5 ms·

That watch is ridiculous--I certainly hope the TSA would stop someone wearing that, and I doubt a regular agent is educated enough to decide whether or not a ho

by acabal 14y ago

That watch is ridiculous--I certainly hope the TSA would stop someone wearing that, and I doubt a regular agent is educated enough to decide whether or not a homebrew contraption like that is dangerous. So to a degree, TSA did the smart thing. The question becomes, was arresting him the right thing to do? Maybe it was--if nobody in the airport had the expertise to decide that this thing that looks like a Die-Hard-style bomb was not dangerous, maybe they had to hold him until an expert could be located. The other question is, were the charges dropped because he was innocent, or were they dropped because he got media attention? That's probably the more important question. Not everyone can get the news to write about them, and no doubt many injustices in America and in the world get ignored precisely because they're ignored.

ck2 14y ago
Wait, so bulky old electric devices (toggle switch and old school big fuses) are scary things eh? How about the fact practically everyone is carrying a smartphone that can be far more easily used as a wireless trigger? You can do a frequency scan/pulse with a phone with an app! What if someone tried to get onto a plane with a smartphone without a cover and all the electronics exposed, or a clear case? Those xmas toys people carry on planes, even unwrapped, they contain far more electronics and hiding places than that fake watch with electric fuses.
- acabal 14y ago
  To you and me who understand how they work, no they are not scary. To a TSA agent who probably has only a high-school education, a power trip, and was raised in a culture where movie supervillains use bombs that look just like that, yes, it's scary. The right thing to do would have been to stop him in the line, bring in some kind of expert to look it over, then let him get on to the plane. It looks like they started on that path, but then went too far. That's where my questions come in.
  - JonnieCache 14y ago
    Or one could choose not to employ such incompetent people to do such a supposedly important job. Unfortunately that would threaten the margins, which is what this is really about. (These people are employed by private contractors, yes? If they're employed by the state, then why are they hiring such morans?)
    - URSpider94 14y ago
      Nope, in all but a few airports (SFO being one), they are directly employed by the TSA, a Federal agency. This was an upshot of 9-11, when private contractors were criticized for hiring inappropriate employees.
  - mistercow 14y ago
    >To a TSA agent who probably has only a high-school education, a power trip, and was raised in a culture where movie supervillains use bombs that look just like that Well there's your problem right there. I'm not sure how any argument based on that premise can be a justification for how the TSA agents did anything approaching the right thing in this situation.
- lukecampbell 14y ago
  Improvised explosive devices can be designed cleverly to resemble common items such as smart phones or wrist watches, or even the sole of a shoe. The triggers for these devices can sometimes be very elaborate. I believe that the TSA has every right to investigate suspicious devices, and a watch with fuses and wires protruding from it warrants further inspection. A true explosive device trigger is likely to have wires on it . Explosive devices will also have resistors and perhaps a fuse (can't see why exactly) but to an average TSA employee any device which looks out of the norm with wires is immediately suspicious. And honestly, if you're going to go to the airport, don't be an idiot. Everyone knows the TSA is hypersensitive and quite ignorant of engineering concepts or art in this case, don't push the limits when you know that this is likely to happen.
nakedrobot2 14y ago
Anyone who wears such a watch and does not expect to get stopped by Airport Security (TSA or anyone else) is simply retarded. This guy is clearly not retarded, so he is obviously a publicity whore. End of story.
billybobobbrain 14y ago
The qualifications you're making to the TSA's actions are a little bit generous aren't they? Given that a regular agent can't tell the difference between that cartoon contraption and an actual dangerous device, what's the point of having them in the first place? If all they can do is flag up anything that looks vaguely electronic and unusual, then they are completely useless. Besides which, in this case they managed to determine that the watch didn't have any explosives attached, but they still arrested the guy anyway.
Symmetry 14y ago
If TSA workers can't distinguish between things that are bombs and things that aren't bombs, then why do we have them and why are they arresting people? It's not like any of the bombs that people have smuggled on board planes in the last decade have matched the Hollywood stereotype, I'm not sure that screening for things that look like Hollywood bombs tends to make people safer. Also, if they had simply gotten an expert or not let him board that would be understandable. But instead they arrested him.
lucisferre 14y ago
The problem is that you presume that anything the TSA did (or is doing) is making people safer.

