15 ms·

TSA will require separate screenings for electronics larger than a cell phone

33 points by ohjeez 9y ago

rhinoceraptor 9y ago
I had to do this at DTW, I was carrying 3 laptops and 2 tablets. I also had my carry on searched because I had 12 cans of sardines which look funny in the x-ray.
- elthran 9y ago
  Okay, I'll bite - why did you have 12 cans of sardines in carry on?
  - monksy 9y ago
    Just to mess with the agents. I'm surprised that he didn't get required to throw them out. (They contain liquid)
    - lisper 9y ago
      Not cool. The agents are just trying to do their jobs. The fact that the system is fubar is not their fault. On the other hand, people like you hold up the line for everyone.
      - rhinoceraptor 9y ago
        The guy in front of me had 4 cans of soda which he had to throw out. My sardines just had to be scanned for explosives or whatever the scanner thing is, but it seemed like they were fine to bring. At least they didn't see the supplement powder I packed in their own separate plastic baggies :)
        deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
        Dolores12 9y ago
        Your supplement powder has different density than explosive, hence different color on their screens. They saw it for sure.
        rhinoceraptor 9y ago
        I wasn't worried about that, I was worried they would think it was drugs, since I had three snack bags full of white powder.
      - pavel_lishin 9y ago
        > The agents are just trying to do their jobs. The fact that the system is fubar is not their fault. At many airports, they're not trying very hard - every time I ask for an opt out, they roll their eyes and drag their feet getting me checked out. Sometimes they give me verbal shit for it - which is part of the fubar-ness of the system, and is exactly their fault. Having said that, I just try to get through with a minimum of interaction.
        lisper 9y ago
        > At many airports, they're not trying very hard - every time I ask for an opt out, they roll their eyes and drag their feet getting me checked out. Yes, that's because they think -- perhaps wrongly, but not entirely without justification -- that you are opting out in order to make some political statement or because you're frustrated with the process and are trying to take it out on them. I don't think you have a full appreciate for how mind-numbing and soul-crushing a job being a front-line TSA agent can be.
  - rhinoceraptor 9y ago
    Just to eat, they're an easy ketogenic/low carb food. 12 cans is enough for one meal a day for the six days of my trip.
- technofiend 9y ago
  LOL. I had two TSA agents hone in on me and ask tons of questions because I had 2 laptops of the same model! That was like 10 years ago though; so many people carry around so much equipment now I doubt it would be of concern any more.
caboteria 9y ago
> In standard screening lanes, TSA agents will be stationed in front of X-ray machines to verbally assist passengers with the new screening procedures. Is "verbally assist" a new euphemism for "yell at"?
- deathanatos 9y ago
  Yeah, I think it is. I somewhat recently had a TSA agent bark conflicting instructions at me: "Please remove all metal and electronics before the metal detector." Okay, simple enough. But when I started executing her directive, "you can leave your watch on." "It's a smart watch — it's an electronic with metal." She didn't seem to understand that.
gt565k 9y ago
Pretty sure this has been happening for a while. The last few times I've traveled, people were told to put laptops and tablets in separate bins as well. Makes sense... we shouldn't discriminate laptops at the security lines! All large electronics in separate bins!
- gumby 9y ago
  The article says they've been trialing so I suppose you've been using pilot airports.
kbos87 9y ago
The people who complain about heightened security never have a better proposal. This article is pure pandering with no balanced opinion of the fact that there could be credible motivations to ask for this.
- jdavis703 9y ago
  The thing is this is just security theater. A terrorist might as well detonate a bomb for all the people patiently queued to be inspected for bombs. In fact, TSA scanners have failure rates up to 95% [0] (meaning they let through 95% of contraband, including guns and explosives). Making tablets be pulled out probably won't change anything. 0: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/06/politics/house-homeland-security-airport-report/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/06/politics/house-homeland-securi...
  - donretag 9y ago
    "A terrorist might as well detonate a bomb for all the people patiently queued to be inspected for bombs." That is precisely what happened in the Brussels bombing. The Manchester bombing also happened at the general entrance of the arena, not inside.
- djsumdog 9y ago
  The TSA has stopped zero terrorists. It's security theater. It's just dumb. No other country requires people to take off their shoes. No other country will feel you up if you fail the millimeter wave scan. Their false positive rate is so high it's pretty much random chance. Sure security is bad in other countries. I've had to remove everything from my bag in several airports, but America is still somehow the worst in spite of that. Fuck the TSA. When I do leave the US, I take a train to Canada and fly from there. Their security is mostly the same, but at least I feel like I can't complain since it's not my country.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - diabeetusman 9y ago
cylinder 9y ago
