatever airport that woman was flying to, logged in as "PC (Other)".
joelrunyon 10y ago
This sucks, but I can totally seeing it happen. Surprised it doesn't happen more often. I'm not one for snarky comments, but when it comes to the TSA there are so many to make. Maybe the TSA director will help you out with his $90k in bonuses he got (for who knows what) - http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/23/479242102/tsas-head-of-security-removed-from-office-says-house-panel http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/23/479242102/... Or, maybe it's part of their broader effort to boost their pre-check enrollment (http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tsas-precheck-conundrum-1412789364 http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tsas-precheck-conundrum-1412...) - pay us $85 and we won't steal your stuff - promise!
- robk 10y ago
  That guy got fired yesterday - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tsa-security_us_5743a892e4b045cc9a71ccec http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tsa-security_us_5743a892...
  - joelrunyon 10y ago
    I know - that's what my link story was about.
vidoc 10y ago
In a way, it's not the TSA's fault, it's ours for tolerating this insanity. Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance, not security. The most successful terrorist of all times was Richard Reid, the dude who tried to embark in a plane with explosive material in his shoes. The dude totally failed to storm anything and was busted, now he was successful because since he did this, billions people have been removing their shoes in USian airports. PS: Richard, if you read HN from your cell, thanks for not smuggling C4 in your butt!
- skrause 10y ago
  > Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance, not security. That would just lead to the following reaction: "The TSA is not doing enough yet, we need to implement even more annoyances."
  - dmm 10y ago
    This is what happened with the shoe bomber.
    - drdeadringer 10y ago
      I was on a trip during this instance. I flew out with my shoes on from curb to plane, but a few days later we're all taking off our shoes at every gate, door, security line, and hallway.
- deciplex 10y ago
  > Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance, not security. This would result in more security theater, not less. It's the only reaction the bureaucracy can possibly have to it, because that's what we've trained them to do as part of our voting habits and what sells in the media.
peteretep 10y ago
> It’s been 2.5 days meh. Government moves slowly.
- thesimon 10y ago
  >meh. Government moves slowly. Looks like there is a market to disrupt Faster-Government-as-a-Service. And also a market for "Separation of power for beginners" courses :)
- SlashmanX 10y ago
  Also it happened on a Friday evening and he posted this on a Monday afternoon, so it's basically only been half a day.
codecamper 10y ago
TSA should keep a link between face & scanned ticket. They should have been able to easily contact that gate & stop the "gift" receiver from boarding their plane. If there is no connection between face & scanned ticket, then this is a pretty serious gap of the TSA security system. Without it, how can they look at recorded video & make connections to certain passengers?
- joelrunyon 10y ago
  I'm sure they have one. But they're probably not using it to find lost laptops.
barrkel 10y ago
Amazingly ignorant police. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding
- wyldfire 10y ago
  I suppose they should be a little more suspicious but it's not at all ignorant to not know about "theft by finding." The article you linked to describes legal precedents in the 19th and 18th centuries.
  - soneil 10y ago
    Perhaps not by name (I didn't), but I believe it's common knowledge that "finders keepers" isn't law? You're meant to hand things in, or make a reasonable attempt to find the owner, or something along those lines. It seems common sense that "oh look, it's not nailed down, it must be mine now" isn't kosher - even if we can't name the legal framework behind it.
  - ryanlol 10y ago
    No, you certainly have to be particularly ignorant not to be aware of the concept of "Theft by finding". Especially if you're a law enforcement officer.
- adekok 10y ago
  Or just plain theft. She is on video taking a computer which isn't hers. That should be prima facia evidence for filing a police report stating "theft". The question of motive is one for the courts. If they find her, and determine it was an accident, they can not charge her. But for the laptop owner, he has been unlawfully deprived of his property. Even for the insurance claim alone, the police should have made a report. Otherwise, how is he going to file a claim? "Uh... I think my laptop was stolen. I saw the video, and talked to the police. But neither they nor the TSA would admit on record as to what they saw." Laws are meant to protect people. But that requires the administrators of the laws to follow the laws, too.
mindcrime 10y ago
Man, I am going to be paranoid as f%!# from now on, when going through security. If my laptop disappeared, it would screw me over pretty good. I mean, not in the sense that I'd lose anything that is literally irreplaceable, (well, not irreplaceable AND particularly valuable) but it would be a huge time and energy sink to recover from that. Last time I lost a laptop, was when somebody stole my laptop bag out of my truck (I forgot to lock it one night while I Was in Barnes & Noble having a coffee). That was a double-whammy, because the USB drive with my backups was in the same bag. :-( The only saving grace then was that most of my really important data is actually in "the cloud" somewhere (eg, code at GitHub) and that I had an older backup of most of my files on another computer that I bought and used temporarily after I spilled coffee on my old laptop (it started working again after it had a few days to dry out, so I switched back to it). Anyway, after reading this, I think I'm going to go get another 1TB USB drive, and start keeping a set of backups that I leave at home, instead of carrying around in my laptop bag. That or start pushing stuff to S3 or something. Code is already in GitHub, but there's a lot of other stuff I'd hate to lose.
- nikanj 10y ago
  Crashplan. $99 per year.
  - gambiting 10y ago
    It's actually just $59/year. Seems totally worth it to me.
    - distances 10y ago
      I agree. I used to handle backups manually but wasn't very diligent with them. Crashplan works nicely with Linux, and that's now one less mental burden to care about.
    - flexd 10y ago
      Except if you have a bit of data you'll spend a few years uploading it. Their servers are slow. Only getting like 5-20Mbit/s, mostly slower here in Europe.
jkot 10y ago
It is possible not to remove your laptop from backpack on TSA. Some backpacks open like a clamshell so xray has no obstructions.
- madmulita 10y ago
  What would stop the officer to give the backpack to 'some random woman'?
mjlee 10y ago
Interestingly (to me) the author used the phrase "on accident". I googled it and found this: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/215/is-it-correct-to-say-on-accident-instead-of-by-accident http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/215/is-it-correct... As a British English speaker, this stopped me in my tracks. I'm wondering if it had the same effect on the American English readers of this article.
- DavidSJ 10y ago
  It's not proper American English either but it's becoming increasingly common.
  - a3n 10y ago
    Not becoming, I heard and used it as a kid in the sixties.
- _acme 10y ago
  It's pretty standard usage in the Chicago area of the Midwest.
- deleted 10y ago
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- deleted 10y ago
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- jasallen 10y ago
  I'm American and it drives me crazy to hear this, but it is regretfully not terribly uncommon.
  - JadeNB 10y ago
    Heh. Muphry's law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry's_law) demands that you use 'regretfully' instead of 'regrettably' (http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/275034 http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/275034) when chastising someone's language.
gchadwick 10y ago
Whilst the TSA agents should be taking more care to ensure valuables are returned to the correct person, there are several agents working on a single line. The person who saw him place the computer into the x-ray would be different from the person handing items back so it's not all that surprising that didn't know who it belonged to and was just assuming people were being honest. Any frequent flyer will know return of items from security lines effectively operates on a honesty policy. Things are free for the taking after the x-ray and if they take your bag aside they frequently call out 'who's bag is this?' or similar. It's important you keep an eye on things. In this case he totally forgot his computer and lost it. If the situation was immediately after security the TSA refused to give it back to him as someone else claimed it was theirs then it would clearly be the TSA's fault but in this situation I feel he should share some of the blame.
- yoo1I 10y ago
  If the government decides they need to take my stuff away from me to check it, they better make sure that I get it back correctly. In this case the TSA handed the laptop to someone other than the owner. If this happens, clearly the process has a defect, and needs to be corrected, or, even better in this case, abandoned completely. Don't blame the victim.
  - curiousgal 10y ago
    >Don't blame the victim. Ugh. >If the government decides they need to take my stuff away from me to check it, they better make sure that I get it back correctly. Absolutely! But if you keep expecting them to do that without being careful and paying attention to your own stuff guess who foots the bill? This could've been all mitigated by OP being slightly more careful. Why do I say this? Because it's easier to ask someone to pay attention to their stuff than it is to ask the government to change its practices (bureaucracy etc). It's not victim blaming, it's about finding the most practical solution to prevent this problem from happening again.
    - yoo1I 10y ago
      Obviously being careful with your belongings, as with your personal safety, makes a lot of sense to avoid harm. However, clearly, if someone steals your things, or attacks you, it is irrelevant if you did or did not take care of your stuff: The blame lies with the perpetrator of this action, not with the victim. That they forgot their laptop at the x-ray machine, does not entitle anyone else to just take it. Therefore: > I feel he should share some of the blame. is wrong.
blowski 10y ago
I don't really understand the importance of this story. Sure it's annoying and a huge inconvenience for the OP and I'm genuinely sorry for him. But it's a lost laptop. How often does this happen? Can you think of a way of changing the process that would result in a net benefit for everyone? If this story was "TSA gave away my diamond necklace" or "Nightclub cloakroom hands bag to wrong customer" we would recognise this story for what it is - one of those things. Backup your files, kids, keep an eye on your possessions at all times, get insurance, and don't get too attached to a piece of metal.
- yoo1I 10y ago
  > Can you think of a way of changing the process that would result in a net benefit for everyone? That one's easy: Getting rid of the TSA alltogether.
