Security Tips for Traveling with Tech Gear 527
securitas writes "Many Slashdotters will be traveling during the next week and PC World has an article about how to travel with tech gear with a minimum of security hassles. The Transport Security Administration maintains an allowable and banned items list (PDF) that you might want to check. Make sure that you have fully charged batteries for any tech gifts you received. I've had big hassles with all the tech gear that I routinely carry, especially when combining business trips with a vacation. One security screener even asked me to log in, decrypt and look at files on my notebook's desktop, which was unnecessarily invasive (not to mention against my then-employer's security policy). He settled for viewing the secure login screen 'to make sure it worked.' Any other horror stories out there?"
We are Borg (Score:4, Funny)
Discuss...
Re:We are Borg (Score:2)
Borg live in a shared conscious, which we don't have (yet), Gargoyles are just wired with accessories.
Re:We are Borg (Score:3, Insightful)
We spend enough time cursing our gadgets for me to conclude no, and it seems unlikely that integration paradise is right around the corner. But then, maybe ST has never explored the Borg well enough to find the sucky, irritating and mundane side of them. We need Quentin Tarantino for that.
Re:We are Borg (Score:2, Funny)
Ever hear anyone complain about their bad back? Prostate troubles? The fact that they are too damn fat?
Face it, we've been complaining about faulty tools since they've been with us, and we tend to humanize them as well.
Personally, I welcome prostetic devices. At least if they're attached, I won't loose them!
Re:We are Borg (Score:4, Funny)
Let's shoot a few of you and see if you adapt.
Re:Machines in motion.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think so, considering that in order to reach the sensitivity of a well-trained human eye with current astronomy cameras, you need both long exposures and ideally electrically-cooled imaging chips.
If you think you can hold your eye rock-steady for 30+ seconds per exposure, while the peltier cooler in your eye is dumping several watts of heat into your bloodstream trying to cool the imaging chip to red
I get these questions every year! (Score:2, Informative)
I thought this article has some nice information. I printed it out and will be handing this to my father-in-law, sister-in-law, and my two brothers.
Re:I get these questions every year! (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm the general technology and science guy in my family. My formal education is in physics, so I get all the questions about black holes and stuff. I'm the computer guy, so I get to maintain everyone's computers and answer all related questions. I've worked as an automotive engineer, mananged a dealership and owned an R/C racetrack, so I get all the car questions.
Guess what, I'm not surprised by any of this in the least. I would hardly expect them
Without the iPod??????? (Score:5, Funny)
What in the name of Linus Torvalds is this guy thinking? Living without my precious? I don't think so....
Re:Without the iPod??????? (Score:2, Funny)
Nope. DMCA.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Nope. DMCA.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Nope. DMCA.. (Score:2)
Telling you to activate a device is silly, but defensable. Telling you to open encrypted files doesn't increase security one bit, and brings up all sorts of trade secret laws, as well as simply being an inexcusable invasion of privacy.
Re:Nope. DMCA.. (Score:3, Interesting)
"If you could just step behind this curtain, sir? Pants around your ankles please. And bend over this table. This'll only take a few minutes."
Point being, there are limits on what friggin' Mr. Security is allowed to ask you to do.
Booting a laptop (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Booting a laptop (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Booting a laptop (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Booting a laptop (Score:5, Interesting)
He was killed by the Israeli Shin Bet in 1996 following a massive manhunt. They were able to compromise one of Ayyash's fellow Hamas members, who gave him a cell phone full of explosives. When they confirmed Ayyash was using it, the Shin Bet detonated it, killing him instantly.
Now, supposedly, the cell phone worked as well, and the last call he got on it was from the head of the Shin Bet, who told him "Goodbye."
Kierthos
Re:Booting a laptop (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Booting a laptop (Score:5, Insightful)
But I think the reality, disturbing as it may be, is that there are so many loopholes that they can do little more than a token effort. Remember that student [smh.com.au] who hid boxcutters on airplanes to show how insecure they still are? For that matter, if blades are a threat (and in reality, using a plane as a weapon is a far greater threat than simply blowing up the plane itself), one could easily a) get one of those nifty carbon fiber commando-style blades that don't set off metal detectors, b) hide a blade in some metal case (like a laptop chassis), c) hide a thin blade inside something metallic like a pen, d) watch James Bond movies for more inspiration.
