False positives at security control?
Oct 12, 2015 | 6:12 am
#16
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: South Yorkshire, UK
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Posts: 2,478
No one said anything about false negatives. In any case, I disagree with your thesis. Let's say that Mr T. Errorist has something explosive in his bag. Well, all he needs to do is put a box of latex gloves and a small bottle of hand sanitiser in there as well and he has a perfectly passable explanation as to why the explosive detector showed a red light. A particularly over-stressed security agent could just wave him through.
Oct 12, 2015 | 7:48 am
#17
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: South Yorkshire, UK
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Posts: 2,478
By far the best example of this is liquids. Going through security you see a great big garbage bin filled with fluids tossed away. Under the guise that they are potential explosives.
Now what would happen if someone tried to bring *actual* liquid explosives through in a water bottle? They would get tossed in the bin with the rest, and no one would give it a second look.
So now you have a situation where either we have to treat every single liquid filled bottle (the vast majority of which are harmless) as a live explosive (shut down airport, evacuate, bring in bomb squad, etc) or treat every single liquid filled bottle, as well a water filler bottle. The former wastes huge amounts of resources, the latter completely discounts the threat of actual explosives.
Now what would happen if someone tried to bring *actual* liquid explosives through in a water bottle? They would get tossed in the bin with the rest, and no one would give it a second look.
So now you have a situation where either we have to treat every single liquid filled bottle (the vast majority of which are harmless) as a live explosive (shut down airport, evacuate, bring in bomb squad, etc) or treat every single liquid filled bottle, as well a water filler bottle. The former wastes huge amounts of resources, the latter completely discounts the threat of actual explosives.
Oct 12, 2015 | 9:41 am
#18
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
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Posts: 4,430
GoJo makes more than just one product, they make an entire line of soaps and sanitizers, and dispensers. I commonly see GoJo hand soaps in the bathrooms of commercial and retail establishments, and their Purell brand hand sanitizer is ubiquitous around the US.