  - nmeofthestate 10y ago
    No screening at all? That'd certainly be interesting.
    - yoo1I 10y ago
      For starters it wouldn't lower overall security by all that much[0] [0] http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-us-airports-allowed-weapons-through-n367851 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-u...
      - blowski 10y ago
        So if JFK Airport removed TSA and just let people walk on to the plane, would you board one? I sure as hell wouldn't. I don't know what I don't know about international security. I don't have access to the NSA and CIA files about international terrorism. Sure, some of it is overplayed for certain people's agendas, but it's very clearly an actual risk that needs actual solutions. The TSA may not be the best one, but if it was removed, it would need to be replaced by something that would probably end up looking very similar.
elkabong 10y ago
I'm surprised that everyone is focusing on the TSA for giving his computer away (awful), but to me, the even more objectionable thing is that THE WOMAN TOOK A RANDOM COMPUTER and just left with it. Any reasonable person would say "that is not mine", or am I being too naive? And, since she didn't do that, there was clearly malice involved, so the police were also clearly in the wrong, saying that it was an accident and not a crime.
- yoo1I 10y ago
  Clearly that was wrong of her, and should not be diminished. The difference is that I would not be surprised that any random person I meet anywhere turns of out to be a thief, but I, and I expect lots of other people, hold government employees to a much higher standard. Especially, as you note, if they then just call the whole thing an accident.
- howlingfantods 10y ago
  To be fair, MacBook Pros pretty much all look the same on the outside. She probabaly just thought it was hers, stuffed it in her bag, and went to catch her flight.
  - elkabong 10y ago
    That is a fair point, however, in that case, there would be a computer left over on the belt, that the author would've seen when he got out of the scanner. On a side note: do people not keep their laptops in sleeves (even when in backpacks)?
    - manojlds 10y ago
      Are you not required to remove laptops from sleeves while sending through the scanner?
      - orph4nus 10y ago
        No you don't. As a nomad I fly a lot, and I always leave my laptop in its waterproof bag.
plinkplonk 10y ago
How this works in India. When you put your laptop in a bin, the security person puts one of two identical tags (pieces of plastic with identical numbers on them) into the bin, on top of your computer and gives you the other one. When you finish your patdown/metal detector etc screening and want to take your computer back, you give the security person at the other end of the line your tag, she looks around for the bin with the identical tag, and hands you the contents of the bin and takes your tag back. Not foolproof/fraudproof, but it seems to work in practice.
- train_robber 10y ago
  Yes, I have found this to be very practical, but unfortunately they don't do this at all airports.
  - manojlds 10y ago
    Really? I have seen it everywhere I have been - Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Kolkatta.
    - petecooper 10y ago
      Perhaps parent was referring to airports outside of India?
      - saryant 10y ago
        I've seen that used in lots of airports in Asia.
    - fbartels 10y ago
      I must say while doing transit in Delhi I did not see such a system as well.
      - plinkplonk 10y ago
        when you are transiting you are already inside the 'security zone' so perhaps they don't do another security check? As someone who flies in and out of Delhi all the time, I can assure you that the security check involves such 'tags'. also procedures for security are standardized across all airports, so it is very unlikely that the process is skipped consistently. I encounter this in the tiniest airports in the country (Trivandrum, Leh) . Interestingly enough, you can carry your Kindle, phone and/or Ipad in your carry on luggage, but not your laptop. Which doesn't make too much sense, but just the kind of loophole bureaucrats designing security systems come up with.
em3rgent0rdr 10y ago
I don't like how the author fusses about someone else who was arguable also similarly being abused by the TSA: "Behind me, I could hear a woman making a big scene because her “flight [was] at 4:15,” and her gigantic bag was clearly never going to fit on the airplane. She claimed multiple times that “the lady” told her she could bring it through security."
- james1071 10y ago
  There is a good chance that the person who took the laptop was acting with an accomplice, and that the woman making the scene was involved.
  - Cyph0n 10y ago
    So you actually think there are gangs that take flights just to steal stuff during baggage check?
    - blisterpeanuts 10y ago
      It's quite possible and likely that the two women were just opportunistic thieves, or at least the one who took the laptop was. Opportunitistic theft is not at all uncommon among our species.
      - Cyph0n 10y ago
        If they can pull off an improvised act like that on such short notice, they are professional con artists. So why are they stealing laptops in an airport? They wouldn't: high risk, low reward. The way I see it, it was simply an error on the part of the TSA, as discussed countless times in other comments.
        soylentcola 10y ago
        Yeah, I can't rule out some more elaborate con but at least from the story as it's told here, it sounds like all of these folks were in a hurry, the author wasn't paying attention and didn't make sure he had his laptop before moving on, TSA handed it to the wrong person, and that person thought "ooh, score!" Or maybe she didn't realize for a while and by that point, a combination of laziness and desire to keep this shiny, luxury model computer that had accidentally ended up in her possession led her to just hold onto it. I think the number of people who will decide to keep something they find (dropped wallet, misplaced laptop, etc) is much higher than the number who would actively go out of their way to steal something. The end result is the same but I think psychologically, it takes effort to go out and steal whereas it takes effort to track down an owner while keeping a found item just requires apathy and/or greed.
tushar-r 10y ago
Temporary work around - get a TSA compliant laptop bag. Yes, it means doing something different to accommodate them, but in the longer term it saves you this pain. And convince the TSA to do what we do at Indian airports: plinkplonk 9 minutes ago How this works in India. When you put your laptop in a bin, the security person puts one of two identical tags (pieces of plastic with identical numbers on them) into the bin, on top of your computer and gives you the other one. When you finish your patdown/metal detector etc screening and want to take your computer back, you give the security person at the other end of the line your tag, she looks around for the bin with the identical tag, and hands you the contents of the bin and takes your tag back. Not foolproof/fraudproof, but it seems to work in practice. reply
- mrkgnao 10y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11760052 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11760052
- ubernostrum 10y ago
  get a TSA compliant laptop bag No good. TSOs essentially reserve the right to void or override any policy, at any time, for any reason, with no warning in advance. Many will simply tell you that no such policy exists or ever has existed. And there is no appeal of the decisions made by the people at the checkpoint: either you do what they tell you right there, even if it contradicts policy (even if it contradicts federal law -- the TSA is being sued over that very point by a guy who claims they routinely violate disability-accommodation laws), or you don't fly. Which means there is no such thing as "a TSA compliant laptop bag", only "a laptop bag that a TSO might, a majority of the time, if you're lucky and they're in a good mood, let you send through the x-ray without removing your laptop".
james1071 10y ago
My guess is that the person who took it was acting with an accomplice, possible the one who caused the distraction. They would make an exchange in a place where there are no cameras. The person who took it would have a story ready in case she was challenged. As for the TSA - they want to pretend that the incident never happened, because it would make them them look bad.
- coriny 10y ago
  I surprised there hasn't been more suggestion of this. There's are known classic scams for stealing laptops from security lines - the one I saw demonstrated used two people and a common type of laptop case. The entire context here is suspicious - I would be willing to bet at least pennies that the laptop will never turn up.
- notahacker 10y ago
  Seems a little unlikely that criminals are organising to buy plane tickets or obtain security clearances to steal things on security camera in a place crowded with security personnel when they could steal MacBooks just as easily by, say, wandering into a shared workspace.
  - adekok 10y ago
    If they happen to be flying somewhere, and there's a laptop free for the taking, why not?
    - notahacker 10y ago
      Vastly increased chance of being caught? Especially since if they "happen to be flying somewhere", they're not exactly desperately short of cash.
      - djrogers 10y ago
        You can fly 'somewhere' for $29 - airports aren't just for the rich...
djhn 10y ago
> Luckily, I am meticulous about encryption and about backing up, so I don’t think I lost any data nor gave anyone else access. What is the OP's setup (and what are some alternatives), that he is so sure this was the case?
- lucaspiller 10y ago
  Here is what I do: 1) Enable disk encryption (System Preferences -> Security and Privacy -> FileVault) 2) Regular backups with TimeMachine to a USB drive. It your machine is lost you can use this to restore everything back to how it was pretty quickly. By default TimeMachine backups aren't encrypted, so make sure you check the "Encrypt backups" option when enabling it. 3) As well as using "Find my iPhone" (which requires the device to be connected to a network), I have a message with my contact details on the Lock and Login screens (System Preferences -> Security and Privacy -> General -> Show a message when the screen is locked). 4) Even if the disk is encrypted it can still be wiped, reinstalled and sold on to unsuspecting buyers. You can set a firmware password which will prevent that: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455 (I had a Mac stolen a couple of years ago and as soon as I got a new device and got home I was back up and running as if nothing had happened. A few months later I even recovered the device - the police carried out a raid and found a number of devices, and contacted Apple for the owners based upon the serial numbers)
  - uptown 10y ago
    Something I've never tested -- how does TimeMachine handle things like a locally installed Apache instance somewhere on the primary disk? If I lose my laptop and do a restore to a new machine does it set things back as-if nothing had changed?
    - Xylakant 10y ago
      You can have TimeMachine either recover the user data, programs, or the whole system. It's not a full system image, but so far it's been working fine. Migrated across 4 or 5 machines using TM.
- 10y ago
gargravarr 10y ago