The point of the matter, in my opinion, is that it doesn't really matter if someone does damage to a plane or its occupants--I ride Amtrak regularly and there's no security at all--but rather the risk of someone taking over a plane. 250 casualties are certainly bad (but there are plenty of other public situations--Amtrak, for instance--in which we all face the same risk), but the real risk, as I said, is that of someone taking over a plane. And we could prevent that with a lot less effort and a lot less difficulty if we simply beefed up the cockpit doors.
Re:Booting a laptop (Score:5, Funny)
And we could prevent that with a lot less effort and a lot less difficulty if we simply beefed up the cockpit doors.
Or armed all of the passengers. Imagine what would happen to a terrorist who tried to take over a plane if the pilot could hit a switch and unlock a half-size baseball bat at each seat!
Might make it hard to get the terrorists to trial, though...
Re:Booting a laptop (Score:3, Interesting)
The passengers likely have much more experience operating baseball bats than with tasers or stun batons.
(Note, substitute "baseball bat" with "hockey stick", "cricket bat", etc., for you non USians.)
What about non-PC and non-Consumer Eq? (Score:3, Interesting)
Inconsistent rules (Score:5, Insightful)
It's even stranger that we are allowed to bring explosives like LiIon batteries... Bypass the fuse, short it, and you have a nice little bomb (as the owners of many a Nokia phone can attest to).
--
*Art
Re:Inconsistent rules (Score:2, Interesting)
If you view anything with a reasonable hardness and a real or potential edge or point as a weapon (which, realistically, it is), then the only way to secure a flight is to not let anybody at all on it (and that includes the pilots).
Thing is, if you relinquish all trust, then you will end up with no travel at all. Oh, and "passenger profiling" is not trust - it is rather making "no-gooders" more, rather than less, likely on a given flight.
Re:Inconsistent rules (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sounds like a job for civil disobedience. (Score:3, Insightful)
In the old world, in old times, citizens were not only protected from liability if trying to save lives, but they also had the citizen's duty of always doing so, even if it meant risking one's own life. Especially at sea (which is pretty analogous to today's flying), NOT intervening when
Modern Times More Complext Than You Think (Score:3, Insightful)
While true, in "old times," citizenship was severely limited to those who could provide some useful service to the local feudal lord. This service typically was typically military in nature.
Given that your average medieval town had a small number of citizens hanging around with military skills, it is no su
Re:Inconsistent rules (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't take your laptop? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh yeah, that's exactly why I bought a laptop: so that I can pay a cybercafe to use a computer on the road.
What the? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've flown about 85 - 90 times this year from a base out of either Kansas City International, or Raleigh Durham International.
I've flown to Dallas, San Francisco, Oakland, NYC Laguardia, Des Moines, IA, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, and other cities and have carried even two laptops, a cell phone/pda, a iPod, and between 3 - 7 paper back books.
At the most I've had my bag physically searched because the x-ray guy couldn't see something quite right because a few of my chargers were laying weird. I've even been told what caught them up a few times.
I've carried a backpak full of camera equipment (digital SLR body, three lenses, battery charger, extra batteries, video camera, two microdrives, and a Powerbook G4) through multiple times on vacation and never had a single concern.
If a screener *ever* asked to see the contents of my laptop they'd get the verbal equivalent of a polite middle finger. There is *no* way any TSA screener needs to look at the contents of anything I have that is beyond a cursory physical examination.
Re:What the? (Score:4, Insightful)
And after that? The best case: you'd never get your boarding pass. The worst case: you'd never get your boarding pass and you'd get to spend the rest of the day getting stripsearched and interviewed by the authorities.
Re:What the? (Score:2)
1) If they do that, you would be well within your right to press charges.
They can make your life difficult, yes, but you have far more control of the situation if you know how to creatively remind them of your rights.
Re:What the? (Score:2, Informative)
A captain has the authority to refuse to take you on board for whatever reason he/she thinks is appropriate and no-one can do anything about it.
If cracking a bad joke about planes and tall buildings whilst queueing for the check-in can make you miss your flight, giving the security a hard time will certainly disqualify you from the flight.
