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There’s a ban on fake laptop? Why does the TSA care if they are real?
by coin 7y ago
There’s a ban on fake laptop? Why does the TSA care if they are real?
- BigJono 7y agoPresumably if there's a working computer inside the case then it can't be packed to the brim with c4?
- jandrese 7y agoYeah, someone would have to leave a Raspberry Pi zero sized chunk of explosive out to put up a boot screen and something close enough to a windows boot logo to pass a cursory visual inspection. In reality, the X-Ray should already make it pretty clear if there is something weird about the laptop's build. Turning on the machine is entirely unnecessary. Also, I have not been asked to turn on a laptop in many years, so unless this is a new development it is badly out of date.
- Iolaum 7y agoThe metal casing of many laptops reflects the xrays, hence you can't see anything inside them.
- gmueckl 7y agoX-Rays can pass through thick chunks of metal several times the thickness of a laptop. You just need a powerful enough source. I doubt however that such a source can be used safely in an enclosure as open as the securiry check machines.
- Reason077 7y agoAt many airports you can see the x-ray images of the bags and devices as they are scanned/checked. In my experience there is always a detailed image of the inside of laptops. Color-coded according to material type/density and clearly showing the location of batteries, etc.
- pbhjpbhj 7y agoI'd imagine the batteries being switched for plastic explosive would be a simple way to take explosives onboard for unsophisticated attackers, turning on rules out that possibility. Not everyone who wants to blow stuff up is a hacker.
- Reason077 7y agoWouldn’t plastic explosive have a different density to real batteries, and thus show up very obviously on the scanner? The machines are tuned to highlight specific risky materials (such as liquids & gels). At one point it was common to be asked to turn on laptops etc. But I haven’t seen them do that for years - presumably because the scanners have improved.
- pbhjpbhj 7y agoLiPo laptop battery is apparently around 1.8-2 g/cm3 (sorry can't find good figures), whilst C4 is 1.73 g/cm3. Not sure what the density resolution is like -- I'd guess it's poor because you can't tell what thickness/type of casing you're looking through from the luggage "xray"; I'd imagine it to be primarily good at relative density.
- warrenm 7y agoNot even close to true - just look at the scan monitor next time you fly: you can clearly see inside any electronics going through the scanner
- brongondwana 7y agoI had a slightly damaged laptop with a loose flap on the bottom and I got told off by the agents somewhere... Syracuse I think... Never had any issues with that laptop anywhere else - but they got pretty grumpy at me, and made me power it up to prove that it was a legit laptop.