Having recently flown from the UK to Hong Kong and then on to Manila, I am suddenly struck by how much of an honesty policy we are expected to follow. The idea of tagging the laptop as in India is a step in the right direction, but at no point in my journey was my laptop tagged. It was placed in a bin with all my other valuable possessions (phone, wallet, camera) and it's only through practise that I manage to get through the scanners at the same time as my possessions. At any point after I gave my laptop over to security, someone could have stepped up and claimed it as their own. Security provides exactly zero defense for this, and it's only through vigilence that I've never lost anything yet. I do understand the need to scan the laptop separately to its bag, but this honesty policy just failed hard. It's a stupid system. The only workaround is to keep everything in sight until you're 100% ready to step through the scanner, and then watch the other side of the belt for all your stuff. The fact that the TSA handed the laptop to someone other than its rightful owner lands them straight in the blame for this. At the risk of increasing the time required to clear security, a big fuss was made last year that all electronics must have charged batteries so that it can be demonstrated they work (not that this solves the key problem). If the TSA want to personally pick up someone's laptop, they should ask the owner to power it on and enter the password to prove it's theirs before they hand it back. Yes, this also incurs a privacy issue (intentionally defeating your own security system), but as repeatedly demonstrated, border controls have some quite far-reaching powers and can force this anyway. Edit: also, shame on the security people and the police for dismissing the idea of a crime being committed. Intentional or not, this is theft. As others have commented, it's possible the two women were working together to steal a laptop, but even if it was an honest mistake, it should be investigated as if it were intentional. And the reluctance of the people involved to give case numbers, log it etc. just reeks of 'we lost your bag, thank you for flying Delta Airlines'. I sincerely hope this guy gets at least a check for a new laptop and an apology.
- basseq 10y ago
  As a "tulip" (opt-out), the forced trust is even worse. You're not even allowed to ask for a pat-down before your things are on the conveyor. I've tried. Usually the timing works out OK, but sometimes it doesn't. My most infuriating TSA experience was at MIA. I told them I was opting out, and they instructed me to put my things on the conveyor. I did so, then proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. After 10 minutes, during which I repeatedly asked for a "male assist", I had to cave and go through the back-scatter machine because my possessions (laptop, wallet, phone) was sitting unattended on the other side. I'm very polite to TSA. That was an instance of blatant targeting, and you better believe my the end of those 10 minutes I was not polite. I did some consulting for TSA, and I'm pretty sure I was loudly speaking about "violating the agency's core strategic goal to facilitate legitimate trade and travel" while flipping the double-bird in the backscatter machine. True story. Surprised I wasn't pulled into a back room.
ari_ 10y ago
1. Standard rule for traveling: Your bags move along with you. In other words, you only step up to the x-ray machine as your bags are about to pass through. You never, ever, take your eyes off your stuff. It irritates the hell out of the TSA people, but who cares? In this particular case I think he was trying to do this, but forgot to take off his belt. I would have walked through and got patted down next to my bags. 2. Why we continue to put up with this nonsense is beyond me.
- franciscop 10y ago
  I always try to do this, but I also opt-out of the scanning machines. Any way to make them work together? When I opt out I am required to wait outside an undetermined amount of time until they decide I am not going to change my mind and just get me through the x-ray and pat me down. I always try to keep an eye on my stuff, but it's impossible at times. No problem so far, but I worry something will happen.
  - ari_ 10y ago
    When I opt out, I keep my stuff next to me, or take it off the machine and wait for the TSA drone to show up. It doesn't go in until I'm going with the drone who's going to assault me.
    - rgrove 10y ago
      I've tried this both ways: putting my bags on the belt before opting out, and holding my bags, opting out, and only placing them on the belt when an agent comes to escort me. Both approaches have gotten me yelled at.
vegardx 10y ago
One time I was in a hurry and had forgotten that I had a very valuable foldable knife in my backpack when leaving for a flight, and with no time to spare I had to let them just take it. At the destination curiosity took over and I had to ask a security guard if it was possible to get it back when I returned, something he confirmed. They handed valuables like that over to lost and found. This naturally made my day a little better and I didn't think much about it until a few days later when my return flight was. I went to the lost and found, no dice. I asked some security personell on site, and they confirmed the practice, all valuables, including knives, was sent to lost and found, where they logged it and kept it for a month or so. So the guy who was going to protect us all from terrorist attacks had just stolen it. Reassuring!
- rndstr 10y ago
  In Switzerland's airports they give you a receipt where you can collect it for $10 when you get back. They once confiscated a bike tool of mine. Why they only picked the adjustable wrench out of total 3 potential weapons is beyond me, though.
  - wrboyce 10y ago
    Last time I passed through a Swiss airport I was handed a screwdriver to gouge out the contents of my Zippo lighters.
  - Starwatcher2001 10y ago
    You could have then gone to the duty free shop and purchased two glass bottles of vodka. Smashed together they would likely make much better weapons.
    - knodi123 10y ago
      If you smash two bottles together, do they both break? I would have expected that you'd always end up with one broken bottle, one whole bottle, and (optionally) a fair amount of your own blood.
blisterpeanuts 10y ago
The one odd assertion is that they "gave" his laptop to some random person. I've never seen a TSA person even touch people's stuff except to do a manual inspection and even then they ask permission. Assuming this story is on the up-and-up and isn't some kind of prank, the writer should call the police and report a theft. Secondly, call a lawyer and pursue a quest to recover property cost and associated damages--business losses, legal fees, time lost, etc. Also, he should report the loss to his insurance company.
jvdh 10y ago
Alternative title: Guy forgets laptop at security checkout and blames TSA for his stupidity. > I emerged from the scanner without any problems, collected my 2 bags and incidentals, and proceeded into Terminal 5. After awhile, I looked into my backpack and realized that I didn’t have my computer. My heart skipped a beat! I turned around and rushed to the security area.
- LukeB_UK 10y ago
  Further down the article: > After a few minutes, he found me coming through the security line, and sure enough, my computer was not with my bags when I retrieved my belongings. Moving further back in time, we watched as a TSA agent pulled my computer off of the belt as soon as it came out of the machine—there is an area where agents can remove things from the belt before passengers have access to belongings. He moved my computer to a holding area immediately behind the x-ray machine. And then, we watched as the computer was inspected, after which it was handed back… to a random woman. The woman took my computer and left the security area.
  - jvdh 10y ago
    He completely forgot his laptop, moved away from the security check and only later figured out he was missing his laptop. With hundreds of people moving through those checkpoints, I do not blame the TSA agents for handing stuff out to completely random people.
    - elkabong 10y ago
      He forgot his laptop, because it wasn't on the belt when he came out of the scanner. They gave it away before he had a chance to forget it. The couple of minutes it took him to realise that he didn't actually all of his stuff off the belt (even though, he did, since the laptop wasn't there any more) wouldn't have made a difference since somebody else has taken it beforehand anyway.
      - soneil 10y ago
pjf 10y ago
Well, maybe it's a new idea for a song like "United Breaks Guitars"? :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
smoyer 10y ago
I have a "TSA Friendly" laptop bag (it even has a stitched on label). The laptop pocket unzips to the bottom of the compartment and folds along the bottom, so the laptop is still in its pocket, but there is nothing but fabric and foam between it and the belt. The metal parts of the bag as well as anything else metal I might be carrying are all folded to he other side and don't shield (electromagnetically) the laptop.
KD3hj21ioje13 10y ago
My laptop went missing when I sent it for servicing for several days and no one seemed to know where it was including FedEx and the company I sent it to. Turns out, it was the intelligence community and specifically Tailored Access Operations (TAO) hacking my laptop and preparing to ruin/sabotage my life. If you happen to mysteriously get your laptop back, make sure you look for potential evidence of tampering.
hellbanner 10y ago
If you truly hate security theatre in the USA, boycott travel. Tell your boss, your family, your friends that you can't travel because you refused to be treated poorly by a parasitic and incompetent organization. But, if your paycheck is more important to you than restoring diginity, the (governmental) terrorists have won :)
- awqrre 10y ago
  I think the opposite. Terrorists and the Government have won if you prevent yourself from doing/saying something because of what they do/did. Another example would be if you stop talking about some things online because you think that they scan everything you post and can link it to your personal identity.
mark_l_watson 10y ago
I have mixed feelings about TSA: the people who work for TSA at the checkpoints have always been polite, which is good. The bad thing is that I feel like security is really weak in the USA. In comparison, in India, everyone was searched on the flights I took, and a personal search seems much more effective. Re: stolen MacBook Pro: ouch! I have several older Linux laptops, so when I travel I grab a laptop that is old and expendable. Since I always encrypt my disk and most of what I do is in bitbucket, or on a cloud service, losing a laptop would just be an inconvenience. I find it more relaxing to not have things of high value with me when I travel.
reacweb 10y ago
For me, there is a crime. Even if it is in good faith, TSA took the MacBook, then lost it. It is the same as if they broke it by accident. If they can not recover it quickly, they should reimburse it because what happened is their full responsability.
IkmoIkmo 10y ago
