6 ms·

I was once traveling back from Italy after attending PKDD conference. I was really sick and had a really bad headache, so the following exchange really scared m

by yzmtf2008 10y ago

I was once traveling back from Italy after attending PKDD conference. I was really sick and had a really bad headache, so the following exchange really scared me: "Why did you go to Italy?" - To attend a conference. "Which conference did you attend?" - European Conference on Machine Learning "Machine Learning? (smile) How do you learn from machines?" I forgot the exact answer I gave, but I was pretty afraid that he had a Wikipedia page on "Learning from Machines" and would not let me pass if I failed.

squirrelgod 10y ago
Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? I've had a TSA officer joke around asking me if I hacked into their devices (I was wearing a hackathon t-shirt)
- kalleboo 10y ago
  A couple of times I've managed to defuse TSA officers after they're convinced I'm not a danger to the country, and they turn into humans again. Once I was visiting just to meet a friend and we were planning on a road-trip up to Canada. The officer quizzed if we were going in order to do drugs (which is a thing apparently?), and when I answered in the negative he sighed, said "ah, I was young once too" and let me in...
- yzmtf2008 10y ago
  Could be :) Unfortunately I was feeling really bad that day so I was a little paranoid.
- SideburnsOfDoom 10y ago
  > Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? One rule of thumb is that you Never joke with the airport security (1). So wouldn't that go both ways? 1) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-blog/2012/nov/27/dynamite-advice-bomb-jokes-airports https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-b...
  - reinhardt 10y ago
    So you're saying I should better not sport my new t-shirt in the airport? http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/if-im-not-on-a-watchlist-someone-isnt-doing-their-job/ http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/if-im-not-on-a-watchl...
    - mpclark 10y ago
      A friend of mine got pulled aside for extra questioning at Newark in the mid-90s because he was wearing a t-shirt that proclaimed "Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast". I think the officer presumed it was some sort of drug reference.
      - SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
        What a guy.
    - bruceboughton 10y ago
      My then-teenage brother once went through US immigration wearing a t-shirt branded with the initials of the then-popular brand, French Connection UK. Needless to say the US immigration officials took some offense and asked him a bunch of questions. I'm not sure they realised it didn't say what they thought it did, even after we explained about French Connection. These were obviously simpler times as I also as a teenager once went through US immigration wearing a Threadless Community Party t-shirt: https://www.threadless.com/product/383/the_communist_party https://www.threadless.com/product/383/the_communist_party
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - sundvor 10y ago
        The dyslectic f*ck brand was and still is annoying. In Melbourne AU they had a 20 or 30 metre tall logo covering an entire wall of an industrial building. Very glad to see it gone.
- jeena 10y ago
  I was there to do some training, to teach the guys there how to use Yocto, Qt, etc., and the officer asked me: "So you're coming in to teach us so we can take your job?" Needless to say that I was really confused.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
prawn 10y ago
I imagine their main goal is to keep you talking. More questions they ask, the more you need to answer and the more they can watch your body language and responses for signals.
- huxley 10y ago
  And completely misinterpret it: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100526/full/465412a.html http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100526/full/465412a.html "Yet a growing number of researchers are dubious — not just about the projects themselves, but about the science on which they are based. "Simply put, people (including professional lie-catchers with extensive experience of assessing veracity) would achieve similar hit rates if they flipped a coin," noted a 2007 report1 from a committee of credibility-assessment experts who reviewed research on portal screening. "No scientific evidence exists to support the detection or inference of future behaviour, including intent," declares a 2008 report prepared by the JASON defence advisory group. And the TSA had no business deploying SPOT across the nation's airports "without first validating the scientific basis for identifying suspicious passengers in an airport environment", stated a two-year review of the programme released on 20 May by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress."
squarefoot 10y ago
I'm glad I don't work at Wikipedia, because after what happened to that guy I'd be tempted to detect if a request comes from any TSA terminal and serve midget porn instead :)

squirrelgod 10y ago

Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? I've had a TSA officer joke around asking me if I hacked into their devices (I was wearing a hackathon t-shirt)

kalleboo 10y ago
A couple of times I've managed to defuse TSA officers after they're convinced I'm not a danger to the country, and they turn into humans again. Once I was visiting just to meet a friend and we were planning on a road-trip up to Canada. The officer quizzed if we were going in order to do drugs (which is a thing apparently?), and when I answered in the negative he sighed, said "ah, I was young once too" and let me in...
yzmtf2008 10y ago
Could be :) Unfortunately I was feeling really bad that day so I was a little paranoid.
SideburnsOfDoom 10y ago
> Are you sure he wasn't just joking around? One rule of thumb is that you Never joke with the airport security (1). So wouldn't that go both ways? 1) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-blog/2012/nov/27/dynamite-advice-bomb-jokes-airports https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkemans-b...
- reinhardt 10y ago
  So you're saying I should better not sport my new t-shirt in the airport? http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/if-im-not-on-a-watchlist-someone-isnt-doing-their-job/ http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/if-im-not-on-a-watchl...
  - mpclark 10y ago
    A friend of mine got pulled aside for extra questioning at Newark in the mid-90s because he was wearing a t-shirt that proclaimed "Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast". I think the officer presumed it was some sort of drug reference.
    - SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
      What a guy.
  - bruceboughton 10y ago
    My then-teenage brother once went through US immigration wearing a t-shirt branded with the initials of the then-popular brand, French Connection UK. Needless to say the US immigration officials took some offense and asked him a bunch of questions. I'm not sure they realised it didn't say what they thought it did, even after we explained about French Connection. These were obviously simpler times as I also as a teenager once went through US immigration wearing a Threadless Community Party t-shirt: https://www.threadless.com/product/383/the_communist_party https://www.threadless.com/product/383/the_communist_party
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - sundvor 10y ago
      The dyslectic f*ck brand was and still is annoying. In Melbourne AU they had a 20 or 30 metre tall logo covering an entire wall of an industrial building. Very glad to see it gone.
jeena 10y ago
I was there to do some training, to teach the guys there how to use Yocto, Qt, etc., and the officer asked me: "So you're coming in to teach us so we can take your job?" Needless to say that I was really confused.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

prawn 10y ago

I imagine their main goal is to keep you talking. More questions they ask, the more you need to answer and the more they can watch your body language and responses for signals.

huxley 10y ago
And completely misinterpret it: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100526/full/465412a.html http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100526/full/465412a.html "Yet a growing number of researchers are dubious — not just about the projects themselves, but about the science on which they are based. "Simply put, people (including professional lie-catchers with extensive experience of assessing veracity) would achieve similar hit rates if they flipped a coin," noted a 2007 report1 from a committee of credibility-assessment experts who reviewed research on portal screening. "No scientific evidence exists to support the detection or inference of future behaviour, including intent," declares a 2008 report prepared by the JASON defence advisory group. And the TSA had no business deploying SPOT across the nation's airports "without first validating the scientific basis for identifying suspicious passengers in an airport environment", stated a two-year review of the programme released on 20 May by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress."

squarefoot 10y ago

I'm glad I don't work at Wikipedia, because after what happened to that guy I'd be tempted to detect if a request comes from any TSA terminal and serve midget porn instead :)