Re:What the? (Score:3, Insightful)
If I told a captain of the flight I was getting on that A) I've flown his airline 72 times this year so far and B) I don't want them to have access to company confidential information i'm betting the HUMAN that is the pilot would look at the crack smoking TSA guard and think he was insane as well.
I'm gett
Re:What the? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What the? (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, yes, but aren't you getting a bit extreme? Why not type a short sentence into notepad and save it to your desktop for this occasion? This way everyone's happy.
Re:What the? (Score:5, Funny)
You never know if those pesky terrorists found a way to make a boxcutter look like an email to Mother...
Re:What the? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Magic Floppy Porno Disk? (Score:3, Interesting)
A few official words were wrenched from H.M. Customs and are record on Interesting P [interesting-people.org]
Horror? Where? (Score:3, Funny)
Oddly, security-personell shouldn't let themselves get photographed. That's a violation of security.
TSA doesn't like old IBM laptops (Score:2, Funny)
Luckily, those old IBM models come apart quite readily, just pop the keyboard to access the drives and battery.
So I had to remove the C4 (wrapped in tin to look like a second battery) and the detonator (masquerading as a floppy drive), put them through the metal detector before they'd let me board the plane.
But I must have crossed a wire when I reassembled it all, because so
Do teddy bears count as tech stuff? (Score:5, Funny)
OT, but it is the holiday season...
About a month ago, my brother's family flew to Florida from the UK, and my young niece's beloved teddy bear (travelling as hand baggage - she can't bear to be parted from it) had to go through the X ray machine at a US airport. The security officer in charge joked "How do you want it - medium rare, or done to a crisp?" She gave him a very hard stare...
(Well, it tickled me.)
I know I feel safer (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I know I feel safer (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, come on, they've got armed guards. Cuticle scissors would hardly go through a layer of fat, much less do any real damage, plus that by the time they could be used, they'd have 17 bullets in the scissor wielder. I think they do it to feel like they have some sort of bullshit control, or feel more powerful, or something. It's retarded.
No problems traveling here.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The worst I had was in Denver, where I hadn't realized my ID card had expired two weeks before (hey, I thought they all expired at the end of the month), and they just had me go through a secondary search. At that point, they had me boot the computer (which was easy, as I'd had it on standby instead of having to power it up), and checked my shoes.
Since the TSA came in, I've been overall pleased with the situation - most of the people I've encountered have been pleasant, and the rest at least passable, and all of them have done their job with a minimum of stressing me out about it. While I'm not a big fan of 'add another federal agency', traveling by plane has actually gotten EASIER from Newark International since the TSA got up to speed, and I make sure to thank them for their help every time I go through.
Re:No problems traveling here.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I carry a laptop, pda, cell phone, and sometimes a digital camera and an mp3 player, all in my carry on bag, along with the power supplies, chargers and adapters for all of that. Also a CAT5 cable, phone cable, etc.
I've got it down to an art... As I'm approaching the table I open up my backpack, put my cell phone in and take my laptop out. I also make sure my car keys and change are in the backpack.
The backpack goes in a plastic tub all by itself - don't put anything on top of it or in the tub with it... For some reason they're picky about that. All the other electronic gear stays in my backpack. I usually take off my shoes and put them in a tub, too. That's about it.
I've NEVER had to turn any of my electronic stuff on. Not the laptop, not the cellphone, not the PDA. Some airports might have different policies I suppose but I've been thru most of the major airports in the USA in the past three years.
One tip... Don't be "that guy" that slows everything down. While you're waiting in line take your change out of your pockets, take off that pimp chain, take your cell phone out of your pocket... Put all that stuff in your carry on before you're at the table.
Oh, and if you're that hot woman that went thru security in San Franciso last week wearing the studded leather jacket and no shirt or bra underneath it... By all means, forget to dress again before putting on you jacket. I know I enjoyed seeing your bare top and the stunned faces all around. I think the TSA guy enjoyed it too, even if he couldn't speak for a few minutes afterwards.
No fly? (Score:2)
Re:No fly? (Score:2)
I would be one of them.