I don't get why this was deemed an accident. If you have me a random laptop, I'll ask you what the hell you're doing. I won't take it, walk away and then board another flight. That isn't an accident, that's theft. Unless of course they've got a spare Macbook that actually did belong to the woman, which she left thinking she was taking her own Macbook, but there's nothing indicating that this is the case. So you've got two very clear issues. One is a passenger who stole $3k on broad daylight, who is on footage and can easily be traced to a particular flight, which can easily be traced to a passenger list, which can easily trace back to her. The other is that you've got a custodial relationship for a few minutes. You give objects away to be inspected, at which point the TSA becomes a temporary custodian. They ought to return it. I can imagine that the TSA restricts their liability to e.g. $5k per item, and that its liabilities are covered if and when it has a proper safe-keeping procedure in place that's followed, such they're not held accountable for 'acts of god' (which is a legal concept). This would provide sufficient incentives to create very simple procedures that'd prevent 99% of such issues, like described earlier in this thread in India. You have a box with two tags, you get one, the employee at the end gets one, you put stuff in box, you give tag, you take stuff from box, that's it. But the notion that they're taking your stuff without any liability, responsibility, insurance, procedures or just in general, recourse, is ridiculous.
- cognivore 10y ago
  >> I don't get why this was deemed an accident. << Reading the story, there is this little voice saying in the back of my head, "They don't want to treat it as a crime because they know who has it and they're in cahoots."
  - MOARDONGZPLZ 10y ago
    I would really, really doubt this. My assumption is that they either: 1. They have statistics that they have to keep up, and having a ding like "a crime was committed on your watch" isn't a good thing, so they try to avoid it, or 2. Classifying it as a crime versus an accident comes with a load of paperwork and hassle for everybody involved that no one wants to do. I really don't think this was malicious in the manner you describe.
alfanick 10y ago
Wow, I'm actually surprised that you would blame TSA or the woman instead of yourself (I'm even more surprised that no other comment mention this). It is you who did not care to ensure your laptop go back to you. There is some bias against TSA, but you cannot blame them for everything (disclaimer: never been to States, never had anything in common with TSA). Sure, it is a pity that you lost a computer; it is probably some kind of TSA fault for handling the laptop to the woman (probably a common thief), but you should remember that you left your computer for a scan and you should receive it back. No computer back? Ask TSA for your computer - 10-15 minutes, most probably everything would turn out ok.
- alfanick 10y ago
  Can someone argument why this is being downvoted? I've read the article twice, just using logical and safe unbiased thinking here.
  - ubernostrum 10y ago
    The author of the article appears to have done everything he legally could do. TSA does not generally give you a choice of customizing their screening procedures to suit your desire to keep an eye on your belongings. So you appear to just be bashing on the author for no reason -- there's simply not much more he could have done.
- wiredin 10y ago
  I agree, if you bring a very expensive laptop with you while traveling, you need to keep a very close eye on it. I bring my $150 chromebook with me while i'm traveling, and I always make sure I get it back when it comes through the x-ray machine... you left your computer behind, this is your fault.
kirykl 10y ago
Steal something from an airport store and I'd imagine they'll find you
timewarp256 10y ago
Never knew guest mode would allow access to Safari only. Probably worth enabling for incidents like these. http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/82707/145499 http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/82707/145499 Done!
tacos 10y ago
2 million screenings per day, stuff happens. PayPal does 13 million transactions a day, I bet somebody somewhere got ripped off. Before ranting, please consider that you may not be a snowflake and that even the finest systems occasionally harm people. Systems are imperfect and we should always try to add nines but there's a "how can this happen to me?" bias to this stuff that is really, really uninteresting. These posts are no different than BuzzFeed -- pushing buttons, attaching yourself to a brand (in this case the TSA), desperate to get heard. Like the Google couple who couldn't believe that their car dealership wanted a fingerprint when they tried to buy a $80,000 BMW with cash, not everything has to generate an emotion and attention-seeking essay. As in that case, once the smoke clears these posts usually do little but make the author look foolish. I don't know about you but "couldn't manage to travel with a laptop" isn't something I want permanently attached to my name in Google results.
pthreads 10y ago
I have noticed that in Indian airports passengers are given a numbered token and a duplicate placed in the bin with the laptop before it passes through the x-ray machine. After passing through the security scan the passenger has to present the token to the agents who will then match it with the one in the bin and only then hand it to him/her. I can't understand why TSA won't follow such a simple scheme that greatly improves the incidents like OP's.
- giarc 10y ago
  I've seen videos of security screening lines hundreds of meters long at one of Chicago's airports, this process would only make them longer.
  - pthreads 10y ago
    I am not sure about that. The long lines are due to more fundamental problems with the TSA in general. Shaving a few extra seconds for each passenger with a laptop is not going to solve the problem.
    - giarc 10y ago
      Ya I agree, I was just making a comment that implementing this token process would make things even worse
  - josho 10y ago
    I recommend that you take a flight to LAX/MCO, then a day at Disney and compare TSA's procedures for getting folks through a line compared to Disney. The single best action that the TSA could take is to hire a Disney staffer to consult on how to move large numbers of people through a line as there is much to be improved on moving folks through TSA screenings at a quicker pace without lowering the quality of screenings.
JoshGlazebrook 10y ago
Just an fyi, even if you don't book the ticket yourself, you can still go on the airline's website or call in and have your known traveler number added to your reservation to receive your pre-check status. (laptop never leaves your bag which probably would have prevented the author's issue in the first place as he was used to using pre-check)
tmalsburg2 10y ago
Two weeks ago I traveled in the US and after the scan they first handed me my own computer and then a minute later someone else's MacBook Pro. I said that the Mac isn't mine, and you know what, they didn't believe me. I had to tell them several times that I don't own a Mac and I had to show them that I had already received my own computer. I think they didn't want to look for the owner and just wanted to get rid of the damn thing. I wouldn't be surprised if some people were tempted to give in and say "ok, yes, I admit it, this expensive-looking MacBook is mine". Very careless of the TSA to handle people's belongings this way.
- edwhitesell 10y ago
  This is probably part of the liability/insurance aspect of it as well. As long as they are in possession of it, they could damage it or lose it. Someone is probably training them to just get rid of it ASAP.
- kbutler 10y ago
  ouch I know airport personnel are very sensitive to unclaimed bags, etc., so they may look with suspicion on a "that's not my bag" claim, though presumably the TSA has just verified that this item is "safe".
  - tmalsburg2 10y ago
    Good point but if there is a suspicion that an unclaimed item may pose a security risk, the solution cannot be to push random strangers to take the item.
l3m0ndr0p 10y ago
Sounds like the distraction was on purpose so that the theft of the laptop could occur. Perhaps TSA agent was in on the issue & the reason they're saying it's not a crime.
andy9775 10y ago
My biggest fear of flying. Do those TSA approved bags really "work"? Meaning that you don't have to remove your laptop
pmarreck 10y ago
Someone in the comments there just created this clever script that causes your laptop to make a racket if it hasn't been returned to you by some number of seconds: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/5bf92b9d14b8c529919c6027502fbd09 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/5bf92b9d14b8c529919c602750...
pfarnsworth 10y ago
Things used to be a lot worse when people without tickets were allowed all the way through to the boarding gates. This, of course, was pre-9-11. Laptops would get stolen all the time by criminals just going through security, sometimes in pairs and one would slow down the line while the person in front would take a random laptop and gtfo. In some senses, the security is better by disallowed non-passengers from going through security checkpoints. I feel bad for the owner, and I hope he/she gets back his/her laptop, but I doubt the TSA will just write a check unfortunately. They simply don't care.
yAnonymous 10y ago
Next time, tell them there's a bomb in the laptop and the person who took it is your accomplice. They'll find it.
mindslight 10y ago
It's odd how the TSA escapes primary blame in the OP and these comments. This blending-into-the-environment is part of what makes these half-baked authorituhs so insidious. The author had an agreement that the TSA would borrow his laptop for a few minutes and then return it in identical condition. The TSA failed to live up to their duties. Regardless of what happened to the laptop while in their care, the straightforward way to make this right is for TSA to reimburse this person for a new laptop. This is not a new concept - it's called civil liability. If the TSA would like, they can try to reform their operating procedures so this happens less. But that doesn't change the fact that they're still responsible for this instance. We don't let a thief keep his bounty by promising to not steal in the future.
slantedview 10y ago
Let's be clear: The TSA was an active facilitator in the theft of this person's private property and failed to provide a remedy for their actions. It wasn't an accident, it wasn't innocent and it was not made right. That's the bottom line.
njharman 10y ago
What's the problem? Everyone acted nice, gave all the info needed / incident number. 2.5 days is way, way not enough time to wait for action / response. If author is worked up cause incompetence exists and accidents happen (or crimes/scams happen) then life is going to be disappointing to them.
vitd 10y ago
They did this to me at LAX once about 12-13 years ago. Oddly enough, the man they handed my computer to was Johnny Cochrane (the lawyer that got OJ out of a murder conviction). They were so starstruck (telling him "Here's your computer Mr. Cochrane!"). Thankfully, he said, "Oh, that's not mine," just as I walked up and I was able to get it unlike the OP.
austinhutch 10y ago
I made a TurboTax like website to help make a claim against the TSA in this situation: http://TSAClaim.com http://TSAClaim.com, it will render a completed SF-95 form that you email to the TSA.
heisenbit 10y ago
How can they single out his computer without immediately singling out him too? There is simply no point in treating the device suspicious and letting the owner potentially leave the place.
tssva 10y ago
No mention of insurance. The laptop may be covered under homeowners or renters insurance. These cover personal property even when they are outside your residence.

