11 ms·

How exactly would you get through TSA with that... remember they almost shot and killed that MIT student that was wearing some circuits as art on her shirt

by ck2 13y ago

afandian 13y ago
The author never expressed a wish to visit the US.
- Kliment 13y ago
  The author applied to YC which sort of implies wanting to visit the US for a few months.
  - afandian 13y ago
    Good to know (it wasn't in TFA).
    - boldport 13y ago
      The author (me) doesn't usually consider the TSA when designing PCBs ;) (Happy to tell everyone who are concerned that the author's YC application was not accepted so this particular design won't be a problem.)
amirmc 13y ago
If you can take a laptop through (or in fact any electronics) then in principle, this should be no problem.
- cenhyperion 13y ago
  This is the TSA we're talking about.
- protomyth 13y ago
  The laptop is on a list + the card is not on the list + it looks different = not on the list and different gets you in trouble
- micheljansen 13y ago
  Easier said than done. I have personally experienced what happens when flying with a nonstandard electronic device in your carry on and it's not an experience I would like to repeat. In my case, all I was carrying was a hardware prototype consisting of a standard Samsung touch panel + control module in a custom injection molded plastic enclosure. Basically a glorified iPad. This resulted in me being detained for over an hour while they ran every possible test on it, inspected every single item in my carry on and even photographing every individual page in my notebook. I was then followed until I got on the plane and even had to confirm that I was on the plane before it was cleared to depart. This was on a US domestic flight. I have flown with prototypes in Europe several times (international flights) and have never had any problems. Either way: bringing nonstandard electronics, even things that are much less sophisticated than acceptable things like laptops etc. can cause you major headaches when the TSA is involved.
  - saalweachter 13y ago
    Just out of curiosity, how were you carrying it? I'm picturing it stuffed in your bag like most people carry an iPad. I'm wondering if you'd be better off carrying prototypes in a separate, custom piece of luggage, like a Pelican case. Something that says 'this is expensive and important', rather than 'someone made this in a garage'.
    - micheljansen 13y ago
      Sorry for the late response. I carried it in a small carry-on suit case, along with my other stuff, so not in a separate custom luggage. I did take it out and put it through the scanner separately though, as one would with a laptop. It looked fairly expensive and on its own though, as it was professionally made, but if I ever have to do this again, I'll try packing it separately :)
- unimpressive 13y ago
  "Here is a true story about a glass tty: One day an MIT hacker was in a motorcycle accident and broke his leg. He had to stay in the hospital quite a while, and got restless because he couldn't hack. Two of his friends therefore took a terminal and a modem for it to the hospital, so that he could use the computer by telephone from his hospital bed. Now this happened some years before the spread of home computers, and computer terminals were not a familiar sight to the average person. When the two friends got to the hospital, a guard stopped them and asked what they were carrying. They explained that they wanted to take a computer terminal to their friend who was a patient. The guard got out his list of things that patients were permitted to have in their rooms: TV, radio, electric razor, typewriter, tape player, ... no computer terminals. Computer terminals weren't on the list, so the guard wouldn't let it in. Rules are rules, you know. (This guard was clearly a droid.) Fair enough, said the two friends, and they left again. They were frustrated, of course, because they knew that the terminal was as harmless as a TV or anything else on the list... which gave them an idea. The next day they returned, and the same thing happened: a guard stopped them and asked what they were carrying. They said: "This is a TV typewriter!" The guard was skeptical, so they plugged it in and demonstrated it. "See? You just type on the keyboard and what you type shows up on the TV screen." Now the guard didn't stop to think about how utterly useless a typewriter would be that didn't produce any paper copies of what you typed; but this was clearly a TV typewriter, no doubt about it. So he checked his list: "A TV is all right, a typewriter is all right ... okay, take it on in!" [Historical note: Many years ago, "Popular Electronics" published solder-it-yourself plans for a TV typewriter. Despite the essential uselessness of the device, it was an enormously popular project. Steve Ciarcia, the man behind "Byte" magazine's "Circuit Cellar" feature, resurrected this ghost in one of his books of the early 1980s. He ascribed its popularity (no doubt correctly) to the feeling of power the builder could achieve by being able to decide himself what would be shown on the TV. --ESR] [Antihistorical note: On September 23rd, 1992, the L.A. Times ran the following bit of filler: Solomon Waters of Altadena, a 6-year-old first-grader, came home from his first day of school and excitedly told his mother how he had written on "a machine that looks like a computer -- but without the TV screen." She asked him if it could have been a "typewriter." "Yeah! Yeah!" he said. "That's what it was called." I have since investigated this matter and determined that many of today's teenagers have never seen a slide rule, either.... -- ESR]" http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/t/TVTypewriters.html http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/t/TVTypewriters.html ---- If you went ahead and assumed that TSA agents are really just cleverly projected computer algorithms (androids perhaps?), your predictions concerning their behavior probably wouldn't be far off.
- marcosdumay 13y ago
  In principle a bomb detonator is a custom piece of electronics, as a consequence, airport security has a problem with different electronics circuits. I fully acknowledge that "custom" and "different" are not equivalent concepts, but well, that's the rationale.
majke 13y ago
a) Citation needed. b) Aren't the TSA officers unarmed?
- sp332 13y ago
  Citation: https://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/mit_student_arr.html https://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/... It was Massachusetts state police who arrested her at gunpoint, and were completely unapologetic about freaking out and blamed the victim for being scary. Edit: yeah, the same police force who had just freaked out over LED advertisements earlier that same year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare
  - timje1 13y ago
    Wow that's appalling. Major Scott Pare of the State Police: "Again, this is a serious offense ... I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport." Switch out 'wear' with 'carry' and we've got a future headline starring this device! Or indeed any device with exposed wires / circuits.
    - ams6110 13y ago
      You have to admit, it is a bit like walking into a lion's den with raw meat pinned to your shirt.
    - crusso 13y ago
      Appalling that someone could be stupid enough to walk around with a flashing circuit board and carrying play-doh? It's about as bright as carrying a realistic-looking toy gun into an airport.
      - sp332 13y ago
        Because flashing circuit boards are so often used by terrorists?
segmondy 13y ago
you don't have to carry on, you can still check in.
laurenstill 13y ago
I'm building the DIY cellphone specifically to see what sort of TSA pushback I receive. I've gone through with lockpicks, booze, arduinos, rpis, various components and boxes full of electronic bits. Only major issue I've encountered was accidentally packing items in a box that shipped reloading supplies.

