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TSA Master Keys
121–130 of 149 posts
Re: TSA Master Keys
#122Seems to still be a lot being done in the name of security theater in the US, and just wasting dollars on the TSA, for what appears to be very little effect. Who's really profiting there? Is it just for the employment of people that otherwise wouldn't have a job? Or are the majority of citizens there really made to feel more secure by having them? I'd have to say some defense contractor is getting a bit fatter off th…
The upshot of TSA is that because it's a single government organization, it's easy to identify the costs and quality of operations. Pre-TSA, we were wasting the same or more amount of money on private contractors of dubious quality. But you didn't really know how much, as the cost was spread across thousands of airline/airport authorities/municipal government combinations.
The true cost dwarfs what any budget says - the time that everyone wastes (getting to the airport needlessly early, waiting in line, being molested, missing flights, obessing over packing the "wrong" thing, and inventorying your luggage immediately after landing). When you add this up, how many human lifespans has the TSA killed?
Re: TSA Master Keys
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
> and the odds of being caught are high I had checks stolen from a carry-on bag at JFK, by a TSA employee, pretty much right under my nose. Some airports have had mafia-run theft rings operate for months or years before getting caught.
Did you discover the theft right away, or only after the fact?
Thankfully I discovered it soon after, since I intended to deposit the checks at an ATM at the airport, and could phone the issuer of the check and have it stopped and reissued. But I was well past the checkpoint by then. I had made sure the checks were in the bag just prior to going through the checkpoint since it occurred to me to use an ATM to deposit them.
Re: TSA Master Keys
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you discover the theft right away, or only after the fact?
Thankfully I discovered it soon after, since I intended to deposit the checks at an ATM at the airport, and could phone the issuer of the check and have it stopped and reissued. But I was well past the checkpoint by then. I had made sure the checks were in the bag just prior to going through the checkpoint since it occurred to me to use an ATM to deposit them.
Sorry you had to go through that. Anyway, if your bag had been locked and the thief had needed to cut it to get to the checks, he'd probably have been less likely to steal them and more likely to be caught if he had, no?
Re: TSA Master Keys
#125So luggage handlers can open my suitcase, put in some drugs, and at the other end I can get caught for having drugs in my luggage? They should setup a service where you checkin your luggage, they check it for drugs or illegal stuff, they seal it, and at arrival you get your suitcase with the guarantee that it had no drugs at checkin.
You've just described the conspiracy theory behind the Schapelle Corby drugs case in Australia, who claimed the drugs she'd been caught with in Indonesia must have been planted by a baggage handler: http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Bag-handler-theory-ov... At the time, the case & defence theory was so high profile that Australian airports had a service to seal your luggage in layers of shrink-wrap before your o…
Yeah, I can't say I had much sympathy for Schapelle:
It was claimed that she was the unwitting victim of a domestic airport transshipping smuggling ring, who would stuff drugs in unwitting passengers bags and pick them up at the other end. Her lawyer later admitted that this theory and the 'evidence' the defense presented around it was his invention, to the point where he was disbarred.
She claimed that she had never been involved with marijuana nor had anyone in her family. Photos and other evidence surfaced showing her smoking, and before and after her trial, family members including her mother were charged with drug offenses, including 'supply' offenses, not just possession.
Photos of her surfaced with known drug dealers and smugglers. The most damaging of these was with a drug smuggler. Schapelle claimed that the photo was from 'years ago' and that she had disavowed contact after learning of his involvement. The Indonesian prosecution showed that the photo was taken at the jail where she was being held pre-trial.
I'm not a smoker, but definitely pro-legalization. But her case was exactly that, full of conspiracy theories that had little to no backing in reality.
Re: TSA Master Keys
#126The worst damage an individual can do to the environment, short of starting a tire fire at the dump, is to fly. Save the environment and avoid the TSA, don't fly.
I am pretty sure that in terms of person-miles per gallon flying is comparable to automobiles. Are you referring to some secondary damage that flying causes?
Re: TSA Master Keys
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
> THE design for a key that allowed a convicted killer to escape from a Territory prison was printed on the cover of a booklet given to all inmates, it has been revealed. Pahahaha. That sounds like something you'd find in an ARG puzzle, but this was a prison. Kinda curious how the other prisoner had jeweler's equipment in his cell, it seems like that could be pretty dangerous. Good behavior?
Most prisons don’t look like it’s shown in movies, but more like http://static.businessinsider.com/image/53862b38ecad041f184e... It’s also not uncommon for many criminals to be allowed to leave the prison and walk around in the surrounding area to go to stores, etc, unless they are a direct threat. So, having this equip in the cell is not unusual.
That photo's probably from some German-speaking country. Is it representative of US prison cells?
Re: TSA Master Keys
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sucks to watch corruption and violence win the day. We seem to be seeing it. Where an economy can be based on maintaining a military force in other countries, to maintain the petrodollar and central banks. And a lot of good people losing their lives, brought up in the belief, they're helping freedom. What a mindfuck that is.
After a few years people get acclimated and if you dare to criticize the corrutpion you're seen to be evil. For instance, try telling the average american that the TSA needs to be shut down. They'll think that they're keeping us safe, the same way people think that police keep us safe, and will think that without obamacare we wouldn't have health insurance, in a few years.
I find the sudden mention of Obamacare rather odd. TSA has done jack all to keep us safe in the decade and a half it's been around. Obamacare, while deeply flawed, has done quite a lot to help people access health care.
Re: TSA Master Keys
#129Not only is this another impressive demonstration of incompetence, but by disseminating the idea that people's luggage could be “secure” and “backdoored” at the same time, they're actually destroying what security has existed before. They should pivot to be the “Transport Endangerment Agency”.
Solution: take a gun. Seriously. In stark contrast with the requirement that TSA be able to open your luggage (unlocked or backdoored), if you declare a firearm in your checked luggage the TSA cannot - by law - have the means to open your [hard-shell] luggage, YOU must retain the key or combination and must be present to open it when inspected. (Of course, traveling legally with a gun has its own litany of issues, bu…
Bring a starter-pistol. They qualify as firearms with regards to TSA regulations, are legal in every state, and are often trivial to bring abroad.
Re: TSA Master Keys
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
His suggestion about seals is the most valid point. None of the locks are really locks. A TSA compliant lock that records the time when it was opened might be useful, but otherwise a seal provides a lot more value. The zip tie idea is fine except that my checked bag is the only place I can put something capable of cutting one.
I'd argue the seal provides little value as the TSA will need to break it if they wish to search the luggage. Once the seal is broken, the luggage may be tampered with. Perhaps if the TSA resealed the luggage they searched?
I just use boring zip ties that I mark with a sharpie to make them unique (and show if they've been replaced). I'll also toss a handful of unmarked ties onto the "top" of the luggage.
I've occasionally sent a piece of luggage through, and found it re-zip-tied with a new tie, with a TSA love note inside.