385 points by jackgavigan 10y ago

appleflaxen 10y ago

I'm sure they will tell us that this never would have happened if only their budget was tripled.

mlvljr 10y ago

Typo: not -> now

ianpurton 10y ago

My take away from this... Put your name and number on your valuables just in case someone picks them up by accident.

Xylakant 10y ago
You can put any message you want on your macbooks login/lock screen. Mine contains contact information just in case I loose it. Might actually pay off to put a sticker on it as well.
- shavingspiders 10y ago
  The ability to add a lock screen message is under 'security & privacy' on System Preferences. I feel like that's not the right place to put it, but I don't know what would be.
- kriro 10y ago
  Two sided sword. If the person that took the laptop is actually a thief he/she conveniently knows you're currently not at home upon boot. Since this theft requires at least some criminal energy (I guess there's an outside shot of just being a grab and run) I wouldn't put it past the thief to immediately loot your home or have an accomplice do so.
  - distances 10y ago
    I usually put a friend's email/phone on my phone's lock screen. That way they actually can contact someone (since I just lost the means to do so). I hope a potential robber wouldn't take this as info of a good target, though.
  - Xylakant 10y ago
    That would require the finder/thief to be in a position to exploit that knowledge, something that is fairly unlikely for the general case. There are easier ways to figure out if I'm home (ring the door). If you're concerned about that, just have a dedicated email address on the screen.
  - sokoloff 10y ago
    Use a work address, email address, and a cell phone number. Agreed that home address is a bad idea, just like on luggage tags.
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joelrunyon 10y ago
Doesn't do much good when someone making $13/hour[1] hands your stuff off to someone else without a second glance. [1] http://work.chron.com/tsa-officers-make-16008.html http://work.chron.com/tsa-officers-make-16008.html
- mseebach 10y ago
  I doesn't solve the problem flat out, but it does make it much easier for an honest person to figure out what to do next. Not everybody is comfortable opening up a strangers computer to poke around for contact info, especially if they're also worried that they might be in trouble for having the computer in the first place. Even more so if it's handed in to lost and found. Those guys are definitely not going to do forensics. Come to think if it, there's a good chance that the laptop is in the lost and found of whatever airport that woman was flying to, logged in as "PC (Other)".

joelrunyon 10y ago

This sucks, but I can totally seeing it happen. Surprised it doesn't happen more often. I'm not one for snarky comments, but when it comes to the TSA there are so many to make. Maybe the TSA director will help you out with his $90k in bonuses he got (for who knows what) - http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/23/479242102/tsas-head-of-security-removed-from-office-says-house-panel http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/23/479242102/... Or, maybe it's part of their broader effort to boost their pre-check enrollment (http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tsas-precheck-conundrum-1412789364 http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tsas-precheck-conundrum-1412...) - pay us $85 and we won't steal your stuff - promise!

robk 10y ago
That guy got fired yesterday - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tsa-security_us_5743a892e4b045cc9a71ccec http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tsa-security_us_5743a892...
- joelrunyon 10y ago
  I know - that's what my link story was about.

vidoc 10y ago

In a way, it's not the TSA's fault, it's ours for tolerating this insanity. Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance, not security. The most successful terrorist of all times was Richard Reid, the dude who tried to embark in a plane with explosive material in his shoes. The dude totally failed to storm anything and was busted, now he was successful because since he did this, billions people have been removing their shoes in USian airports. PS: Richard, if you read HN from your cell, thanks for not smuggling C4 in your butt!

skrause 10y ago
> Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance, not security. That would just lead to the following reaction: "The TSA is not doing enough yet, we need to implement even more annoyances."
- dmm 10y ago
  This is what happened with the shoe bomber.
  - drdeadringer 10y ago
    I was on a trip during this instance. I flew out with my shoes on from curb to plane, but a few days later we're all taking off our shoes at every gate, door, security line, and hallway.
deciplex 10y ago
> Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance, not security. This would result in more security theater, not less. It's the only reaction the bureaucracy can possibly have to it, because that's what we've trained them to do as part of our voting habits and what sells in the media.

peteretep 10y ago

> It’s been 2.5 days meh. Government moves slowly.

thesimon 10y ago
>meh. Government moves slowly. Looks like there is a market to disrupt Faster-Government-as-a-Service. And also a market for "Separation of power for beginners" courses :)
SlashmanX 10y ago
Also it happened on a Friday evening and he posted this on a Monday afternoon, so it's basically only been half a day.

codecamper 10y ago

TSA should keep a link between face & scanned ticket. They should have been able to easily contact that gate & stop the "gift" receiver from boarding their plane. If there is no connection between face & scanned ticket, then this is a pretty serious gap of the TSA security system. Without it, how can they look at recorded video & make connections to certain passengers?

joelrunyon 10y ago
I'm sure they have one. But they're probably not using it to find lost laptops.

barrkel 10y ago

Amazingly ignorant police. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding

wyldfire 10y ago
I suppose they should be a little more suspicious but it's not at all ignorant to not know about "theft by finding." The article you linked to describes legal precedents in the 19th and 18th centuries.
- soneil 10y ago
  Perhaps not by name (I didn't), but I believe it's common knowledge that "finders keepers" isn't law? You're meant to hand things in, or make a reasonable attempt to find the owner, or something along those lines. It seems common sense that "oh look, it's not nailed down, it must be mine now" isn't kosher - even if we can't name the legal framework behind it.
- ryanlol 10y ago
  No, you certainly have to be particularly ignorant not to be aware of the concept of "Theft by finding". Especially if you're a law enforcement officer.
adekok 10y ago
Or just plain theft. She is on video taking a computer which isn't hers. That should be prima facia evidence for filing a police report stating "theft". The question of motive is one for the courts. If they find her, and determine it was an accident, they can not charge her. But for the laptop owner, he has been unlawfully deprived of his property. Even for the insurance claim alone, the police should have made a report. Otherwise, how is he going to file a claim? "Uh... I think my laptop was stolen. I saw the video, and talked to the police. But neither they nor the TSA would admit on record as to what they saw." Laws are meant to protect people. But that requires the administrators of the laws to follow the laws, too.

mindcrime 10y ago

Man, I am going to be paranoid as f%!# from now on, when going through security. If my laptop disappeared, it would screw me over pretty good. I mean, not in the sense that I'd lose anything that is literally irreplaceable, (well, not irreplaceable AND particularly valuable) but it would be a huge time and energy sink to recover from that. Last time I lost a laptop, was when somebody stole my laptop bag out of my truck (I forgot to lock it one night while I Was in Barnes & Noble having a coffee). That was a double-whammy, because the USB drive with my backups was in the same bag. :-( The only saving grace then was that most of my really important data is actually in "the cloud" somewhere (eg, code at GitHub) and that I had an older backup of most of my files on another computer that I bought and used temporarily after I spilled coffee on my old laptop (it started working again after it had a few days to dry out, so I switched back to it). Anyway, after reading this, I think I'm going to go get another 1TB USB drive, and start keeping a set of backups that I leave at home, instead of carrying around in my laptop bag. That or start pushing stuff to S3 or something. Code is already in GitHub, but there's a lot of other stuff I'd hate to lose.

nikanj 10y ago
Crashplan. $99 per year.
- gambiting 10y ago
  It's actually just $59/year. Seems totally worth it to me.
  - distances 10y ago
    I agree. I used to handle backups manually but wasn't very diligent with them. Crashplan works nicely with Linux, and that's now one less mental burden to care about.
  - flexd 10y ago
    Except if you have a bit of data you'll spend a few years uploading it. Their servers are slow. Only getting like 5-20Mbit/s, mostly slower here in Europe.

jkot 10y ago

It is possible not to remove your laptop from backpack on TSA. Some backpacks open like a clamshell so xray has no obstructions.

madmulita 10y ago
What would stop the officer to give the backpack to 'some random woman'?

mjlee 10y ago

Interestingly (to me) the author used the phrase "on accident". I googled it and found this: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/215/is-it-correct-to-say-on-accident-instead-of-by-accident http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/215/is-it-correct... As a British English speaker, this stopped me in my tracks. I'm wondering if it had the same effect on the American English readers of this article.

DavidSJ 10y ago
It's not proper American English either but it's becoming increasingly common.
- a3n 10y ago
  Not becoming, I heard and used it as a kid in the sixties.
_acme 10y ago
It's pretty standard usage in the Chicago area of the Midwest.
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jasallen 10y ago
I'm American and it drives me crazy to hear this, but it is regretfully not terribly uncommon.
- JadeNB 10y ago
  Heh. Muphry's law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry's_law) demands that you use 'regretfully' instead of 'regrettably' (http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/275034 http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/275034) when chastising someone's language.

gchadwick 10y ago

Whilst the TSA agents should be taking more care to ensure valuables are returned to the correct person, there are several agents working on a single line. The person who saw him place the computer into the x-ray would be different from the person handing items back so it's not all that surprising that didn't know who it belonged to and was just assuming people were being honest. Any frequent flyer will know return of items from security lines effectively operates on a honesty policy. Things are free for the taking after the x-ray and if they take your bag aside they frequently call out 'who's bag is this?' or similar. It's important you keep an eye on things. In this case he totally forgot his computer and lost it. If the situation was immediately after security the TSA refused to give it back to him as someone else claimed it was theirs then it would clearly be the TSA's fault but in this situation I feel he should share some of the blame.

yoo1I 10y ago
If the government decides they need to take my stuff away from me to check it, they better make sure that I get it back correctly. In this case the TSA handed the laptop to someone other than the owner. If this happens, clearly the process has a defect, and needs to be corrected, or, even better in this case, abandoned completely. Don't blame the victim.
- curiousgal 10y ago
  >Don't blame the victim. Ugh. >If the government decides they need to take my stuff away from me to check it, they better make sure that I get it back correctly. Absolutely! But if you keep expecting them to do that without being careful and paying attention to your own stuff guess who foots the bill? This could've been all mitigated by OP being slightly more careful. Why do I say this? Because it's easier to ask someone to pay attention to their stuff than it is to ask the government to change its practices (bureaucracy etc). It's not victim blaming, it's about finding the most practical solution to prevent this problem from happening again.
  - yoo1I 10y ago
    Obviously being careful with your belongings, as with your personal safety, makes a lot of sense to avoid harm. However, clearly, if someone steals your things, or attacks you, it is irrelevant if you did or did not take care of your stuff: The blame lies with the perpetrator of this action, not with the victim. That they forgot their laptop at the x-ray machine, does not entitle anyone else to just take it. Therefore: > I feel he should share some of the blame. is wrong.