Their own separate bin? I'm interpreting this to mean, electronics in their own bin, together, is fine. One bin for each laptop, tablet, phone, etc would be madness. However, I don't think a laptop and an iPad will fit into one bin without overlapping each other. So now we are at probably four bins per person including their carry-on bag as a "bin." This is really ridiculous and will lead to even longer, more chaotic lines.
- jdavis703 9y ago
  As long as you don't have to stack them, and you don't have an asshole screener it should be fine. But rules are rules and some high school dropout will probably send you to the back of the line if you fail to put your iPad Mini in a bin separate from your laptop.
- gumby 9y ago
  This will make stealing electronics much easier. And the TSA has been unresponsive to complaints about being separated for prolonged periods from control of your own carry ons.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- gumby 9y ago
  This will make stealing electronics much easier. And the TSA has been unresponsive to complaints about being separated for prolonged periods from control of your own carry ons.
- clamprecht 9y ago
  Eventually one of the TSA workers will think, "hey let's invent bins that are actually shaped to hold the common case of a laptop, iPad, and phone all in one, not overlapping". And a few years later, they may actually implement it.
- gwright 9y ago
  I'm puzzled by this as news because, at least on the east coast where I do most of my traveling, I've had to put laptops in separate bins for several years. I used to have to put the iPad in a separate bin also until they said it could stay in the bag. Now I guess it is back into a bin. I generally travel with my CPAP machine also so it is quite an ordeal to get through security: • work laptop • personal laptop • iPad • CPAP machine (outside of carrying case) • CPAP carrying case • shoes and jacket • backpack • and often my carry-on luggage
magoon 9y ago
I was hoping to never hear the term "phablet" again.
technofiend 9y ago
>Of course, those enrolled in the TSA’s Precheck program will not have to remove their oversized electronics, due to their willingness to trade their fingerprints (and $85) for speedier screening. The TSA notes that Precheck is now available at 200 airports nationwide, up from 180 at the start of the year. Despite the snark, precheck is worth the money if you're a regular domestic traveler as are the trusted traveler programs [1] if you travel abroad. Some airlines seem to flag a trusted traveler as precheck although it's not terribly consistent, so I wouldn't rely on that. [1] https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs
- pmalynin 9y ago
  Canadian here with NEXUS (which bundles TSA PreCheck in); Absolutely worth it -- albeit both the US and Canadian governments basically now know every single detail of my life, including biometrics of fingerprints and rental scans. For someone that essentially travels by air every few months for work (and sometimes pleasure) the ability to spend 1 minute in security means I get to spend my time on things that matter. And its nice when I go back to Canada to just go through a machine; I don't see why I need to talk to anyone when I'm going home to my country of citizenship. On the other side of the border, going to immigration into the States, the border people will usually be much more friendly and relaxed so thats also a plus.
  - vibrolax 9y ago
    American with NEXUS including Global Entry and PreCheck; It's a real treat to bypass 2 hour line-ups at the road border crossings on holiday weekends. In six years I've never had an unpleasant time at the border going in either direction, even though I usually cross at entry points that don't have dedicated NEXUS lanes.
    - technofiend 9y ago
      Indeed I just wish it worked both ways. Entering the country is a breeze; going out of the country has (so far) found me parked in a long line with everyone else. On the other hand it's a small price to pay to travel and see the world. I'm not going to complain.
doubt_me 9y ago
I think I remember reading that Israel found laptop bomb batteries. Or some country found them.
- thenewwazoo 9y ago
  You remember the president of the USA disclosing code-word level classified intelligence, gathered by Israeli agents in Egypt, about ISIS planning laptop bombs, to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador, without going through the necessary internal approval channels or getting permission from Israel. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/17/president-trump-intelligence-leak-homeland-security-russians-laptop-bombs/101802538/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/17/pres...
crypt1d 9y ago
I've never been to the US. I'd love to visit though, so many beautiful places to see! I had this idea to rent an RV on the west coast and spend a few months visiting bunch of places. But lately I've been deterred by all this TSA crap and the political 'developments'. I just no longer feel comfortable about traveling there. Don't get me wrong, my home country is far from peachy. But everything I read about US these days screams - don't come here. I'm sure their tourism industry wont fall apart because of one person, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not the only one that feels like this. Seems like I'll just go somewhere warm for the winter to chill out (Canary Islands, anyone?)
- overcast 9y ago
  It really is not as big of a deal as everyone acts like it is. Take your stuff out, take off your shoes, and your belt. Walk through, get on your plane. Enjoy the US. This place is HUGE.