Re:No fly? (Score:2)
I carry a pocket knife with me everywhere. I use it everyday both on the job and for simply opening boxes. If they are taking sewing scissors away from people what will they do with my 3" blade?
I'll drive, and arrive with all my tools intact.
Hell. If the terrorists are gonna have knives, I want mine too.
Altp.
Re:No fly? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not a weapon, it's Windows. Er, wait.... (Score:4, Funny)
The funniest encounter was when my chest set off the guy's wand when getting the body scan. He got this totally locked-up look as he tried to come up with some kind of reasonable explaination.
Guy: Uh, did you have... surgery or something... uh... pacemaker?
Me: No, that's my nipple ring.
Guy: (big grin, sign of relief) Oh, OK!
Re:It's not a weapon, it's Windows. Er, wait.... (Score:3, Funny)
Laptop theft at airports... (Score:5, Interesting)
Last trip thru LAX, one of the "security" drones tried to get me to wait about 100 feet away from my work supplied laptop and other possessions, while he re-examined my shoes. Told him it wasn't gonna happen. He eventually agreed to me toting all my crap over, and then checking my shoes.
Honestly, this whole security thing wouldn't bother me too much if it was done with any common sense - and if it actually made me feel a little more secure.
Re:Laptop theft at airports... (Score:3, Informative)
When some members of my family were in the US recently, they noticed that people's shoes were checked - except those who were wearing trainers.
Someone should tell the relevant authorities that shoe bomber Richard Reid concealed his explosives in trainers. [guardian.co.uk]
Re:Laptop theft at airports... (Score:3, Interesting)
Laptops and Airport Security (Score:2)
Re:Laptops and Airport Security (Score:4, Interesting)
And yet, my daypack has four steel stays that make up the frame... pretty easily removed. Surprised they let me on with it. Aluminum uprights in pullman could also be used as weapons, broken duty free bottles of whiskey... I think the "security" measures are just to give travellers the warm fuzzys, I feel they're kinda worthless considering what you can bring on the flight..
Harm Xray machines do to flash memory? (Score:4, Interesting)
Will airport scanners do any harm to CF/SD/Memory Stick cards?
Re:Harm Xray machines do to flash memory? (Score:3, Informative)
I've also noticed that in some airports, they've put up stickers on the X-ray equipment stating that they are safe for such devices.
Re:Harm Xray machines do to flash memory? (Score:2)
Re:Harm Xray machines do to flash memory? (Score:3, Interesting)
I came back from hawaii this last summer and had my digital camera in my backpack (which was scanned 6 or 7 times on the trip since I went to multipul islands) and all of the pictures came back fine.
-- Page
Gotta agree with Dave Berry here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Airport security was a joke before Sep 11, and remains a joke today. At my local airport we have the same minimum wage, minimum training, minimum testing, "security" guards that we had prior to 9/11. The only difference is that now they want to make you think you're more secure so they add all sorts of obvious and invasive procedures. Show a photo ID, sure that'll stop terrorists, I'm sure they've never heard of fake IDs...
Big surprise here: private, for profit, "security" corprations have the same priority that all private for profit corporations have. They want to make the most money by spending the least money as goal number 1. Actually providing security is, by definition, goal number 2 at the best. This isn't to say that private, for profit, corporations are bad. Its just a recognition of reality, the way corporate law works their prime goal must be making money, everything else is secondary. Real security might involve several things, but at the minimum it must involve removing the profit motive from security. Why? Because every dollar that goes into profit isn't going into *security*. I'd be happy if they started using real police officers as airport security.
So, by all means, let's get busy not doing anything real to improve airport security, instead let's harrass the geek crowd. Not that I'm bitter or anything...
Re:Gotta agree with Dave Berry here... (Score:2)
Re:Gotta agree with Dave Berry here... (Score:2)
welcome the 21st century (Score:2)
What is wrong with taking along music, maps, cameras, something to read, and games? Isn't that what people do to relax? Well, it's the 21st century and that sort of thing is done with laptop, handhelds, digital cameras, and all that.
And it's a whole lot better than what we needed to travel with 50 years ago. Cell phones, for example, mean that you aren't at the mercy of hotels and their exorbitant rates. Laptops are a godsent
Lets face it.. (Score:2, Interesting)
All that's being done right now is creating an illusion of safety, and gives people headaches.