How exactly would you get through TSA with that... remember they almost shot and killed that MIT student that was wearing some circuits as art on her shirt

by ck2 13y ago

How exactly would you get through TSA with that... remember they almost shot and killed that MIT student that was wearing some circuits as art on her shirt

afandian 13y ago

The author never expressed a wish to visit the US.

Kliment 13y ago
The author applied to YC which sort of implies wanting to visit the US for a few months.
- afandian 13y ago
  Good to know (it wasn't in TFA).
  - boldport 13y ago
    The author (me) doesn't usually consider the TSA when designing PCBs ;) (Happy to tell everyone who are concerned that the author's YC application was not accepted so this particular design won't be a problem.)

amirmc 13y ago

If you can take a laptop through (or in fact any electronics) then in principle, this should be no problem.

cenhyperion 13y ago
This is the TSA we're talking about.
protomyth 13y ago
The laptop is on a list + the card is not on the list + it looks different = not on the list and different gets you in trouble
micheljansen 13y ago
Easier said than done. I have personally experienced what happens when flying with a nonstandard electronic device in your carry on and it's not an experience I would like to repeat. In my case, all I was carrying was a hardware prototype consisting of a standard Samsung touch panel + control module in a custom injection molded plastic enclosure. Basically a glorified iPad. This resulted in me being detained for over an hour while they ran every possible test on it, inspected every single item in my carry on and even photographing every individual page in my notebook. I was then followed until I got on the plane and even had to confirm that I was on the plane before it was cleared to depart. This was on a US domestic flight. I have flown with prototypes in Europe several times (international flights) and have never had any problems. Either way: bringing nonstandard electronics, even things that are much less sophisticated than acceptable things like laptops etc. can cause you major headaches when the TSA is involved.
- saalweachter 13y ago
  Just out of curiosity, how were you carrying it? I'm picturing it stuffed in your bag like most people carry an iPad. I'm wondering if you'd be better off carrying prototypes in a separate, custom piece of luggage, like a Pelican case. Something that says 'this is expensive and important', rather than 'someone made this in a garage'.
  - micheljansen 13y ago
    Sorry for the late response. I carried it in a small carry-on suit case, along with my other stuff, so not in a separate custom luggage. I did take it out and put it through the scanner separately though, as one would with a laptop. It looked fairly expensive and on its own though, as it was professionally made, but if I ever have to do this again, I'll try packing it separately :)
unimpressive 13y ago
"Here is a true story about a glass tty: One day an MIT hacker was in a motorcycle accident and broke his leg. He had to stay in the hospital quite a while, and got restless because he couldn't hack. Two of his friends therefore took a terminal and a modem for it to the hospital, so that he could use the computer by telephone from his hospital bed. Now this happened some years before the spread of home computers, and computer terminals were not a familiar sight to the average person. When the two friends got to the hospital, a guard stopped them and asked what they were carrying. They explained that they wanted to take a computer terminal to their friend who was a patient. The guard got out his list of things that patients were permitted to have in their rooms: TV, radio, electric razor, typewriter, tape player, ... no computer terminals. Computer terminals weren't on the list, so the guard wouldn't let it in. Rules are rules, you know. (This guard was clearly a droid.) Fair enough, said the two friends, and they left again. They were frustrated, of course, because they knew that the