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    Take your stuff out, take your shoes off, get in line for the machine of dubious quality, watch your items disappear into the X-ray checker, go through machine of dubious quality, realize that two of your items are not on the belt along with your others, realize that they were taken aside for additional checking; wait for someone to bark at you to come watch your stuff get tested. I'm not saying that people should skip coming to the US because of all of this, but it is a ridiculous process, especially the separation from your belongings. I once thought a man took my backpack - it was an identical model - and I yelled for about 30 seconds until I saw my bag come out of the machine. Nobody paid attention.
  - GuiA 9y ago
    Get detained in a tiny cell at Houston airport for 12 hours with no explanation (happened to my father). Get your entry denied and have your vacation plans + all the money you spent on hotels/rentals/etc go to waste (happened to a friend of mine). Speak to any foreigner that has had prolonged contact with US immigration/border agencies (particularly if they are from a poorer country - doubly so if it's a muslim country) and you will hear plenty of stories like that.
kylehotchkiss 9y ago
As long as I can take the laptop / camera on the plane and don't have to fret over it being stolen by the baggage handlers who look in bags.
grandalf 9y ago
Putting a device on its own tray means that an algorithm can apply heuristics to it to determine if it should receive a wipe test or additional human screening. By placing the items onto a tray, the orientation of the device is more likely to be consistent and not obscured by other objects in the line of sight of the scanner, making algorithmic object recognition easier when a 2D scanner is used or if the bag contained items that make the data harder to process. Imagine if your goal was to get a weapon through security, what would you do? - Enclose it in a fluid or gel-filled case that appeared similar to a rechargeable battery pack on the scanner. - Enclose it in an appropriately sized shielded sub-enclosure of a common device, so that it appeared similar to the unaltered device on the scanner. For some reason laptops were identified as a likely device for this sort of use-case, hence the ban on laptops for flights originating from some places. So after the ban the adversaries likely decided to try using a boombox or a SLR camera to house a weapon, and maybe even tried an electronic drum pad or other less common device. Consider what kind of information the scanner obtains about the objects being scanned. Some is 2D but newer ones area increasingly 3D. So you have a 3D capture of the various relative densities and thicknesses of materials used to construct a device. Chances are machine learning algorithms are very good at determining which scan is an unaltered electronic device and which has been altered (additional wires, components, materials included). It's also necessary to train the system, so asking travelers to place their digicams, drum pads, etc., in a separate bin allows the scans to be used as training data for unaltered device characteristics, and help officials learn how to train the algorithms to detect subtle modification or alteration of devices. Chances are the same kind of highly advanced machine learning is being applied to the live video of passengers lining up for screening, with face, vital sign, and body carriage recognition algorithms designed to detect anxiety, deception, etc. For example, if you are rocking back and forth with a clenched chin and elevated heart rate that might be a small data point which (if combined with a laptop that has a >10% probability of having been altered) might result in a human screening and pat down. When filmed at high frame rate, heart beats are detectable via blood vessel coloration changes. Animals (like humans) are very easy to analyze this way with the right hardware and algorithms.
- javajosh 9y ago
  It's strange to me that we screen for weapons at all, other than explosives. The cabin is sealed. There is a marshal on the plane to limit gun/box-cutter level damage. At that point the plane itself is no more dangerous (actually considerably less dangerous) than an ordinary subway car. With explosives, I've always thought an internal smuggle would work the best. I mean, you're going to suicide anyway, so why not stick C4 up your ass? Or if you're really serious, have some surgically installed into you. One threat would be a small shaped charge to open the cabin, but that seems very unlikely. Last but not least, the WMD threat of biological weapon, 12 Monkeys style, which is a) not specific to planes and b) impossible to guard against, once the weapon is lost.
Sukotto 9y ago
It's amazing the immediate, viscerally angry, reaction I have the moment I see "TSA" in an article headline. I can't think of any other organization that evokes that near-rage quite as fast or as strong. Even Immigration doesn't seem as hateful.
- glenra 9y ago
  Me too. It's not just fact that TSA has the job to make travel more inconvenient and annoying and expensive, but that there seems to be no limit to how much extra expense and annoyance we're willing to let them inflict on us. And the fact that all this security theater clearly makes us less safe - killing extra people in car crashes and destroying economic productivity that could have saved far more lives. There seems to be nobody willing to push back against the idiocy that is the TSA. In paying their salaries we are almost literally paying for rope to hang ourselves. If we can't eliminate or cut back programs this dumb and this destructive, is there any hope for technological progress at all? Or are all efforts to improve the human condition similarly doomed to be hamstrung by rent-seekers and grandstanders and paranoid muckrakers? Every time I have to stand in that line I get a little bit more furious that we can't get rid of these idiots and their counterproductive procedures and just walk over to the gate and get on a plane like a civilized person.