What.....I can't bring my 1.5" swiss army knife on board? "Sir, please don't give me an attitude, or we'll have to step aside for a search" (actually happened).
Those who want to hijack a plane, can do so with things that CAN be brought onboard. Hell......I even think someone could simply grab a soda can from the stuardess (I don't c
Re:Lets face it.. (Score:2)
The skies will not be safe until they start treating passangers like they did thoses in the movie "Con Air"
Re:Lets face it.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course there are still ways around the current security measures. And yes, you are right, there always will be. The problem with your logic is this:
Just cause you can come up with a way to circumvent current measures, does that mean you should drop those current measures? You might think it's ridiculous to ban all knives, but as soon as we drop that policy according to your logic, suddenly we provide a very simple and very accesible way for anyone
Re:Lets face it.. (Score:3, Funny)
I think that would be the point. In the same way that the public used to provide police services (forming a posse, deputizing "good" citizens temporarily, etc.) a hijacker would have a harder time if everyone was a well armed as he was.
Think of it kind of like those movies where one guy pulls out a gun, and five hundred other people around him pull out their guns and point them
Industrial Equipment is Worse (Score:4, Informative)
They made us unpack everything (hassle, but understandable), then they wanted us to try and turn it on and see what it did. When we tried to explain that it required a special power supply to hook into (it is 110, but not a normal plug) and even if we turned it on, without any I/O devices hooked up to the I/O cards, they would see nothing but a couple of LED lights flashing. That made them even more mad.
We tried to show them the manuals for the stuff, hoping that would ease some fears - hah, the techno babble irritated them more.
Fortunately, we were at the airport with lots of time to spare, so we jumped on the cell phone, called a co-worker who then rushed over and picked up the stuff. We had him run it over to a Fed-Ex station and ship it to us at the vendors. Luckily we only lost about 6 hrs of testing time and a bunch of $$$ for shiping costs, but the agrivation and irritation suffered was significant.
Maybe if the TSA hired people with a IQ over 50, things would run a little smoother.
Re:Industrial Equipment is Worse (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe if your company hired people with an IQ of over 50, things would have gone a lot smoother for the folks in line behind of you.
I'm sorry that this is going to sound like flamebait, but you knowingly bring complicated electronics that don't work in a normal environment, and expect them to look at the product manuals to verify that they're not a bomb? What exactly does a printed manual verify, besides the fact that you have access to a laser printer?
Next time, try carrying on nothing besides a clue. Don't bring anything that your mother wouldn't understand after 30 seconds. They have to default on the side of caution, as they should.
Re:Industrial Equipment is Worse (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Industrial Equipment is Worse (Score:3, Interesting)
Stupid Security (Score:2)
I went to a football game about a month ago and the Superdome and, as we were going in, they were searching everyone's bags (manually). This makes some sense but more to the point gives them some legal protection is there is a problem.
The woman in front of me had one of those stylists combs with the long pointed plastic handle. They required her to throw it away before entering. The amount of damage that she could do with that comb before
Randomness (Score:5, Interesting)
- In Vancouver they want me to REMOVE batteries. In Toronto they want me to turn the equipement ON and leave the batteries connected.
- In Toronto every first passenger boarding is searched. How long till the terrorists realise they should board as passenger 2 instead?
- I carry at least one ham radio. Big trouble when they see it. Big antenna. So before travelling I tune the radio to a public FM broadcast station and when they ask "what is that" I say "a radio" and turn it on to that broadcast station.
- Don't start me on the shoes.
- No cellphones in the cabin on some flights; OK on others. Random again.
- No cell phones while flying, I can understand. But all our PDA's and laptops with 802.11b are always on, blasting 2.4 GHz signals all across the pacific, and no-one cares.
- The thing with the shoes.. in Orlando the security person recently told me "all those with laptop PC's must remove their shows". Huh??
It's all very very silly but if you look respectable and smile, all is OK. I;ve never had anyone take anything and I am mr gadget: over a dozen electronics bits in my briefcase every time I travel. Actually enjoying to see the security propls sweat trying to understand what the equipment is...