blowski 10y ago

I don't really understand the importance of this story. Sure it's annoying and a huge inconvenience for the OP and I'm genuinely sorry for him. But it's a lost laptop. How often does this happen? Can you think of a way of changing the process that would result in a net benefit for everyone? If this story was "TSA gave away my diamond necklace" or "Nightclub cloakroom hands bag to wrong customer" we would recognise this story for what it is - one of those things. Backup your files, kids, keep an eye on your possessions at all times, get insurance, and don't get too attached to a piece of metal.

yoo1I 10y ago
> Can you think of a way of changing the process that would result in a net benefit for everyone? That one's easy: Getting rid of the TSA alltogether.
- nmeofthestate 10y ago
  No screening at all? That'd certainly be interesting.
  - yoo1I 10y ago
    For starters it wouldn't lower overall security by all that much[0] [0] http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-us-airports-allowed-weapons-through-n367851 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-u...
    - blowski 10y ago
      So if JFK Airport removed TSA and just let people walk on to the plane, would you board one? I sure as hell wouldn't. I don't know what I don't know about international security. I don't have access to the NSA and CIA files about international terrorism. Sure, some of it is overplayed for certain people's agendas, but it's very clearly an actual risk that needs actual solutions. The TSA may not be the best one, but if it was removed, it would need to be replaced by something that would probably end up looking very similar.

elkabong 10y ago

I'm surprised that everyone is focusing on the TSA for giving his computer away (awful), but to me, the even more objectionable thing is that THE WOMAN TOOK A RANDOM COMPUTER and just left with it. Any reasonable person would say "that is not mine", or am I being too naive? And, since she didn't do that, there was clearly malice involved, so the police were also clearly in the wrong, saying that it was an accident and not a crime.

yoo1I 10y ago
Clearly that was wrong of her, and should not be diminished. The difference is that I would not be surprised that any random person I meet anywhere turns of out to be a thief, but I, and I expect lots of other people, hold government employees to a much higher standard. Especially, as you note, if they then just call the whole thing an accident.
howlingfantods 10y ago
To be fair, MacBook Pros pretty much all look the same on the outside. She probabaly just thought it was hers, stuffed it in her bag, and went to catch her flight.
- elkabong 10y ago
  That is a fair point, however, in that case, there would be a computer left over on the belt, that the author would've seen when he got out of the scanner. On a side note: do people not keep their laptops in sleeves (even when in backpacks)?
  - manojlds 10y ago
    Are you not required to remove laptops from sleeves while sending through the scanner?
    - orph4nus 10y ago
      No you don't. As a nomad I fly a lot, and I always leave my laptop in its waterproof bag.

plinkplonk 10y ago

How this works in India. When you put your laptop in a bin, the security person puts one of two identical tags (pieces of plastic with identical numbers on them) into the bin, on top of your computer and gives you the other one. When you finish your patdown/metal detector etc screening and want to take your computer back, you give the security person at the other end of the line your tag, she looks around for the bin with the identical tag, and hands you the contents of the bin and takes your tag back. Not foolproof/fraudproof, but it seems to work in practice.

train_robber 10y ago
Yes, I have found this to be very practical, but unfortunately they don't do this at all airports.
- manojlds 10y ago
  Really? I have seen it everywhere I have been - Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Kolkatta.
  - petecooper 10y ago
    Perhaps parent was referring to airports outside of India?
    - saryant 10y ago
      I've seen that used in lots of airports in Asia.
  - fbartels 10y ago
    I must say while doing transit in Delhi I did not see such a system as well.
    - plinkplonk 10y ago
      when you are transiting you are already inside the 'security zone' so perhaps they don't do another security check? As someone who flies in and out of Delhi all the time, I can assure you that the security check involves such 'tags'. also procedures for security are standardized across all airports, so it is very unlikely that the process is skipped consistently. I encounter this in the tiniest airports in the country (Trivandrum, Leh) . Interestingly enough, you can carry your Kindle, phone and/or Ipad in your carry on luggage, but not your laptop. Which doesn't make too much sense, but just the kind of loophole bureaucrats designing security systems come up with.

em3rgent0rdr 10y ago

I don't like how the author fusses about someone else who was arguable also similarly being abused by the TSA: "Behind me, I could hear a woman making a big scene because her “flight [was] at 4:15,” and her gigantic bag was clearly never going to fit on the airplane. She claimed multiple times that “the lady” told her she could bring it through security."

james1071 10y ago
There is a good chance that the person who took the laptop was acting with an accomplice, and that the woman making the scene was involved.
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  So you actually think there are gangs that take flights just to steal stuff during baggage check?
  - blisterpeanuts 10y ago
    It's quite possible and likely that the two women were just opportunistic thieves, or at least the one who took the laptop was. Opportunitistic theft is not at all uncommon among our species.
    - Cyph0n 10y ago
      If they can pull off an improvised act like that on such short notice, they are professional con artists. So why are they stealing laptops in an airport? They wouldn't: high risk, low reward. The way I see it, it was simply an error on the part of the TSA, as discussed countless times in other comments.
      - soylentcola 10y ago
        Yeah, I can't rule out some more elaborate con but at least from the story as it's told here, it sounds like all of these folks were in a hurry, the author wasn't paying attention and didn't make sure he had his laptop before moving on, TSA handed it to the wrong person, and that person thought "ooh, score!" Or maybe she didn't realize for a while and by that point, a combination of laziness and desire to keep this shiny, luxury model computer that had accidentally ended up in her possession led her to just hold onto it. I think the number of people who will decide to keep something they find (dropped wallet, misplaced laptop, etc) is much higher than the number who would actively go out of their way to steal something. The end result is the same but I think psychologically, it takes effort to go out and steal whereas it takes effort to track down an owner while keeping a found item just requires apathy and/or greed.

tushar-r 10y ago

Temporary work around - get a TSA compliant laptop bag. Yes, it means doing something different to accommodate them, but in the longer term it saves you this pain. And convince the TSA to do what we do at Indian airports: plinkplonk 9 minutes ago How this works in India. When you put your laptop in a bin, the security person puts one of two identical tags (pieces of plastic with identical numbers on them) into the bin, on top of your computer and gives you the other one. When you finish your patdown/metal detector etc screening and want to take your computer back, you give the security person at the other end of the line your tag, she looks around for the bin with the identical tag, and hands you the contents of the bin and takes your tag back. Not foolproof/fraudproof, but it seems to work in practice. reply

mrkgnao 10y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11760052 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11760052
ubernostrum 10y ago
get a TSA compliant laptop bag No good. TSOs essentially reserve the right to void or override any policy, at any time, for any reason, with no warning in advance. Many will simply tell you that no such policy exists or ever has existed. And there is no appeal of the decisions made by the people at the checkpoint: either you do what they tell you right there, even if it contradicts policy (even if it contradicts federal law -- the TSA is being sued over that very point by a guy who claims they routinely violate disability-accommodation laws), or you don't fly. Which means there is no such thing as "a TSA compliant laptop bag", only "a laptop bag that a TSO might, a majority of the time, if you're lucky and they're in a good mood, let you send through the x-ray without removing your laptop".

james1071 10y ago

My guess is that the person who took it was acting with an accomplice, possible the one who caused the distraction. They would make an exchange in a place where there are no cameras. The person who took it would have a story ready in case she was challenged. As for the TSA - they want to pretend that the incident never happened, because it would make them them look bad.

coriny 10y ago
I surprised there hasn't been more suggestion of this. There's are known classic scams for stealing laptops from security lines - the one I saw demonstrated used two people and a common type of laptop case. The entire context here is suspicious - I would be willing to bet at least pennies that the laptop will never turn up.
notahacker 10y ago
Seems a little unlikely that criminals are organising to buy plane tickets or obtain security clearances to steal things on security camera in a place crowded with security personnel when they could steal MacBooks just as easily by, say, wandering into a shared workspace.
- adekok 10y ago
  If they happen to be flying somewhere, and there's a laptop free for the taking, why not?
  - notahacker 10y ago
    Vastly increased chance of being caught? Especially since if they "happen to be flying somewhere", they're not exactly desperately short of cash.
    - djrogers 10y ago
      You can fly 'somewhere' for $29 - airports aren't just for the rich...

djhn 10y ago

> Luckily, I am meticulous about encryption and about backing up, so I don’t think I lost any data nor gave anyone else access. What is the OP's setup (and what are some alternatives), that he is so sure this was the case?