33 points by ohjeez 9y ago

I had to do this at DTW, I was carrying 3 laptops and 2 tablets. I also had my carry on searched because I had 12 cans of sardines which look funny in the x-ray.

elthran 9y ago
Okay, I'll bite - why did you have 12 cans of sardines in carry on?
- monksy 9y ago
  Just to mess with the agents. I'm surprised that he didn't get required to throw them out. (They contain liquid)
  - lisper 9y ago
    Not cool. The agents are just trying to do their jobs. The fact that the system is fubar is not their fault. On the other hand, people like you hold up the line for everyone.
    - rhinoceraptor 9y ago
      The guy in front of me had 4 cans of soda which he had to throw out. My sardines just had to be scanned for explosives or whatever the scanner thing is, but it seemed like they were fine to bring. At least they didn't see the supplement powder I packed in their own separate plastic baggies :)
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - Dolores12 9y ago
        Your supplement powder has different density than explosive, hence different color on their screens. They saw it for sure.
        rhinoceraptor 9y ago
        I wasn't worried about that, I was worried they would think it was drugs, since I had three snack bags full of white powder.
    - pavel_lishin 9y ago
      > The agents are just trying to do their jobs. The fact that the system is fubar is not their fault. At many airports, they're not trying very hard - every time I ask for an opt out, they roll their eyes and drag their feet getting me checked out. Sometimes they give me verbal shit for it - which is part of the fubar-ness of the system, and is exactly their fault. Having said that, I just try to get through with a minimum of interaction.
      - lisper 9y ago
        > At many airports, they're not trying very hard - every time I ask for an opt out, they roll their eyes and drag their feet getting me checked out. Yes, that's because they think -- perhaps wrongly, but not entirely without justification -- that you are opting out in order to make some political statement or because you're frustrated with the process and are trying to take it out on them. I don't think you have a full appreciate for how mind-numbing and soul-crushing a job being a front-line TSA agent can be.
- rhinoceraptor 9y ago
  Just to eat, they're an easy ketogenic/low carb food. 12 cans is enough for one meal a day for the six days of my trip.
technofiend 9y ago
LOL. I had two TSA agents hone in on me and ask tons of questions because I had 2 laptops of the same model! That was like 10 years ago though; so many people carry around so much equipment now I doubt it would be of concern any more.