Mike
Re:Randomness (Score:4, Interesting)
I've never had any hassles whatsoever, and it's always been consistent. I'm definitely not white and I look quite like a would-be terrorist, so it's not like they're being discriminating. In fact I was going to post a comment about how security checks in Canada have been nice and non-intrusive.
I wonder, have your experiences in Canada been with internal flights or flights going to the police^WUnited States?
Re:Randomness (Score:3, Informative)
For the millionth time, the prohibition of cell phone use is an FCC rule, not an FAA rule. It has to do with cell phone "seeing" too many towers simultaneously because of the added 3rd dimension of flight, i.e., the cell phones are above multiple towers simultaneously and cause problems for the cell providers.
The FCC doesn't care abo
tools (Score:2, Informative)
Uh. I Feel Safe (Score:3, Funny)
We've not had any incidents with bombs in laptops, but we will never let our guard down.
I've never had an incident with a bomb in my morning coffee either, but I check it religiously every time!
Seriously... I wouldn't expect them to stop checking laptops.. but uh.. why focus on them if they've never actually been used as a weapon before? I'd think you could swing the thing around and hit people with it like a (crappy, unbalanced) mace. That seems like a more likely use of a laptop as a weapon than it carrying a bomb. Even putting in some sort of electronic jamming equipment, as unlikely as it is to actually work, seems more likely. I do not think the $7 Rent-a-cops have gotten the hang of this whole "security" thing, yet.
Wine glasses (Score:4, Interesting)
In first class they give me a plastic knife and fork. And then they hand me two _glass_ wine glasses. I've never tried smashing one, but I assume that they are not specially hardened and therefore would be breakable and usable as a weapon.
This seems like a bad idea.
John.
glass (Score:2)
I call bullshit on this: (Score:2)
Provide more details. What airport, what circumstances? Has this ever happened to anybody else, ever? I can't even remember the last time I had to turn on my laptop, let alone imagine the screener who knows what "decrypt" means.
Re:I call bullshit on this: (Score:5, Funny)
Occasionally(!?!) you meet the geek who is SO happy to decribe his devices, that when asked, he offers WAY more information than necessary.
Try traveling with a CPAP (Score:4, Interesting)
The machine looks like a very small bedside humidifier, only with an LCD screen, buttons and nobs. It also comes with a six-foot-long flex tube, a reservoir for heated water and a mask not unlike the one Dennis Hopper used in Blue Velvet [imdb.com].
It's become my 2nd carry-on bag, replacing my notebook computer, which now goes in my suitcase.
Screeners' reaction to this device has been mixed, to say the least. Some have said, "Oh yeah, that's a breathing machine. We see these those all the time." Others have asked me to assemble it and power it up, and don't appear to understand what it's for even after 3 or 4 attempts at explanation.
It's a real hassle, however, since not traveling it and using it could result in heart attack, stroke and/or death, I put up with it.
OT: New Delhi airport (Score:3, Interesting)
The sign I saw a couple years ago at New Delhi airport said it was forbidden to carry on the usual supsects (weapons, bomb, poison) plus "cricketballs" and "other round objects".
Go figure.
They have to show, they do something (Score:3, Insightful)
... even when it is pointless. It would be tempting to blame the President and administration, which many love to hate, but they simply reflect the opinions of the electorate: "Do something!"
So they do. Confiscating box-cutters is pointless now -- they only worked once, because for years the "paradigm" for dealing with hijacking was: "obey all orders of the hijackers until landing". Now that we know, there may be no landing, the paradigm is different and the boxcutters (and scissors, and small knives) are useless to terrorists, as they will not help against the dozens of passengers with NOTHING TO LOSE.
The scumbags knew that -- all four attacks were timed to coincide, because such trick will only work once. Still, there are indications, the last attack failed, because the passengers have learned what they are facing.
But allowing to bring boxcutters on-board is politicly impossible with today's electorate and hence -- praise democracy -- the elected.
Couple of stories... (Score:3, Interesting)
I created a homemade external battery pack for my iPaq a few years back. Pulled out the soldering iron and parted it together to run off a collection of rechargeable 'd' cell batteries. Apparently, someone in the security line freaked when they saw it - but only had minimal delays.
