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TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

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Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#131

Post by basseq »

gargravarr wrote: post #51

Having recently flown from the UK to Hong Kong and then on to Manila, I am suddenly struck by how much of an honesty policy we are expected to follow. The idea of tagging the laptop as in India is a step in the right direction, but at no point in my journey was my laptop tagged. It was placed in a bin with all my other valuable possessions (phone, wallet, camera) and it's only through practise that I manage to get th…

As a "tulip" (opt-out), the forced trust is even worse. You're not even allowed to ask for a pat-down before your things are on the conveyor. I've tried. Usually the timing works out OK, but sometimes it doesn't.

My most infuriating TSA experience was at MIA. I told them I was opting out, and they instructed me to put my things on the conveyor. I did so, then proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. After 10 minutes, during which I repeatedly asked for a "male assist", I had to cave and go through the back-scatter machine because my possessions (laptop, wallet, phone) was sitting unattended on the other side.

I'm very polite to TSA. That was an instance of blatant targeting, and you better believe my the end of those 10 minutes I was not polite. I did some consulting for TSA, and I'm pretty sure I was loudly speaking about "violating the agency's core strategic goal to facilitate legitimate trade and travel" while flipping the double-bird in the backscatter machine.

True story. Surprised I wasn't pulled into a back room.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#132

Post by simon_acca »

rossng wrote: post #89
nikanj wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crashplan. $99 per year.

I use Crashplan, but it's a bit rubbish. Backblaze is much better if you don't need to use it on Linux.

On linux just use Backblaze B2 [0] and Duplicity [1]

  [0]: https://www.backblaze.com/b2/cloud-storage.html
  [1]: http://duplicity.nongnu.org/

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#133

Post by reacweb »

For me, there is a crime. Even if it is in good faith, TSA took the MacBook, then lost it. It is the same as if they broke it by accident. If they can not recover it quickly, they should reimburse it because what happened is their full responsability.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#134

Post by KJP191 »

tobz wrote: post #117
bane wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't there be? Flights can be cheap, and security requires you to show up hours in advance, but there's no limit to the number of times you can cycle through security lines looking for targets.

Hmmmmm? Every time I've ever flown, my boarding pass is marked up by a TSA agent before I go through the metal detector/body scanner/X-ray belt area. I think it'd be incredibly suspicious if you left and then back through, multiple times even more so.

I've been through security multiple times before (my daughter left her book in one of the groundside restaurants) and nobody cared. Anecdotal I know, but n=1 is better than n=0

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#135

Post by ari_ »

franciscop wrote: post #121
ari_ wrote: post #61

1. Standard rule for traveling: Your bags move along with you. In other words, you only step up to the x-ray machine as your bags are about to pass through. You never, ever, take your eyes off your stuff. It irritates the hell out of the TSA people, but who cares? In this particular case I think he was trying to do this, but forgot to take off his belt. I would have walked through and got patted down next to my bags.…

I always try to do this, but I also opt-out of the scanning machines. Any way to make them work together? When I opt out I am required to wait outside an undetermined amount of time until they decide I am not going to change my mind and just get me through the x-ray and pat me down. I always try to keep an eye on my stuff, but it's impossible at times. No problem so far, but I worry something will happen.

When I opt out, I keep my stuff next to me, or take it off the machine and wait for the TSA drone to show up. It doesn't go in until I'm going with the drone who's going to assault me.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#136

Post by Malice »

mjlee wrote: post #20

Interestingly (to me) the author used the phrase "on accident". I googled it and found this: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/215/is-it-correct... As a British English speaker, this stopped me in my tracks. I'm wondering if it had the same effect on the American English readers of this article.

It's a regional thing, more common some places than others. Australian English speaker, lived in Chicago for 10 years, it's very common there.

My best guess for the origin was as an opposite to "on purpose".

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#137

Post by gambiting »

microtonal wrote: post #118
flexd wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except if you have a bit of data you'll spend a few years uploading it. Their servers are slow . Only getting like 5-20Mbit/s, mostly slower here in Europe.

I use Arq - I can choose where I upload it and I can have multiple destinations.

Arq does not offer storage on the cheapest plan(I have no idea what you are paying for then), and even the $120/year plan only includes 250GB of storage. If I signed up with Crashplan I would upload literally all of my data to it - so 4TB of personal backups then.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#138

Post by amykhar »

james1071 wrote: post #43

My guess is that the person who took it was acting with an accomplice, possible the one who caused the distraction. They would make an exchange in a place where there are no cameras. The person who took it would have a story ready in case she was challenged. As for the TSA - they want to pretend that the incident never happened, because it would make them them look bad.

It seems as if the TSA agent may have been in on it. He pulled the laptop off the belt and then handed it to a random woman who 'happened' to be with somebody causing a distraction. She did not protest the gift of the laptop. I find it hard to believe the agent 'happened' to hand it to just the right person.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#139

Post by awqrre »

hellbanner wrote: post #128

If you truly hate security theatre in the USA, boycott travel. Tell your boss, your family, your friends that you can't travel because you refused to be treated poorly by a parasitic and incompetent organization. But, if your paycheck is more important to you than restoring diginity, the (governmental) terrorists have won :)

I think the opposite. Terrorists and the Government have won if you prevent yourself from doing/saying something because of what they do/did. Another example would be if you stop talking about some things online because you think that they scan everything you post and can link it to your personal identity.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#140

Post by javawizard »

azth wrote: post #127
rossng wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Crashplan, but it's a bit rubbish. Backblaze is much better if you don't need to use it on Linux.

What issues have you had with Crashplan, out of curiosity? One thing about Backblaze is that they do not keep backups of files that do not exist on your computer, and that you need to connect your computer to the internet at least once every 90 days (or was it 30?)

Crashplan requires you to connect your computer once every six months. I found this out the hard way when I got a notice that I had 5 days to back up all of my files from an old computer elsewhere before they erased them.
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