caboteria 9y ago

> In standard screening lanes, TSA agents will be stationed in front of X-ray machines to verbally assist passengers with the new screening procedures. Is "verbally assist" a new euphemism for "yell at"?

deathanatos 9y ago
Yeah, I think it is. I somewhat recently had a TSA agent bark conflicting instructions at me: "Please remove all metal and electronics before the metal detector." Okay, simple enough. But when I started executing her directive, "you can leave your watch on." "It's a smart watch — it's an electronic with metal." She didn't seem to understand that.

gt565k 9y ago

Pretty sure this has been happening for a while. The last few times I've traveled, people were told to put laptops and tablets in separate bins as well. Makes sense... we shouldn't discriminate laptops at the security lines! All large electronics in separate bins!

gumby 9y ago
The article says they've been trialing so I suppose you've been using pilot airports.

kbos87 9y ago

The people who complain about heightened security never have a better proposal. This article is pure pandering with no balanced opinion of the fact that there could be credible motivations to ask for this.

jdavis703 9y ago
The thing is this is just security theater. A terrorist might as well detonate a bomb for all the people patiently queued to be inspected for bombs. In fact, TSA scanners have failure rates up to 95% [0] (meaning they let through 95% of contraband, including guns and explosives). Making tablets be pulled out probably won't change anything. 0: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/06/politics/house-homeland-security-airport-report/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/06/politics/house-homeland-securi...
- donretag 9y ago
  "A terrorist might as well detonate a bomb for all the people patiently queued to be inspected for bombs." That is precisely what happened in the Brussels bombing. The Manchester bombing also happened at the general entrance of the arena, not inside.
djsumdog 9y ago
The TSA has stopped zero terrorists. It's security theater. It's just dumb. No other country requires people to take off their shoes. No other country will feel you up if you fail the millimeter wave scan. Their false positive rate is so high it's pretty much random chance. Sure security is bad in other countries. I've had to remove everything from my bag in several airports, but America is still somehow the worst in spite of that. Fuck the TSA. When I do leave the US, I take a train to Canada and fly from there. Their security is mostly the same, but at least I feel like I can't complain since it's not my country.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- diabeetusman 9y ago

cylinder 9y ago

Their own separate bin? I'm interpreting this to mean, electronics in their own bin, together, is fine. One bin for each laptop, tablet, phone, etc would be madness. However, I don't think a laptop and an iPad will fit into one bin without overlapping each other. So now we are at probably four bins per person including their carry-on bag as a "bin." This is really ridiculous and will lead to even longer, more chaotic lines.

jdavis703 9y ago
As long as you don't have to stack them, and you don't have an asshole screener it should be fine. But rules are rules and some high school dropout will probably send you to the back of the line if you fail to put your iPad Mini in a bin separate from your laptop.
gumby 9y ago
This will make stealing electronics much easier. And the TSA has been unresponsive to complaints about being separated for prolonged periods from control of your own carry ons.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
gumby 9y ago
This will make stealing electronics much easier. And the TSA has been unresponsive to complaints about being separated for prolonged periods from control of your own carry ons.
clamprecht 9y ago
Eventually one of the TSA workers will think, "hey let's invent bins that are actually shaped to hold the common case of a laptop, iPad, and phone all in one, not overlapping". And a few years later, they may actually implement it.
gwright 9y ago
I'm puzzled by this as news because, at least on the east coast where I do most of my traveling, I've had to put laptops in separate bins for several years. I used to have to put the iPad in a separate bin also until they said it could stay in the bag. Now I guess it is back into a bin. I generally travel with my CPAP machine also so it is quite an ordeal to get through security: • work laptop • personal laptop • iPad • CPAP machine (outside of carrying case) • CPAP carrying case • shoes and jacket • backpack • and often my carry-on luggage

magoon 9y ago

I was hoping to never hear the term "phablet" again.

