MIT Student Arrested For Wearing 'Tech Art' Shirt At Airport

SuperBanana writes "According to a report by the Boston Globe, MIT Student Star Simpson was nearly shot by Logan Airport police who thought she was armed with a bomb. She approached an airline employee wearing a prototyping board with electronic components, crudely attached to the front of her sweatshirt and holding 'putty' in her hand. She asked about an incoming flight, and did not respond when asked about the device. Armed police responded. 'Simpson was charged with possessing a hoax device and was arraigned today East Boston Municipal Court. She was held on $750 cash bail and ordered to return to court Oct. 29. "Thankfully because she followed our instructions, she ended up in our cell instead of a morgue," Pare said. "Again, this is a serious offense ... I'm shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport."'"

What the hell's wrong with Boston?

[moderatorrater]

Do they just need to do some public service announcements about what a real bomb looks like and what fake electronic gadgets look like?

I figure she was hoping for "performance art"...

[Two99Point80]

...featuring lots of her own blood.

Re:What the hell's wrong with Boston?

[dattaway]

I'm sorry, but that was no fake electronic gadget. Those were real blinky lights!

Boston

[techstar25]

So is there anything that Boston authorities WON'T mistake for a bomb?

cue the slashbots

[circletimessquare]

who think playdoh, a circuit board, and some wires hanging off your person should not be a problem in an airport, and to think it is a problem is a sign of the coming fascist apocalypse

Re:from MIT, but not very smart

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to go up to an airport wearing a stripey jumper and, a wide brimmed hat and carrying one of those comic book bombs - with the word 'bomb' written on it. Just to see how long I'd survive.

Re:Boston

[Selfbain]

Probably a real one.

Re:Insane

[mcmonkey]

She is very lucky she didn't get shot. You'd have to be insane or a moron to wear something like that to an airport. She got in to MIT though so I vote "insane".

You're right. I'm flying (out of Logan FWIW) next week and plan to show up at the airport wearing nothing but a sign reading, "this is not a bomb."

And I'm not eating any beans between now and then, just to be on the safe side.

(If I wanted to be a troll I could make some comment about how fast the police respond to a 9-volt battery and some wires at the uptown airport, but they never seem to catch the folks with the real guns at the downtown bus stops.)

No you didn't

[commodoresloat]

This person is insane and has a death wish. I almost got shot for trying to smuggle toothpaste in my carry-on bag and I think I may be on a terrorist list for a nail clipper.

What airport were you in; Baghdad? There is no way in hell you "almost got shot" for having toothpaste in your carry on, and your nail clipper isn't going to land you on any lists except America's Most Trimmed. I'm not defending the airport paranoia that has followed the war on terror, but you're taking hyperbole to the realm of sheer fantasy.

The media lab is headed downhill

[lavorgeous]

She's involved with the MIT Media Lab and a breadboard with a few LEDs and a battery is supposed to constitute a project?!!!??! One which she's proud of?

Nicholas Negroponte needs to spend less time on OLPC and get back to teaching.

Re:"Yeah, those suspicious e-lectronics".

[MikeyTheK]

The Darwin Awards are crying right now. So close and yet so far.

I know that girl

[Anonymous Coward]

She's the bomb...

Re:"Yeah, those suspicious e-lectronics".

[nomadic]

The freedom to wear lit breadboards in airport lobbies?

Ahh, the seldom-cited 35th Amendment.

Re:"Yeah, those suspicious e-lectronics".

[Rakarra]

two Russian airliners were brought down on the same day in 2004 with explosives suspected to have been hidden in the bras of two female passengers. Are we now going to shoot anyone who wears a bra to the airport?

Shoot? Hopefully not. It might be a good idea to confiscate all bras at the airport though.

Re:"Yeah, those suspicious e-lectronics"

[Anonymous Coward]

And since your biased against the press you disregard anything written.

Come on. What about a little reading comprehension? The articles I read say that the only suspicious act was not answering a question from some baggage handler... it wasn't like she was stopped by the police and tried to walk away. But the mainstream press are trying to make it sound suspicious that a girl walked away from someone who asked about her shirt... given a large sampling of girls I have asked about what's under their shirts and they walk away, I think I have clearly ascertained that this behavior is completely normal.