I occasionally go to a firing range and do a little pistol shooting. I was using a tradeshow laptop bag to hold my weapons and expended brass. My main bag broke, so I emptied the pistol bag (being very careful to not accidentally pack any ammunition) and ran to the airport. Missed the flight because my bag lit up when they swabbed it. No trouble other than talking to a bunch of people... but still, what a pain.
One of the things that seems to trip up the security folks - especially in EMEA - is how long I keep a laptop and how many people have access to it. I usually get to trade up laptops every quarter (and schlep off the older, but now fully configured box to one of the other Sales folks). Since these laptops are really mobile dev servers (IMHO), when I respond, "do you mean physical access to the laptop, or from a remote access standpoint?" Always gets them...
Simple security solution (Score:5, Funny)
The simple answer is: nightsticks. Issue every adult passenger a nightstick. Anybody tries something funny, there's a hundred people with hard, heavy sticks ready to pound his ass. I also expect that it should improve the service from the stewardesses. The airline could even put their logo on it, and let the passengers keep them as souveniers. It'd be good marketing!
Re:Nightsticks? (Score:3, Funny)
You've obviously never had to deal with a 5 year-old on a sugar high, armed with a whiffleball bat. Trust me, with a nightstick, they'd be deadly. And as for the senior citizens, my Grandma could beat a man to death with her handbag. Armed with a nightstick, she'd be like a ninja with a walker and a beehive hairdo.
A real How-To (Score:3, Insightful)
Stuff almost everything in a small carry-on bag. A professional-looking backpack is the best (the backpack part for ergonomic, not security reasons).
Wear as little metal as possible. That includes shoes with metal inserts in the soles (a lot of plain-looking walking or dress shoes have those). Get a coin purse and stuff your change in the purse and that in your carry-on.
When going thru security, do not rush, follow instructions even inane ones ("yes, I will turn on that Palm V for you sir"). Do not tell them that you got a flight to catch or attract their attention in any other way. Since you're not carrying anything dangerous (right?) it will be far faster for you to go with the flaw and accept the default process rather than try to explain your reasons for short-circuiting it.
Rare problems (Score:3, Insightful)
The biggest issues I had were...
--Coming through Seatac to meet my wife as she returned from Florida. Had my Motorola portable radio (an MT2000) with me, as I was keeping in touch with some (amateur radio) friends of ours while I waited for the flight. By odd chance, it happens that the security screeners also use MT2000's, but not the VHF model that I had. Red flag! I got asked twice if it could work on "their" frequency, and told them (twice) "No, it's not even in the same band as yours." I know this to be true, because the security guys work on the Port of Seattle's 800MHz trunked system. They let me through, but I could tell that you could whack them over the head with the facts, and they still wouldn't "get it."
--On a change-of-planes at Atlanta, while traveling from Seattle to Orlando. I had already been thoroughly screened, and there was no additional X-ray type security checkpoint when simply changing gates to get to the next flight. Despite this, and for reasons still unknown to me, I got all but strip-searched by the morons at a specially set-up secondary checkpoint at the gate. I was wearing open-type sandals (the all-terrain type) with no socks, and I still got asked to take 'em off. Go figure.
I would agree with another poster: Dress well, keep a cool head, and be prepared to explain anything you're carrying, electronics-wise, in full.
Easy to get through (Score:3, Funny)
Last time I flew, I put *everything* in the plastic bucket and was wearing nothing but my Teva sandals, some sweatshorts, and a really cruddy wife-beater tank top. I looked like I was nearly homeless.
They barely gave me a second look. Fortunately, I had packed *nice* clothes in my carry-on and changed as soon as I could.
How to look like a terrorist (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Using CD-players onboard a plane? (Score:2)
Re:Using CD-players onboard a plane? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Interesting List (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Interesting List (Score:2)
Yeah, give $2k worth of kit to baggage handlers (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Put them in your bag (Score:3, Informative)
Are you a baggage handler by any chance? ;) According to the new rules, you are not supposed to lock your check-in baggage, and if you do, the screeners are allowed to break the lock. I've had enough friends and family members finding that this way things were stolen from their baggage, especially when they flew overseas. As a result, the