technofiend 9y ago

>Of course, those enrolled in the TSA’s Precheck program will not have to remove their oversized electronics, due to their willingness to trade their fingerprints (and $85) for speedier screening. The TSA notes that Precheck is now available at 200 airports nationwide, up from 180 at the start of the year. Despite the snark, precheck is worth the money if you're a regular domestic traveler as are the trusted traveler programs [1] if you travel abroad. Some airlines seem to flag a trusted traveler as precheck although it's not terribly consistent, so I wouldn't rely on that. [1] https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs

pmalynin 9y ago
Canadian here with NEXUS (which bundles TSA PreCheck in); Absolutely worth it -- albeit both the US and Canadian governments basically now know every single detail of my life, including biometrics of fingerprints and rental scans. For someone that essentially travels by air every few months for work (and sometimes pleasure) the ability to spend 1 minute in security means I get to spend my time on things that matter. And its nice when I go back to Canada to just go through a machine; I don't see why I need to talk to anyone when I'm going home to my country of citizenship. On the other side of the border, going to immigration into the States, the border people will usually be much more friendly and relaxed so thats also a plus.
- vibrolax 9y ago
  American with NEXUS including Global Entry and PreCheck; It's a real treat to bypass 2 hour line-ups at the road border crossings on holiday weekends. In six years I've never had an unpleasant time at the border going in either direction, even though I usually cross at entry points that don't have dedicated NEXUS lanes.
  - technofiend 9y ago
    Indeed I just wish it worked both ways. Entering the country is a breeze; going out of the country has (so far) found me parked in a long line with everyone else. On the other hand it's a small price to pay to travel and see the world. I'm not going to complain.

doubt_me 9y ago

I think I remember reading that Israel found laptop bomb batteries. Or some country found them.

thenewwazoo 9y ago
You remember the president of the USA disclosing code-word level classified intelligence, gathered by Israeli agents in Egypt, about ISIS planning laptop bombs, to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador, without going through the necessary internal approval channels or getting permission from Israel. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/17/president-trump-intelligence-leak-homeland-security-russians-laptop-bombs/101802538/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/17/pres...

crypt1d 9y ago

I've never been to the US. I'd love to visit though, so many beautiful places to see! I had this idea to rent an RV on the west coast and spend a few months visiting bunch of places. But lately I've been deterred by all this TSA crap and the political 'developments'. I just no longer feel comfortable about traveling there. Don't get me wrong, my home country is far from peachy. But everything I read about US these days screams - don't come here. I'm sure their tourism industry wont fall apart because of one person, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not the only one that feels like this. Seems like I'll just go somewhere warm for the winter to chill out (Canary Islands, anyone?)

overcast 9y ago
It really is not as big of a deal as everyone acts like it is. Take your stuff out, take off your shoes, and your belt. Walk through, get on your plane. Enjoy the US. This place is HUGE.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  Take your stuff out, take your shoes off, get in line for the machine of dubious quality, watch your items disappear into the X-ray checker, go through machine of dubious quality, realize that two of your items are not on the belt along with your others, realize that they were taken aside for additional checking; wait for someone to bark at you to come watch your stuff get tested. I'm not saying that people should skip coming to the US because of all of this, but it is a ridiculous process, especially the separation from your belongings. I once thought a man took my backpack - it was an identical model - and I yelled for about 30 seconds until I saw my bag come out of the machine. Nobody paid attention.
- GuiA 9y ago
  Get detained in a tiny cell at Houston airport for 12 hours with no explanation (happened to my father). Get your entry denied and have your vacation plans + all the money you spent on hotels/rentals/etc go to waste (happened to a friend of mine). Speak to any foreigner that has had prolonged contact with US immigration/border agencies (particularly if they are from a poorer country - doubly so if it's a muslim country) and you will hear plenty of stories like that.

