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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

#231

Post by gaur »

MOARDONGZPLZ wrote: post #146
cognivore wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I don't get why this was deemed an accident. Reading the story, there is this little voice saying in the back of my head, "They don't want to treat it as a crime because they know who has it and they're in cahoots."

I would really, really doubt this. My assumption is that they either: 1. They have statistics that they have to keep up, and having a ding like "a crime was committed on your watch" isn't a good thing, so they try to avoid it, or 2. Classifying it as a crime versus an accident comes with a load of paperwork and hassle for everybody involved that no one wants to do. I really don't think this was malicious in the manne…

> I would really, really doubt this.

I kind of doubt it too, but I wonder if accusing them personally of theft would light a fire under their butts to actually do something about it.

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

#232

Post by kbutler »

tmalsburg2 wrote: post #178

Two weeks ago I traveled in the US and after the scan they first handed me my own computer and then a minute later someone else's MacBook Pro. I said that the Mac isn't mine, and you know what, they didn't believe me. I had to tell them several times that I don't own a Mac and I had to show them that I had already received my own computer. I think they didn't want to look for the owner and just wanted to get rid of t…

ouch

I know airport personnel are very sensitive to unclaimed bags, etc., so they may look with suspicion on a "that's not my bag" claim, though presumably the TSA has just verified that this item is "safe".

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

#233

Post by rossng »

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?)

The desktop interface is unpleasant and clunky. The web interface is significantly worse than Backblaze, and they clearly don't care about the home product as compared to their enterprise product (which I get the impression is kept much more up to date).

I've also found it occasionally forgets my encryption key for unknown reasons and just silently stops backing up. I get an email about it after a few days, but it's a bit of a rubbish solution.

I also like the BackBlaze team - they share lots with the community and they're open about how they work. CrashPlan feels like more of an enterprisey black hole by comparison. Their blog (https://blog.code42.com/) is one of those weird things that feels more like it's being automatically generated by a Markov chain than written by a human.

On the other hand, CrashPlan does work. That's more than I can say about a lot of the solutions that I tried a few years back (looking at you, Mozy).

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

#234

Post by gchadwick »

FireBeyond wrote: post #228
gchadwick wrote: post #24

Whilst the TSA agents should be taking more care to ensure valuables are returned to the correct person, there are several agents working on a single line. The person who saw him place the computer into the x-ray would be different from the person handing items back so it's not all that surprising that didn't know who it belonged to and was just assuming people were being honest. Any frequent flyer will know return o…

I don't feel that he should share some of that blame. There's the line about malice vs stupidity. But on the flip side there's an interesting aggregation of circumstances. Woman makes disturbance, distracting passengers, and multiple TSA agents so they're all dealing with her, not working the line. Man puts his MacBook Pro in X-ray. It comes out the other side and a TSA agent, not distracted by incident, hands it str…

Having re-read it I now realise it seems the TSA immediately whisked it out of the scanner and handed it to the wrong person before he even had a chance to get through the scanner and look about for it.

My initial interpretation was it was sitting there available for him to pick-up but he forget about it and walked off, the woman later (falsely) claiming it. Hence my initial comment.

So I agree does seem a little too convenient to be coincidental.

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

#235

Post by ryanlol »

plinkplonk wrote: post #204
fbartels wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must say while doing transit in Delhi I did not see such a system as well.

when you are transiting you are already inside the 'security zone' so perhaps they don't do another security check? As someone who flies in and out of Delhi all the time, I can assure you that the security check involves such 'tags'. also procedures for security are standardized across all airports, so it is very unlikely that the process is skipped consistently . I encounter this in the tiniest airports in the count…

>when you are transiting you are already inside the 'security zone' so perhaps they don't do another security check?

For what it's worth, they certainly did another check last time I went HKG->DEL->KTM

I'd assume it's just a layout issue with some transits.

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

#236

Post by ryanlol »

wyldfire wrote: post #94
barrkel wrote: post #17

Amazingly ignorant police. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding

I suppose they should be a little more suspicious but it's not at all ignorant to not know about "theft by finding." The article you linked to describes legal precedents in the 19th and 18th centuries.

No, you certainly have to be particularly ignorant not to be aware of the concept of "Theft by finding". Especially if you're a law enforcement officer.

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

#237

Post by eridius »

soneil wrote: post #209
ceejayoz wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's still preferable to a hijacked aircraft which can be used to kill thousands Not anymore. That ship sailed with 9/11. Passengers aren't going to sit quietly and wait for SWAT to negotiate/rescue at an airport these days.

What actually happened on 9/11 really doesn't help us draw forward conclusions, because the people on these flights had less scope of the big picture. Each operated in a vacuum, it'd be difficult for them to know they were 4 planes. After that we have a much more reliable track record. The "shoe bomber" was subdued with the assistance of passengers. The "underwear bomber" was subdued with the assistance of passengers…

ceejayoz isn't saying the 9/11 flights proved that passengers won't sit quietly anymore. He's saying that, as a result of 9/11, passengers won't sit quietly anymore, which seems to be exactly what you're saying.

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

#238

Post by toyg »

avian wrote: post #200
djrogers wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is this? I'ma frequent flyer, and have never once been sled to open my laptop nor have I ever seen anyone asked to do so (outside a short period after 9/11)

Europe, mostly flying to/from Slovenia.

To/from UK I've been asked "back then" when the craze started; in the last 4 years, never once. Which is correct: they are not scanning the laptop but rather the bag which the laptop would obstruct. Once it's out it doesn't really matter how it's packaged.

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

#239

Post by 7Z7 »

adekok wrote: post #116
notahacker wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems a little unlikely that criminals are organising to buy plane tickets or obtain security clearances to steal things on security camera in a place crowded with security personnel when they could steal MacBooks just as easily by, say, wandering into a shared workspace.

If they happen to be flying somewhere, and there's a laptop free for the taking, why not?

That seems like the exact opposite of what the GP is suggesting.

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

#240

Post by blowski »

scholia wrote: post #219
blowski wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely that would just defer the problem? Plus, the airlines now have to buy all their own equipment, train their own staff. At the moment, they are 'outsourcing' their airport security to the TSA. I suppose they could each choose which security checks they are going to carry out, but how would they choose? Based on recommendations from something that looks like the TSA? It's not clear to me that the airlines would w…

The airlines actually care about the safety of their planes, because failures have a significant impact in the marketplace. TSA staff don't care to anything like the same extent. If they screw up, they probably get more money and more power, not less. I suspect you'd get better results if you moved the responsibility to people who care more, and away from people who care less. Some US airports have opted out of TSA s…

They would have a serious conflict of interest between getting people on the plane ASAP and checking safety. I already see this when staff are lenient with checking passports and boarding passes.

On top of this, most airlines have terrible customer service, so there's no reason to believe they would provide a better service than the TSA.

The TSA clearly has many faults, and nor can it take all the credit for the lack of terrorist attacks on US flights. However, it has to get some of the credit. It's wishful thinking to imagine this is a simple problem with a simple fix. If you're going to get rid of the TSA, you're going to have to convince the majority of travellers that the extra convenience is not going to come at the expense of safety.

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