Live data from Hacker News

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

echeng.com

251–260 of 266 posts

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

#251
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could remove the TSA and let airlines do their own security checks at the gate. Airlines really don't want their planes hi-jacked.

I don't think anyone would be happy with 'British Airways Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Services, plc.' and friends running surveillance, SIGINT and other spy operations to gather threat intelligence. And, unfortunately, it seems like intelligence-led prevention is the only real way to stop terrorism, detection and attempts at interdiction close to the target are going to fail the same way the TSA fails, due to…

> And, unfortunately, it seems like intelligence-led prevention is the only real way to stop terrorism

I wouldn't expect British Airways to do its own SIGINT but there's no reason why it can't source that info from the current supplier. (And BA already collects the passenger info on the US government's behalf.)

Either way, no one is proposing to tear up the Do Not Fly list, risibly inaccurate as it might be.

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

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Just wanted to clarify this policy. CrashPlan requires a device to connect to it's backup at least once within a 6 month period. This is to ensure the integrity of the data we're storing. Part of CrashPlan’s ability to maintain the backup health and integrity relies upon regular connection from the device. CrashPlan is able to routinely perform maintenance on the backup by comparing checksums between both device and…

What if there was corruption on the local file system, what would happen then?

Also, what happens to files that were deleted from the local file system. I was under the impression that they would remain indefinitely available to restore.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

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

#253

Temporary work around - get a TSA compliant laptop bag. Yes, it means doing something different to accommodate them, but in the longer term it saves you this pain. And convince the TSA to do what we do at Indian airports: plinkplonk 9 minutes ago How this works in India. When you put your laptop in a bin, the security person puts one of two identical tags (pieces of plastic with identical numbers on them) into the bi…

get a TSA compliant laptop bag

No good. TSOs essentially reserve the right to void or override any policy, at any time, for any reason, with no warning in advance. Many will simply tell you that no such policy exists or ever has existed. And there is no appeal of the decisions made by the people at the checkpoint: either you do what they tell you right there, even if it contradicts policy (even if it contradicts federal law -- the TSA is being sued over that very point by a guy who claims they routinely violate disability-accommodation laws), or you don't fly.

Which means there is no such thing as "a TSA compliant laptop bag", only "a laptop bag that a TSO might, a majority of the time, if you're lucky and they're in a good mood, let you send through the x-ray without removing your laptop".

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

#254

Wow, I'm actually surprised that you would blame TSA or the woman instead of yourself (I'm even more surprised that no other comment mention this). It is you who did not care to ensure your laptop go back to you. There is some bias against TSA, but you cannot blame them for everything (disclaimer: never been to States, never had anything in common with TSA). Sure, it is a pity that you lost a computer; it is probably…

Can someone argument why this is being downvoted? I've read the article twice, just using logical and safe unbiased thinking here.

The author of the article appears to have done everything he legally could do. TSA does not generally give you a choice of customizing their screening procedures to suit your desire to keep an eye on your belongings. So you appear to just be bashing on the author for no reason -- there's simply not much more he could have done.

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

#256
post #81
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For starters it wouldn't lower overall security by all that much[0] [0] http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-u...

So if JFK Airport removed TSA and just let people walk on to the plane, would you board one? I sure as hell wouldn't. I don't know what I don't know about international security. I don't have access to the NSA and CIA files about international terrorism. Sure, some of it is overplayed for certain people's agendas, but it's very clearly an actual risk that needs actual solutions. The TSA may not be the best one, but i…

> So if JFK Airport removed TSA and just let people walk on to the plane, would you board one?

Yes.

Many smaller airports and regional carriers don't have TSA now. I've flown dozens of times between Harrison, AR and Memphis, TN without going through so security. Many of those times I declared a firearm... and they handed it back to me to take to the plane.

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

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"inexpensive" Just wait until TSA vendors out the development of it :)

Case in point, TSA paid $47,000 for an app that randomly chose for a passenger to go left or right.

$1.4M

http://www.geek.com/apps/tsa-paid-1-4-million-for-randomizer...

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

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Case in point, TSA paid $47,000 for an app that randomly chose for a passenger to go left or right.

$1.4M http://www.geek.com/apps/tsa-paid-1-4-million-for-randomizer...

$47,400

http://mashable.com/2016/04/04/tsa-ibm-randomizer-app/?utm_c...

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

#259

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…

> Interestingly enough, you can carry your Kindle, phone and/or Ipad in your carry on luggage, but not your laptop

I have carried my ThinkPad X250 on flights to-and-from Mumbai, even used them during flight.

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

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could have then gone to the duty free shop and purchased two glass bottles of vodka. Smashed together they would likely make much better weapons.

If you smash two bottles together, do they both break? I would have expected that you'd always end up with one broken bottle, one whole bottle, and (optionally) a fair amount of your own blood.

When two cars collide head-on, does only one of them crumple?

I figure the same effect would apply to two similar glass bottles colliding.

Post reply on HN