lucaspiller 10y ago
Here is what I do: 1) Enable disk encryption (System Preferences -> Security and Privacy -> FileVault) 2) Regular backups with TimeMachine to a USB drive. It your machine is lost you can use this to restore everything back to how it was pretty quickly. By default TimeMachine backups aren't encrypted, so make sure you check the "Encrypt backups" option when enabling it. 3) As well as using "Find my iPhone" (which requires the device to be connected to a network), I have a message with my contact details on the Lock and Login screens (System Preferences -> Security and Privacy -> General -> Show a message when the screen is locked). 4) Even if the disk is encrypted it can still be wiped, reinstalled and sold on to unsuspecting buyers. You can set a firmware password which will prevent that: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455 (I had a Mac stolen a couple of years ago and as soon as I got a new device and got home I was back up and running as if nothing had happened. A few months later I even recovered the device - the police carried out a raid and found a number of devices, and contacted Apple for the owners based upon the serial numbers)
- uptown 10y ago
  Something I've never tested -- how does TimeMachine handle things like a locally installed Apache instance somewhere on the primary disk? If I lose my laptop and do a restore to a new machine does it set things back as-if nothing had changed?
  - Xylakant 10y ago
    You can have TimeMachine either recover the user data, programs, or the whole system. It's not a full system image, but so far it's been working fine. Migrated across 4 or 5 machines using TM.
10y ago

gargravarr 10y ago

Having recently flown from the UK to Hong Kong and then on to Manila, I am suddenly struck by how much of an honesty policy we are expected to follow. The idea of tagging the laptop as in India is a step in the right direction, but at no point in my journey was my laptop tagged. It was placed in a bin with all my other valuable possessions (phone, wallet, camera) and it's only through practise that I manage to get through the scanners at the same time as my possessions. At any point after I gave my laptop over to security, someone could have stepped up and claimed it as their own. Security provides exactly zero defense for this, and it's only through vigilence that I've never lost anything yet. I do understand the need to scan the laptop separately to its bag, but this honesty policy just failed hard. It's a stupid system. The only workaround is to keep everything in sight until you're 100% ready to step through the scanner, and then watch the other side of the belt for all your stuff. The fact that the TSA handed the laptop to someone other than its rightful owner lands them straight in the blame for this. At the risk of increasing the time required to clear security, a big fuss was made last year that all electronics must have charged batteries so that it can be demonstrated they work (not that this solves the key problem). If the TSA want to personally pick up someone's laptop, they should ask the owner to power it on and enter the password to prove it's theirs before they hand it back. Yes, this also incurs a privacy issue (intentionally defeating your own security system), but as repeatedly demonstrated, border controls have some quite far-reaching powers and can force this anyway. Edit: also, shame on the security people and the police for dismissing the idea of a crime being committed. Intentional or not, this is theft. As others have commented, it's possible the two women were working together to steal a laptop, but even if it was an honest mistake, it should be investigated as if it were intentional. And the reluctance of the people involved to give case numbers, log it etc. just reeks of 'we lost your bag, thank you for flying Delta Airlines'. I sincerely hope this guy gets at least a check for a new laptop and an apology.

basseq 10y ago
As a "tulip" (opt-out), the forced trust is even worse. You're not even allowed to ask for a pat-down before your things are on the conveyor. I've tried. Usually the timing works out OK, but sometimes it doesn't. My most infuriating TSA experience was at MIA. I told them I was opting out, and they instructed me to put my things on the conveyor. I did so, then proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. After 10 minutes, during which I repeatedly asked for a "male assist", I had to cave and go through the back-scatter machine because my possessions (laptop, wallet, phone) was sitting unattended on the other side. I'm very polite to TSA. That was an instance of blatant targeting, and you better believe my the end of those 10 minutes I was not polite. I did some consulting for TSA, and I'm pretty sure I was loudly speaking about "violating the agency's core strategic goal to facilitate legitimate trade and travel" while flipping the double-bird in the backscatter machine. True story. Surprised I wasn't pulled into a back room.

ari_ 10y ago

1. Standard rule for traveling: Your bags move along with you. In other words, you only step up to the x-ray machine as your bags are about to pass through. You never, ever, take your eyes off your stuff. It irritates the hell out of the TSA people, but who cares? In this particular case I think he was trying to do this, but forgot to take off his belt. I would have walked through and got patted down next to my bags. 2. Why we continue to put up with this nonsense is beyond me.

franciscop 10y ago
I always try to do this, but I also opt-out of the scanning machines. Any way to make them work together? When I opt out I am required to wait outside an undetermined amount of time until they decide I am not going to change my mind and just get me through the x-ray and pat me down. I always try to keep an eye on my stuff, but it's impossible at times. No problem so far, but I worry something will happen.
- ari_ 10y ago
  When I opt out, I keep my stuff next to me, or take it off the machine and wait for the TSA drone to show up. It doesn't go in until I'm going with the drone who's going to assault me.
  - rgrove 10y ago
    I've tried this both ways: putting my bags on the belt before opting out, and holding my bags, opting out, and only placing them on the belt when an agent comes to escort me. Both approaches have gotten me yelled at.

vegardx 10y ago

One time I was in a hurry and had forgotten that I had a very valuable foldable knife in my backpack when leaving for a flight, and with no time to spare I had to let them just take it. At the destination curiosity took over and I had to ask a security guard if it was possible to get it back when I returned, something he confirmed. They handed valuables like that over to lost and found. This naturally made my day a little better and I didn't think much about it until a few days later when my return flight was. I went to the lost and found, no dice. I asked some security personell on site, and they confirmed the practice, all valuables, including knives, was sent to lost and found, where they logged it and kept it for a month or so. So the guy who was going to protect us all from terrorist attacks had just stolen it. Reassuring!

rndstr 10y ago
In Switzerland's airports they give you a receipt where you can collect it for $10 when you get back. They once confiscated a bike tool of mine. Why they only picked the adjustable wrench out of total 3 potential weapons is beyond me, though.
- wrboyce 10y ago
  Last time I passed through a Swiss airport I was handed a screwdriver to gouge out the contents of my Zippo lighters.
- Starwatcher2001 10y ago
  You could have then gone to the duty free shop and purchased two glass bottles of vodka. Smashed together they would likely make much better weapons.
  - knodi123 10y ago
    If you smash two bottles together, do they both break? I would have expected that you'd always end up with one broken bottle, one whole bottle, and (optionally) a fair amount of your own blood.

blisterpeanuts 10y ago

The one odd assertion is that they "gave" his laptop to some random person. I've never seen a TSA person even touch people's stuff except to do a manual inspection and even then they ask permission. Assuming this story is on the up-and-up and isn't some kind of prank, the writer should call the police and report a theft. Secondly, call a lawyer and pursue a quest to recover property cost and associated damages--business losses, legal fees, time lost, etc. Also, he should report the loss to his insurance company.

jvdh 10y ago

Alternative title: Guy forgets laptop at security checkout and blames TSA for his stupidity. > I emerged from the scanner without any problems, collected my 2 bags and incidentals, and proceeded into Terminal 5. After awhile, I looked into my backpack and realized that I didn’t have my computer. My heart skipped a beat! I turned around and rushed to the security area.

LukeB_UK 10y ago
Further down the article: > After a few minutes, he found me coming through the security line, and sure enough, my computer was not with my bags when I retrieved my belongings. Moving further back in time, we watched as a TSA agent pulled my computer off of the belt as soon as it came out of the machine—there is an area where agents can remove things from the belt before passengers have access to belongings. He moved my computer to a holding area immediately behind the x-ray machine. And then, we watched as the computer was inspected, after which it was handed back… to a random woman. The woman took my computer and left the security area.
- jvdh 10y ago
  He completely forgot his laptop, moved away from the security check and only later figured out he was missing his laptop. With hundreds of people moving through those checkpoints, I do not blame the TSA agents for handing stuff out to completely random people.
  - elkabong 10y ago
    He forgot his laptop, because it wasn't on the belt when he came out of the scanner. They gave it away before he had a chance to forget it. The couple of minutes it took him to realise that he didn't actually all of his stuff off the belt (even though, he did, since the laptop wasn't there any more) wouldn't have made a difference since somebody else has taken it beforehand anyway.
    - soneil 10y ago

pjf 10y ago

Well, maybe it's a new idea for a song like "United Breaks Guitars"? :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

smoyer 10y ago

I have a "TSA Friendly" laptop bag (it even has a stitched on label). The laptop pocket unzips to the bottom of the compartment and folds along the bottom, so the laptop is still in its pocket, but there is nothing but fabric and foam between it and the belt. The metal parts of the bag as well as anything else metal I might be carrying are all folded to he other side and don't shield (electromagnetically) the laptop.

KD3hj21ioje13 10y ago

My laptop went missing when I sent it for servicing for several days and no one seemed to know where it was including FedEx and the company I sent it to. Turns out, it was the intelligence community and specifically Tailored Access Operations (TAO) hacking my laptop and preparing to ruin/sabotage my life. If you happen to mysteriously get your laptop back, make sure you look for potential evidence of tampering.

hellbanner 10y ago

If you truly hate security theatre in the USA, boycott travel. Tell your boss, your family, your friends that you can't travel because you refused to be treated poorly by a parasitic and incompetent organization. But, if your paycheck is more important to you than restoring diginity, the (governmental) terrorists have won :)

awqrre 10y ago
I think the opposite. Terrorists and the Government have won if you prevent yourself from doing/saying something because of what they do/did. Another example would be if you stop talking about some things online because you think that they scan everything you post and can link it to your personal identity.

mark_l_watson 10y ago

I have mixed feelings about TSA: the people who work for TSA at the checkpoints have always been polite, which is good. The bad thing is that I feel like security is really weak in the USA. In comparison, in India, everyone was searched on the flights I took, and a personal search seems much more effective. Re: stolen MacBook Pro: ouch! I have several older Linux laptops, so when I travel I grab a laptop that is old and expendable. Since I always encrypt my disk and most of what I do is in bitbucket, or on a cloud service, losing a laptop would just be an inconvenience. I find it more relaxing to not have things of high value with me when I travel.

reacweb 10y ago

For me, there is a crime. Even if it is in good faith, TSA took the MacBook, then lost it. It is the same as if they broke it by accident. If they can not recover it quickly, they should reimburse it because what happened is their full responsability.

