Originally Posted by
Darkumbra
How about a set of dice?
I could sell that to the TSA for about $75,000/airport, I'd be taking a loss of course, but anything I can do to keep the nation safe is worth it.
This was suggested on the TSA Blog years ago (by gsoltso, perhaps?). The problem is ... I know just enough about probability to know why this could be problematic.
I could present a large number of issues, dealing with the esoteric nature of how randomness really works, but all you really need to imagine is this scenario:
Incredibly attractive passenger approaches the checkpoint. Inappropriately creepy TSO sees attractive passenger, rolls dice, then says "congratulations, you've been 'randomly' selected for enhanced screening", regardless of what number was actually rolled. Voyeuristic joy ensues.
Hey, it worked for Dr. Venkman.
To be effective, it's not enough that the process in place be adequately random; the process also has to
appear to be adequately random. (This is one of the positive aspects of Security Theater as it is practiced in places other than US airports.)
Walking up to a Big Complicated Box and having the passenger press The Big Red Button in order to generate a randomized result to determine what kind of screening they receive may seem overcomplicated. But it visibly eliminates most opportunities for creepy TSOs to manipulate the process.