by acabal 14y ago

ck2 14y ago

Wait, so bulky old electric devices (toggle switch and old school big fuses) are scary things eh? How about the fact practically everyone is carrying a smartphone that can be far more easily used as a wireless trigger? You can do a frequency scan/pulse with a phone with an app! What if someone tried to get onto a plane with a smartphone without a cover and all the electronics exposed, or a clear case? Those xmas toys people carry on planes, even unwrapped, they contain far more electronics and hiding places than that fake watch with electric fuses.

acabal 14y ago
To you and me who understand how they work, no they are not scary. To a TSA agent who probably has only a high-school education, a power trip, and was raised in a culture where movie supervillains use bombs that look just like that, yes, it's scary. The right thing to do would have been to stop him in the line, bring in some kind of expert to look it over, then let him get on to the plane. It looks like they started on that path, but then went too far. That's where my questions come in.
- JonnieCache 14y ago
  Or one could choose not to employ such incompetent people to do such a supposedly important job. Unfortunately that would threaten the margins, which is what this is really about. (These people are employed by private contractors, yes? If they're employed by the state, then why are they hiring such morans?)
  - URSpider94 14y ago
    Nope, in all but a few airports (SFO being one), they are directly employed by the TSA, a Federal agency. This was an upshot of 9-11, when private contractors were criticized for hiring inappropriate employees.
- mistercow 14y ago
  >To a TSA agent who probably has only a high-school education, a power trip, and was raised in a culture where movie supervillains use bombs that look just like that Well there's your problem right there. I'm not sure how any argument based on that premise can be a justification for how the TSA agents did anything approaching the right thing in this situation.
lukecampbell 14y ago
Improvised explosive devices can be designed cleverly to resemble common items such as smart phones or wrist watches, or even the sole of a shoe. The triggers for these devices can sometimes be very elaborate. I believe that the TSA has every right to investigate suspicious devices, and a watch with fuses and wires protruding from it warrants further inspection. A true explosive device trigger is likely to have wires on it . Explosive devices will also have resistors and perhaps a fuse (can't see why exactly) but to an average TSA employee any device which looks out of the norm with wires is immediately suspicious. And honestly, if you're going to go to the airport, don't be an idiot. Everyone knows the TSA is hypersensitive and quite ignorant of engineering concepts or art in this case, don't push the limits when you know that this is likely to happen.

nakedrobot2 14y ago

Anyone who wears such a watch and does not expect to get stopped by Airport Security (TSA or anyone else) is simply retarded. This guy is clearly not retarded, so he is obviously a publicity whore. End of story.

billybobobbrain 14y ago

The qualifications you're making to the TSA's actions are a little bit generous aren't they? Given that a regular agent can't tell the difference between that cartoon contraption and an actual dangerous device, what's the point of having them in the first place? If all they can do is flag up anything that looks vaguely electronic and unusual, then they are completely useless. Besides which, in this case they managed to determine that the watch didn't have any explosives attached, but they still arrested the guy anyway.

Symmetry 14y ago

If TSA workers can't distinguish between things that are bombs and things that aren't bombs, then why do we have them and why are they arresting people? It's not like any of the bombs that people have smuggled on board planes in the last decade have matched the Hollywood stereotype, I'm not sure that screening for things that look like Hollywood bombs tends to make people safer. Also, if they had simply gotten an expert or not let him board that would be understandable. But instead they arrested him.

lucisferre 14y ago

The problem is that you presume that anything the TSA did (or is doing) is making people safer.