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Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

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Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#71

Post by valleyjo »

btbuildem wrote: post #55

It's fascinating how the security theatre has gotten so big that now it basically just rolls forward under its own momentum. It's been around long enough that people accept it as normal, it serves no other purpose than to employ the unemployable and fill contractors' coffers, and it seems that no entity is able to stop or dismantle it.

This is a pretty cynical viewpoint but I agree. It’s clear that TSA doesn’t do much. Someone I know has acidentially brought a pocketknife through security multiple times without it being found. They keep it in my backpack as a regular item and just forgot to take it out.

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#72

Post by School-Cotton »

rlonstein wrote: post #52
School-Cotton wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an extreme aversion on principle to paying mafia protection money, and will only do so if my life or livelihood actually depends on it. I certainly won't do so just to make my life a bit more convenient.

That's a very principled position. I'll see you on the other side of security.

Principle was the wrong word. I'm not taking an ethical stand -- I just hate this sort of humiliation from authority figures so much that I genuinely can't bring myself to make the rational decision to get Pre Check.

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#73

Post by cocoa19 »

simonsarris wrote: post #19

About a year ago I was at an airport (Boston? New Jersey?) outbound that had a sign or TV monitor saying "Great news, you no longer need to take your laptop out of your bag!" I read this sign as a TSA worker shouted every 30 seconds to the shuffling line about how everyone needed to take out all laptops, "ipads", cameras, etc. I wonder if it was a pilot program. Or more likely, just part of the constantly shifting fa…

Buy TSA friendly backpack. Problem solved.

Bought mine at BestBuy. Samsonite 5580680. The zipper goes all the way down so the bag is split in 2, a pouch holding your laptop and the other half holds the rest of your stuff. This lets TSA X-Ray equipment inspect your laptop only without cables, cellphone, and gadgets on the way.

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#74

Post by sneak »

village-idiot wrote: post #58
TallGuyShort wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it to pour your possible explosive liquid into a bin with all the other possible explosives in the center of the largest, densest crowd in the airp... Oh wait I see your point.

This is why I’m more nervous in security than I am on the actual plane.

Don’t be nervous. TSA misses the vast majority of weapons during screening in repeated tests, so it is evident that basically no one wants to commit mass violence on/with planes.

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#75

Post by hopler »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #47
opportune wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy precheck out of principal. You shouldn't have to pay extra for a less invasive security experience

I used to feel the same way. I shouldn't have to, but if the choice is paying or getting felt up, I pay. Me not paying won't stop the feeling up anyway.

Getting felt up is the only part I enjoy.

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#76

Post by poizan42 »

bitreality wrote: post #70
btbuildem wrote: post #55

It's fascinating how the security theatre has gotten so big that now it basically just rolls forward under its own momentum. It's been around long enough that people accept it as normal, it serves no other purpose than to employ the unemployable and fill contractors' coffers, and it seems that no entity is able to stop or dismantle it.

I'd say the last 15+ years of air travel has been pretty safe in the US. To say the security has accomplished nothing is a stretch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVqLHghLpw

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#77

Post by sneak »

T-hawk wrote: post #40
narrator wrote: post #20

Just get TSA pre-check. It's so freaking easy and it makes airport security checkpoints not a big deal at all.

I refuse to pay TSA for "solving" a problem that they created. More customers paying for pre-check incentivizes TSA to make the regular experience comparatively worse .

Such is the nature of a government that is based on violence. I too object vehemently to it but as another commenter pointed out, you will incur costs if you do, and costs if you don’t.

Minimize the costs to you and just pay them. You only get one life.

In the long run, it will make you more efficient, and hopefully provide you with greater resources to fight them.

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#78

Post by smelendez »

jkqwzsoo wrote: post #57
jcims wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the last 8 days: CMH->MCO ‘remove your belts please’ MCO->SEA ‘keep your belts on’ SEA->CMH ‘i’d recommend you take your belt off’

At one point, I was travelling with my dad when the "shoes off" policy was relaxed (I think the shoes-off policy was relaxed a couple of weeks/months after the shoe bomber plot, but I can't recall exactly when -- and then it was put back permanently). "Agent": Sir, I recommend you take your shoes off. Dad: That's okay. I don't need to take my shoes off. "Agent": Sir, I'm going to need you to take your shoes off NOW!…

I've seen this sort of things in videos of police encounters, too. "I suggest you do X" or "would you mind doing X" is some officers' way of being polite, but it leads to dangerous misunderstandings. When people say no, taking the statement literally, cops see them as trying to start a fight.

I'd love to see law enforcement trained in using basic, declarative sentences: "Sir, regulation X.Y.Z says you have to take your shoes off. Please step aside, do so, and rejoin the line."

Re: Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports

#79

Post by bogomipz »

simonsarris wrote: post #19

About a year ago I was at an airport (Boston? New Jersey?) outbound that had a sign or TV monitor saying "Great news, you no longer need to take your laptop out of your bag!" I read this sign as a TSA worker shouted every 30 seconds to the shuffling line about how everyone needed to take out all laptops, "ipads", cameras, etc. I wonder if it was a pilot program. Or more likely, just part of the constantly shifting fa…

>"Or more likely, just part of the constantly shifting fabric of pointless theater. I fully expect these new machines are primarily to sell machines, and not to fulfill any other purpose."

Indeed that's the more likely. I recently had a TSA moron tell me that my iPad did not need to come out because "it's not a computer." I explained that it might not be a laptop but it was still very much a computer. You can't make this stuff up.

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