terminal was as harmless as a TV or anything else on the list... which gave them an idea. The next day they returned, and the same thing happened: a guard stopped them and asked what they were carrying. They said: "This is a TV typewriter!" The guard was skeptical, so they plugged it in and demonstrated it. "See? You just type on the keyboard and what you type shows up on the TV screen." Now the guard didn't stop to think about how utterly useless a typewriter would be that didn't produce any paper copies of what you typed; but this was clearly a TV typewriter, no doubt about it. So he checked his list: "A TV is all right, a typewriter is all right ... okay, take it on in!" [Historical note: Many years ago, "Popular Electronics" published solder-it-yourself plans for a TV typewriter. Despite the essential uselessness of the device, it was an enormously popular project. Steve Ciarcia, the man behind "Byte" magazine's "Circuit Cellar" feature, resurrected this ghost in one of his books of the early 1980s. He ascribed its popularity (no doubt correctly) to the feeling of power the builder could achieve by being able to decide himself what would be shown on the TV. --ESR] [Antihistorical note: On September 23rd, 1992, the L.A. Times ran the following bit of filler: Solomon Waters of Altadena, a 6-year-old first-grader, came home from his first day of school and excitedly told his mother how he had written on "a machine that looks like a computer -- but without the TV screen." She asked him if it could have been a "typewriter." "Yeah! Yeah!" he said. "That's what it was called." I have since investigated this matter and determined that many of today's teenagers have never seen a slide rule, either.... -- ESR]" http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/t/TVTypewriters.html http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/t/TVTypewriters.html ---- If you went ahead and assumed that TSA agents are really just cleverly projected computer algorithms (androids perhaps?), your predictions concerning their behavior probably wouldn't be far off.
marcosdumay 13y ago
In principle a bomb detonator is a custom piece of electronics, as a consequence, airport security has a problem with different electronics circuits. I fully acknowledge that "custom" and "different" are not equivalent concepts, but well, that's the rationale.

majke 13y ago

a) Citation needed. b) Aren't the TSA officers unarmed?

sp332 13y ago
Citation: https://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/mit_student_arr.html https://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/... It was Massachusetts state police who arrested her at gunpoint, and were completely unapologetic about freaking out and blamed the victim for being scary. Edit: yeah, the same police force who had just freaked out over LED advertisements earlier that same year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare
- timje1 13y ago
  Wow that's appalling. Major Scott Pare of the State Police: "Again, this is a serious offense ... I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport." Switch out 'wear' with 'carry' and we've got a future headline starring this device! Or indeed any device with exposed wires / circuits.
  - ams6110 13y ago
    You have to admit, it is a bit like walking into a lion's den with raw meat pinned to your shirt.
  - crusso 13y ago
    Appalling that someone could be stupid enough to walk around with a flashing circuit board and carrying play-doh? It's about as bright as carrying a realistic-looking toy gun into an airport.
    - sp332 13y ago
      Because flashing circuit boards are so often used by terrorists?

segmondy 13y ago

you don't have to carry on, you can still check in.

laurenstill 13y ago

I'm building the DIY cellphone specifically to see what sort of TSA pushback I receive. I've gone through with lockpicks, booze, arduinos, rpis, various components and boxes full of electronic bits. Only major issue I've encountered was accidentally packing items in a box that shipped reloading supplies.