TSA Detection?
Feb 8, 2010 | 9:19 pm
#16
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: EZE, YVR
Programs: American AAdvantage, Aerolineas Plus, Hertz, Hyatt, Marriott , SPG.
Posts: 348
I didn't want to, but she rushed with the laptop bag before I could protest, while other TSO was handsearching my other bag (with expensive cameras and lenses in it). I was still shoeless and taking care of my other stuff and cameras. Laptop was still in a bin close to me. Laptop bag contained a brand new 1 Terabyte portable hard drive and a GPS (these items valued at $360, also my brand new laptop bag for which I had paid $100 the day before!!!). But I didn't want to run after her shoeless and pretty much clothesless. It took more than 5 minutes to see my laptop bag again. This episode at LAX was 10 times more painful than security at YVR going to the US, but my 2 bottles of hand & body lotion managed to slip past. Amazing.
Feb 8, 2010 | 10:42 pm
#17
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 346
Lets see...
I have a Nalgene that I travel with all of the time. It is usually half-full, but I once took it through full! Not even a peep from the screener....
I work in an IT Department, so when I travel, I have a few screw-drivers in my bag. They are easily more than four inches. Have not had problems with these being taken or questioned...
One time a year or two ago, I was at a shooting range... Unknown to me, I left a few bullets in my jacket pocket, which was run through the x-ray... Not a yap from TSA..
I have a Nalgene that I travel with all of the time. It is usually half-full, but I once took it through full! Not even a peep from the screener....
I work in an IT Department, so when I travel, I have a few screw-drivers in my bag. They are easily more than four inches. Have not had problems with these being taken or questioned...
One time a year or two ago, I was at a shooting range... Unknown to me, I left a few bullets in my jacket pocket, which was run through the x-ray... Not a yap from TSA..
Originally Posted by FriendlySkies
I suppose most of the stuff I travel with is considered dangerous... I could remove the battery from my laptop and hit people with it... I could stab people with my pen. I could also strangle or tie-up people with my laptop charger...
Feb 10, 2010 | 12:22 pm
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 252
This NPR story is interesting, Guns, Tumors And The Limits Of The Human Eye:
Hat tip Schneier's "Limits of Visual inspection":
This would give some scientific justification for the TIP program.
So, TIP-wise and research-wise, packing "targets" in your bags might actually improve the odds of TSA catching its mythical <1-in-a-billion terrorist. Rather than feel bad when some TSO chides me for forgetting a bottle of water, I'll consider it my way to help "ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce".
In one experiment, Wolfe took 20 X-rayed images of luggage stuffed with guns and knives, and mixed those images into stacks of images of X-rayed luggage that didn't have guns and knives.
"If you stick those 20 bags into a stack of 40 bags, so on average there's a gun and knife in 50 percent of the bags," Wolfe says, "people missed about 7 percent of the bags."
But when he took the exact same 20 bags and stuck them in a stack of 2,000 bags so that the targets showed up only 2 percent of the time, people got significantly worse. "All of a sudden, people were missing about 30 percent of the bags," Wolfe says.
"If you stick those 20 bags into a stack of 40 bags, so on average there's a gun and knife in 50 percent of the bags," Wolfe says, "people missed about 7 percent of the bags."
But when he took the exact same 20 bags and stuck them in a stack of 2,000 bags so that the targets showed up only 2 percent of the time, people got significantly worse. "All of a sudden, people were missing about 30 percent of the bags," Wolfe says.
Target prevalence powerfully influences visual search behavior. In most visual search experiments, targets appear on at least 50% of trials. However, when targets are rare (as in medical or airport screening), observers shift response criteria, leading to elevated miss error rates.
This would give some scientific justification for the TIP program.
So, TIP-wise and research-wise, packing "targets" in your bags might actually improve the odds of TSA catching its mythical <1-in-a-billion terrorist. Rather than feel bad when some TSO chides me for forgetting a bottle of water, I'll consider it my way to help "ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce".
Feb 11, 2010 | 9:13 am
#20
Join Date: May 2008
Location: BOS
Programs: TSA TSO
Posts: 455
This NPR story is interesting, Guns, Tumors And The Limits Of The Human Eye:
Hat tip Schneier's "Limits of Visual inspection":
This would give some scientific justification for the TIP program.
So, TIP-wise and research-wise, packing "targets" in your bags might actually improve the odds of TSA catching its mythical <1-in-a-billion terrorist. Rather than feel bad when some TSO chides me for forgetting a bottle of water, I'll consider it my way to help "ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce".
Hat tip Schneier's "Limits of Visual inspection":
This would give some scientific justification for the TIP program.
So, TIP-wise and research-wise, packing "targets" in your bags might actually improve the odds of TSA catching its mythical <1-in-a-billion terrorist. Rather than feel bad when some TSO chides me for forgetting a bottle of water, I'll consider it my way to help "ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce".
Hmmm... I wonder if that's what that big study at the end of the year was about...
Feb 11, 2010 | 5:40 pm
#22
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: EDI
Posts: 792
My partner took a pocket knife with knife through TPA-LGW-EDI without anyone (or him!) noticing.
We were surprised to find it in his bag when we got home, thinking it had been checked. More surprising that it evaded both US and UK checkpoints!
BTW - "freedom baggy" - is that the real name, or are you guys just taking the mick?
We were surprised to find it in his bag when we got home, thinking it had been checked. More surprising that it evaded both US and UK checkpoints!
BTW - "freedom baggy" - is that the real name, or are you guys just taking the mick?
Feb 11, 2010 | 5:58 pm
#23
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: FrostByte Falls, Mn
Programs: Holiday Inn Plat NW gold AA gold
Posts: 2,157
My partner took a pocket knife with knife through TPA-LGW-EDI without anyone (or him!) noticing.
We were surprised to find it in his bag when we got home, thinking it had been checked. More surprising that it evaded both US and UK checkpoints!
BTW - "freedom baggy" - is that the real name, or are you guys just taking the mick?
We were surprised to find it in his bag when we got home, thinking it had been checked. More surprising that it evaded both US and UK checkpoints!
BTW - "freedom baggy" - is that the real name, or are you guys just taking the mick?
Feb 11, 2010 | 6:04 pm
#24
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,725
My partner took a pocket knife with knife through TPA-LGW-EDI without anyone (or him!) noticing.
We were surprised to find it in his bag when we got home, thinking it had been checked. More surprising that it evaded both US and UK checkpoints!
BTW - "freedom baggy" - is that the real name, or are you guys just taking the mick?
We were surprised to find it in his bag when we got home, thinking it had been checked. More surprising that it evaded both US and UK checkpoints!
BTW - "freedom baggy" - is that the real name, or are you guys just taking the mick?
Feb 11, 2010 | 6:08 pm
#25
Join Date: Sep 2002
Programs: AA Plat, Fairmont Platinum, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 4,534
This NPR story is interesting, Guns, Tumors And The Limits Of The Human Eye:
Hat tip Schneier's "Limits of Visual inspection":
This would give some scientific justification for the TIP program.
So, TIP-wise and research-wise, packing "targets" in your bags might actually improve the odds of TSA catching its mythical <1-in-a-billion terrorist. Rather than feel bad when some TSO chides me for forgetting a bottle of water, I'll consider it my way to help "ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce".
Hat tip Schneier's "Limits of Visual inspection":
This would give some scientific justification for the TIP program.
So, TIP-wise and research-wise, packing "targets" in your bags might actually improve the odds of TSA catching its mythical <1-in-a-billion terrorist. Rather than feel bad when some TSO chides me for forgetting a bottle of water, I'll consider it my way to help "ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce".
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...22499686&ps=rs