5 ms·

By the 100th visit they'd get suspicious that you're scoping out the joint for a terrorist act.

joezydeco 13y ago
Not if you tell them you're just going to eat. Seems like that's pretty easy to confirm. Why be sneaky about it? Obviously nobody at the airline lounge cared that this guy showed up every day, why would the guards care?
- tashi 13y ago
  Imagine you're a guard there and I drop by every day for a meal. You're wondering if I'm a a terrorist looking for security holes while I eat, and your biggest concern is false negatives: you would hate to rule me out as a threat and then find out I blew up your airport. What questions would you ask me to figure that out?
  - brokenparser 13y ago
    Hello, do you happen to be one of those y'know... Terrorists?
  - rhizome 13y ago
    Can't prove a negative. Next question?
    - tashi 13y ago
      There's a reason you don't often see phrases like, "Can't prove a negative," used by people whose job is to evaluate security risks. The relevant way of approaching problems like these tends to use a lot less Boole and a lot more Bayes. So, same question, and this time really think about it: you are capable of keeping an eye on a limited number of potential threats, you can never completely disprove that any individual means you harm, but you have to look as carefully as you can at the most plausible threats in the time you have available. How suspicious is my behavior, and what evidence would it take to convince you that my threat is negligible? What about the idea that you might personally be blamed if you cleared me and I later turned out to be a terrorist: does that affect your calculations? If so, is that in the best interests of the airport, or just you personally?
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Not if you tell them you're just going to eat. That assumes that on-scene guards ask questions of the subject before reporting observed suspicious behavior (which may or may not be the case, and is even less likely the case in the event that the "guards" that observe the behavior are automated face/gait/etc. recognition systems looking for unusual patterns.)
aestra 13y ago
This did not take place in the US.
jccooper 13y ago
There are plenty of flying commuters. Don't think this would be a problem.

Not if you tell them you're just going to eat. Seems like that's pretty easy to confirm. Why be sneaky about it? Obviously nobody at the airline lounge cared that this guy showed up every day, why would the guards care?

tashi 13y ago
Imagine you're a guard there and I drop by every day for a meal. You're wondering if I'm a a terrorist looking for security holes while I eat, and your biggest concern is false negatives: you would hate to rule me out as a threat and then find out I blew up your airport. What questions would you ask me to figure that out?
- brokenparser 13y ago
  Hello, do you happen to be one of those y'know... Terrorists?
- rhizome 13y ago
  Can't prove a negative. Next question?
  - tashi 13y ago
    There's a reason you don't often see phrases like, "Can't prove a negative," used by people whose job is to evaluate security risks. The relevant way of approaching problems like these tends to use a lot less Boole and a lot more Bayes. So, same question, and this time really think about it: you are capable of keeping an eye on a limited number of potential threats, you can never completely disprove that any individual means you harm, but you have to look as carefully as you can at the most plausible threats in the time you have available. How suspicious is my behavior, and what evidence would it take to convince you that my threat is negligible? What about the idea that you might personally be blamed if you cleared me and I later turned out to be a terrorist: does that affect your calculations? If so, is that in the best interests of the airport, or just you personally?
dragonwriter 13y ago
> Not if you tell them you're just going to eat. That assumes that on-scene guards ask questions of the subject before reporting observed suspicious behavior (which may or may not be the case, and is even less likely the case in the event that the "guards" that observe the behavior are automated face/gait/etc. recognition systems looking for unusual patterns.)

aestra 13y ago

This did not take place in the US.

jccooper 13y ago

There are plenty of flying commuters. Don't think this would be a problem.