saulblum

If a dead iPad is discovered at a foreign checkpoint, will the bomb squad be brought it in and the checkpoint evacuated?

Or will it be tossed in the trash, like all those explosive water bottles?

jpetekYXMD80

All I have heard is if it can't be powered on, you will have additional screening.

Spiff

Because there is nothing intelligent about having someone power on a device to show it is not a bomb. Making an iPhone/iPad/laptop both power up normally AND contain an explosive is child's play. An intelligent response would have been to stop harassing people over identity or boarding pass possession, get rid of liquids idiocy/shoe carnival, and use ETP/ETD on all passengers. Of course, that's too intelligent and not in-your-face enough for the scumbags "in charge" of TSA, so unnecessary and stupid harassment is the order of the day. Of course, if you had engaged in some critical and scientific thinking instead of bleating "Comrade Napoleon is Always Right!", you'd have reached the same or a similar conclusion.

Anyone who puts stock in TSA idiocy is way more delusional than anyone who predicts the eviction and conviction of TSA employees from the airport, hands down. You might as well believe in the Tooth Fairy or signs reading "No Terrorism, please" keeping you safe.

jpetekYXMD80

Actually the most delusional of all is you thinking you are something of a populist voice.

84fiero

I had to chuckle and cringe at the conclusion of the above BBC article

No, I'm sure there won't be any delays

That's what I was thinking - I'm no techie but it surely can't be that hard to set that up, can it?

Though I suppose they would try, wouldn't they? I shudder to think at the lunacy that would ensue...strip searches, no luggage allowed, who knows.

tlc

They had them at the gate yesterday at LHR T5 but weren't bothering the elite/fasttrack flyers. There were 2 tables and 4 people.

Spiff

Again, try using critical thinking and scientific skills before bleating "Comrade Napoleon is Always Right!". At least that way, you can say "I analyzed the alleged threats and came out with the same answer as TSA did."

Right now, I challenge you to make such a statement and back it up with credible, scientific facts.

Spiff

The end of commercial aviation as we know it, because such idiocy would finally make the sheep stop flying and stop believing TSA has any clue as to security.

jpetekYXMD80

Someone who claims its only a matter of time until a whole bunch of tsa employees are thrown in jail for sexual assault and treason is telling me to use critical thinking skills.

I do not have access to their intelligence so I will refrain from analyzing what I can't analyze.

MichaelKade

As a staunch opponent of the TSA, I'm sorry to say I agree. The American public has overwhelmingly accepted the TSA and their intrusive "safety" measures. As much as it sickens me they are here for the long haul.

Spiff

Don't give up! It took this nation a long time to wake up from other gross violations of liberty and gross acts of stupidity.

jpetekYXMD80

Libertarianism= locking up as many people as possible for doing their job and calling it limited government?

Spiff

Libertarianism has nothing to do with this thread. Do try to stay on topic.

However, "I was only doing my job." has been demonstrated to not be a valid excuse when being tried for committing crimes.

catocony

I'm having a flashback. It's 1996, and the minimum wage guys running security at IAD are asking me to make my pager beep as I go through security.......

Oh, and occasionally, to fire up the notebook, back before sleep or hibernate mode existed. You had about five seconds to interrupt the initial BIOS sequence or you would be there for a couple of minutes waiting for Windows to boot up completely and then close it down. Unless you were really daring and shut down your notebook before Windows finished booting up.

I definitely remember traveling with a co-worker who didn't know how to make his pager beep. I had call his pager from my Motorola StarTac so the thing would go off, since just showing the display wasn't enough proof that it was a pager and not the world's smallest bomb (with a 12-charactor or whatever display).

jkhuggins

From TSA's point of view, it's not a device with a dead battery. Rather, it's an electronic device that can't be demonstrated to be what it appears to be.

This is entirely consistent with TSA's view of liquid substances. Large bottles of water aren't being confiscated because they're water; they're being confiscated because there's no way to demonstrate to TSA's satisfaction that they are only water. (TSA's approach to screening liquids has been debated here ad nauseum, of course.)

Others have already pointed out here, of course, how straightforward it would be to construct a device that "powers on" for TSA inspection and still maintains its nefarious purpose. Heck, we've seen those devices in spy movies for years.

We'll have to see how this plays out. Hopefully, this effort will collapse under the weight of its own burden.