Posted on 03/18/2008 2:49:18 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar
The suspiciously thin, port-free laptop sends airport security into a tizzy, until cooler heads prevail. Maybe it's time for some tech briefings at the TSA, no? On his blog, programmer Michael Nygard (by way of the Unofficial Apple Weblog) writes that during a recent trip through the airport, his solid-state MacBook Air stopped TSA agentspuzzled by its lack of rear-facing ports or a standard hard drivein their tracks.
Nygard said the agents put him and his suspicious "device" in a holding cubicle as security staffers huddled nearby, looking at X-ray printouts of the sinister-looking Air and scratching their heads.
A younger TSA agentwho, apparently, was aware of Apple's newest laptoptried explaining to the group that the Air uses solid-state memory in place of a traditional hard drive. The senior staffer, however, was still reluctant to let it go: "New products on the market? They haven't been TSA approved. Probably shouldn't be permitted," Nygard writes.
Finally, after booting up the Air and running a program, the agents let Nygard go, he saidbut only after he'd missed his flight.
I've been hearing stories like these all too often, which leads to the question: how exactly are TSA agents being trained, anyway? How about, I dunno, some regular briefings on the latest gadgets that might be making their way through security checkpoints? And while TSA agents are wasting time fussing with laptops, undercover investigators with bomb parts in their bags have been sailing though security checkpoints.
Anyone else out there get stopped by airport security because of a "suspicious" gadget in their luggage? Feel free to vent right here.
ping, in case you have not seen it.
He could have turned it on, surfed the web, and come up with pictures of it. Come to think of it, in TSA’s custody he probably couldn’t do any of these things.
That chunk of flash memory looks like Semtex on the X rays
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Looks to me like a weapon of mass distraction.
When will computer makers adapt to the world they live in, and start placing nice messages in the hardware, only visible by xray? (Greetings TSA! This is the latest from Apple! Wouldn’t you like a laptop this thin? If you know what a laptop is, of course! P.S. The 90-year-old granny third in line behind this guy - let’s just say you should really search her well. The six Muslim men, don’t bother searching them. I know, I know, you weren’t going to.)
How about Apple writes a big “BOMB” across the flash memory -— only visible when x-rayed?
Mass destruction of the contents of your bank account
Misses Flig?
I lost my flig 30 years ago.
I’m bringing my ASUS eeePC through a TSA checkpoint on Thursday. I’ll let you know how it goes...
The worse part about all this was the flig he missed.
Missus Flig, please pick up the white courtesy phone...
I would appreciate a ping. Thanks.
"This device has no idea what you're looking for, so here's a picture of Mohammed with a BOMB on his head."
How many port does that thing have? BTW I did a quick look up. You have 2-4gb flash memory space on that. I had a real laptop in 1999 that had a 2.5gb hard drive so one can certainly deal with that capacity. Even more so if you have USB port to plug in an external hard drive. Especially one with a laptop hard drive in the enclosure
Ah yes, the TSA gangstaz strike again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7AWw7t5zj0
rabbit pancake—— Muhammad bomb-——
How about you have Muhammad bomb for your screen saver when TSA orders you to turn on laptop -—— KA-BOOM!!!!
Says right there in the title that she is the owner. No wonder Michael Nygard had problems. Imagine, taking Misses Flig's laptop and trying to slip it past TSA. TSA is too sharp - no way was he going to get anything by them. He should have known better. What a maroon.
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