IkmoIkmo 10y ago

I don't get why this was deemed an accident. If you have me a random laptop, I'll ask you what the hell you're doing. I won't take it, walk away and then board another flight. That isn't an accident, that's theft. Unless of course they've got a spare Macbook that actually did belong to the woman, which she left thinking she was taking her own Macbook, but there's nothing indicating that this is the case. So you've got two very clear issues. One is a passenger who stole $3k on broad daylight, who is on footage and can easily be traced to a particular flight, which can easily be traced to a passenger list, which can easily trace back to her. The other is that you've got a custodial relationship for a few minutes. You give objects away to be inspected, at which point the TSA becomes a temporary custodian. They ought to return it. I can imagine that the TSA restricts their liability to e.g. $5k per item, and that its liabilities are covered if and when it has a proper safe-keeping procedure in place that's followed, such they're not held accountable for 'acts of god' (which is a legal concept). This would provide sufficient incentives to create very simple procedures that'd prevent 99% of such issues, like described earlier in this thread in India. You have a box with two tags, you get one, the employee at the end gets one, you put stuff in box, you give tag, you take stuff from box, that's it. But the notion that they're taking your stuff without any liability, responsibility, insurance, procedures or just in general, recourse, is ridiculous.

cognivore 10y ago
>> I don't get why this was deemed an accident. << Reading the story, there is this little voice saying in the back of my head, "They don't want to treat it as a crime because they know who has it and they're in cahoots."
- MOARDONGZPLZ 10y ago
  I would really, really doubt this. My assumption is that they either: 1. They have statistics that they have to keep up, and having a ding like "a crime was committed on your watch" isn't a good thing, so they try to avoid it, or 2. Classifying it as a crime versus an accident comes with a load of paperwork and hassle for everybody involved that no one wants to do. I really don't think this was malicious in the manner you describe.

alfanick 10y ago

Wow, I'm actually surprised that you would blame TSA or the woman instead of yourself (I'm even more surprised that no other comment mention this). It is you who did not care to ensure your laptop go back to you. There is some bias against TSA, but you cannot blame them for everything (disclaimer: never been to States, never had anything in common with TSA). Sure, it is a pity that you lost a computer; it is probably some kind of TSA fault for handling the laptop to the woman (probably a common thief), but you should remember that you left your computer for a scan and you should receive it back. No computer back? Ask TSA for your computer - 10-15 minutes, most probably everything would turn out ok.

alfanick 10y ago
Can someone argument why this is being downvoted? I've read the article twice, just using logical and safe unbiased thinking here.
- ubernostrum 10y ago
  The author of the article appears to have done everything he legally could do. TSA does not generally give you a choice of customizing their screening procedures to suit your desire to keep an eye on your belongings. So you appear to just be bashing on the author for no reason -- there's simply not much more he could have done.
wiredin 10y ago
I agree, if you bring a very expensive laptop with you while traveling, you need to keep a very close eye on it. I bring my $150 chromebook with me while i'm traveling, and I always make sure I get it back when it comes through the x-ray machine... you left your computer behind, this is your fault.

kirykl 10y ago

Steal something from an airport store and I'd imagine they'll find you

timewarp256 10y ago

Never knew guest mode would allow access to Safari only. Probably worth enabling for incidents like these. http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/82707/145499 http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/82707/145499 Done!

tacos 10y ago

2 million screenings per day, stuff happens. PayPal does 13 million transactions a day, I bet somebody somewhere got ripped off. Before ranting, please consider that you may not be a snowflake and that even the finest systems occasionally harm people. Systems are imperfect and we should always try to add nines but there's a "how can this happen to me?" bias to this stuff that is really, really uninteresting. These posts are no different than BuzzFeed -- pushing buttons, attaching yourself to a brand (in this case the TSA), desperate to get heard. Like the Google couple who couldn't believe that their car dealership wanted a fingerprint when they tried to buy a $80,000 BMW with cash, not everything has to generate an emotion and attention-seeking essay. As in that case, once the smoke clears these posts usually do little but make the author look foolish. I don't know about you but "couldn't manage to travel with a laptop" isn't something I want permanently attached to my name in Google results.

pthreads 10y ago

I have noticed that in Indian airports passengers are given a numbered token and a duplicate placed in the bin with the laptop before it passes through the x-ray machine. After passing through the security scan the passenger has to present the token to the agents who will then match it with the one in the bin and only then hand it to him/her. I can't understand why TSA won't follow such a simple scheme that greatly improves the incidents like OP's.

giarc 10y ago
I've seen videos of security screening lines hundreds of meters long at one of Chicago's airports, this process would only make them longer.
- pthreads 10y ago
  I am not sure about that. The long lines are due to more fundamental problems with the TSA in general. Shaving a few extra seconds for each passenger with a laptop is not going to solve the problem.
  - giarc 10y ago
    Ya I agree, I was just making a comment that implementing this token process would make things even worse
- josho 10y ago
  I recommend that you take a flight to LAX/MCO, then a day at Disney and compare TSA's procedures for getting folks through a line compared to Disney. The single best action that the TSA could take is to hire a Disney staffer to consult on how to move large numbers of people through a line as there is much to be improved on moving folks through TSA screenings at a quicker pace without lowering the quality of screenings.

JoshGlazebrook 10y ago

Just an fyi, even if you don't book the ticket yourself, you can still go on the airline's website or call in and have your known traveler number added to your reservation to receive your pre-check status. (laptop never leaves your bag which probably would have prevented the author's issue in the first place as he was used to using pre-check)

tmalsburg2 10y ago

Two weeks ago I traveled in the US and after the scan they first handed me my own computer and then a minute later someone else's MacBook Pro. I said that the Mac isn't mine, and you know what, they didn't believe me. I had to tell them several times that I don't own a Mac and I had to show them that I had already received my own computer. I think they didn't want to look for the owner and just wanted to get rid of the damn thing. I wouldn't be surprised if some people were tempted to give in and say "ok, yes, I admit it, this expensive-looking MacBook is mine". Very careless of the TSA to handle people's belongings this way.

edwhitesell 10y ago
This is probably part of the liability/insurance aspect of it as well. As long as they are in possession of it, they could damage it or lose it. Someone is probably training them to just get rid of it ASAP.
kbutler 10y ago
ouch I know airport personnel are very sensitive to unclaimed bags, etc., so they may look with suspicion on a "that's not my bag" claim, though presumably the TSA has just verified that this item is "safe".
- tmalsburg2 10y ago
  Good point but if there is a suspicion that an unclaimed item may pose a security risk, the solution cannot be to push random strangers to take the item.

l3m0ndr0p 10y ago

Sounds like the distraction was on purpose so that the theft of the laptop could occur. Perhaps TSA agent was in on the issue & the reason they're saying it's not a crime.

andy9775 10y ago

My biggest fear of flying. Do those TSA approved bags really "work"? Meaning that you don't have to remove your laptop

pmarreck 10y ago

Someone in the comments there just created this clever script that causes your laptop to make a racket if it hasn't been returned to you by some number of seconds: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/5bf92b9d14b8c529919c6027502fbd09 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/5bf92b9d14b8c529919c602750...

pfarnsworth 10y ago

Things used to be a lot worse when people without tickets were allowed all the way through to the boarding gates. This, of course, was pre-9-11. Laptops would get stolen all the time by criminals just going through security, sometimes in pairs and one would slow down the line while the person in front would take a random laptop and gtfo. In some senses, the security is better by disallowed non-passengers from going through security checkpoints. I feel bad for the owner, and I hope he/she gets back his/her laptop, but I doubt the TSA will just write a check unfortunately. They simply don't care.

yAnonymous 10y ago

Next time, tell them there's a bomb in the laptop and the person who took it is your accomplice. They'll find it.

mindslight 10y ago

It's odd how the TSA escapes primary blame in the OP and these comments. This blending-into-the-environment is part of what makes these half-baked authorituhs so insidious. The author had an agreement that the TSA would borrow his laptop for a few minutes and then return it in identical condition. The TSA failed to live up to their duties. Regardless of what happened to the laptop while in their care, the straightforward way to make this right is for TSA to reimburse this person for a new laptop. This is not a new concept - it's called civil liability. If the TSA would like, they can try to reform their operating procedures so this happens less. But that doesn't change the fact that they're still responsible for this instance. We don't let a thief keep his bounty by promising to not steal in the future.

slantedview 10y ago

Let's be clear: The TSA was an active facilitator in the theft of this person's private property and failed to provide a remedy for their actions. It wasn't an accident, it wasn't innocent and it was not made right. That's the bottom line.

njharman 10y ago

What's the problem? Everyone acted nice, gave all the info needed / incident number. 2.5 days is way, way not enough time to wait for action / response. If author is worked up cause incompetence exists and accidents happen (or crimes/scams happen) then life is going to be disappointing to them.

vitd 10y ago

They did this to me at LAX once about 12-13 years ago. Oddly enough, the man they handed my computer to was Johnny Cochrane (the lawyer that got OJ out of a murder conviction). They were so starstruck (telling him "Here's your computer Mr. Cochrane!"). Thankfully, he said, "Oh, that's not mine," just as I walked up and I was able to get it unlike the OP.

austinhutch 10y ago

I made a TurboTax like website to help make a claim against the TSA in this situation: http://TSAClaim.com http://TSAClaim.com, it will render a completed SF-95 form that you email to the TSA.

heisenbit 10y ago

How can they single out his computer without immediately singling out him too? There is simply no point in treating the device suspicious and letting the owner potentially leave the place.

tssva 10y ago

No mention of insurance. The laptop may be covered under homeowners or renters insurance. These cover personal property even when they are outside your residence.