kylehotchkiss 9y ago

As long as I can take the laptop / camera on the plane and don't have to fret over it being stolen by the baggage handlers who look in bags.

grandalf 9y ago

Putting a device on its own tray means that an algorithm can apply heuristics to it to determine if it should receive a wipe test or additional human screening. By placing the items onto a tray, the orientation of the device is more likely to be consistent and not obscured by other objects in the line of sight of the scanner, making algorithmic object recognition easier when a 2D scanner is used or if the bag contained items that make the data harder to process. Imagine if your goal was to get a weapon through security, what would you do? - Enclose it in a fluid or gel-filled case that appeared similar to a rechargeable battery pack on the scanner. - Enclose it in an appropriately sized shielded sub-enclosure of a common device, so that it appeared similar to the unaltered device on the scanner. For some reason laptops were identified as a likely device for this sort of use-case, hence the ban on laptops for flights originating from some places. So after the ban the adversaries likely decided to try using a boombox or a SLR camera to house a weapon, and maybe even tried an electronic drum pad or other less common device. Consider what kind of information the scanner obtains about the objects being scanned. Some is 2D but newer ones area increasingly 3D. So you have a 3D capture of the various relative densities and thicknesses of materials used to construct a device. Chances are machine learning algorithms are very good at determining which scan is an unaltered electronic device and which has been altered (additional wires, components, materials included). It's also necessary to train the system, so asking travelers to place their digicams, drum pads, etc., in a separate bin allows the scans to be used as training data for unaltered device characteristics, and help officials learn how to train the algorithms to detect subtle modification or alteration of devices. Chances are the same kind of highly advanced machine learning is being applied to the live video of passengers lining up for screening, with face, vital sign, and body carriage recognition algorithms designed to detect anxiety, deception, etc. For example, if you are rocking back and forth with a clenched chin and elevated heart rate that might be a small data point which (if combined with a laptop that has a >10% probability of having been altered) might result in a human screening and pat down. When filmed at high frame rate, heart beats are detectable via blood vessel coloration changes. Animals (like humans) are very easy to analyze this way with the right hardware and algorithms.

javajosh 9y ago
It's strange to me that we screen for weapons at all, other than explosives. The cabin is sealed. There is a marshal on the plane to limit gun/box-cutter level damage. At that point the plane itself is no more dangerous (actually considerably less dangerous) than an ordinary subway car. With explosives, I've always thought an internal smuggle would work the best. I mean, you're going to suicide anyway, so why not stick C4 up your ass? Or if you're really serious, have some surgically installed into you. One threat would be a small shaped charge to open the cabin, but that seems very unlikely. Last but not least, the WMD threat of biological weapon, 12 Monkeys style, which is a) not specific to planes and b) impossible to guard against, once the weapon is lost.

Sukotto 9y ago

It's amazing the immediate, viscerally angry, reaction I have the moment I see "TSA" in an article headline. I can't think of any other organization that evokes that near-rage quite as fast or as strong. Even Immigration doesn't seem as hateful.

glenra 9y ago
Me too. It's not just fact that TSA has the job to make travel more inconvenient and annoying and expensive, but that there seems to be no limit to how much extra expense and annoyance we're willing to let them inflict on us. And the fact that all this security theater clearly makes us less safe - killing extra people in car crashes and destroying economic productivity that could have saved far more lives. There seems to be nobody willing to push back against the idiocy that is the TSA. In paying their salaries we are almost literally paying for rope to hang ourselves. If we can't eliminate or cut back programs this dumb and this destructive, is there any hope for technological progress at all? Or are all efforts to improve the human condition similarly doomed to be hamstrung by rent-seekers and grandstanders and paranoid muckrakers? Every time I have to stand in that line I get a little bit more furious that we can't get rid of these idiots and their counterproductive procedures and just walk over to the gate and get on a plane like a civilized person.