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New York, 5:55 PM
Mon Nov 9
31 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #tsa more →

    You Definitely Don't Want to Tell Airport Security About the Volatility of Laptop Batteries

    Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It

    TSA Uses Decoy Luggage To Bust Airline Laptop Thieves

    Clear Fast Track Airport Security Is No More

    iPhone Saves Man From Power-Hungry TSA Goon Squad

    TSA to Transition From Metal Detectors to Whole Body Scanners

    Belkin FlyThru Laptop Bags Save Notebooks From TSA Butterfingers

    TSA Airport Screener Steals Over $200,000 in Gadgets, Almost Gets Away With It

    Elvis Comes Back from Dead to Prove RFID Passports Lack Security

    TSA's "Checkpoint Friendly" Laptop Bag Policy Starts Today
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of logruszed logruszed
    10/19/09

    In reply to You Definitely Don't Want to Tell Airport Security About the Volatility of Laptop Batteries
    The TSA checkpoints are staffed primarily by those who were under-qualified to seat people at IHOP. #xkcd
     Reply
    logruszed was starred logruszed was unstarred
    Image of geiko geiko
    10/19/09

    In reply to You Definitely Don't Want to Tell Airport Security About the Volatility of Laptop Batteries
    Okay, we're all geeks here, we all know about XKCD by now. New toons are published on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Can we stop getting articles for them on here? Or is there real demand for it? If you really care for it, just go on the site on those days, and read it from there. Because if you read it here, you miss the funniest part of XKCD. #xkcd
     Reply
    Rex the Decadent promoted this comment geiko was starred geiko was unstarred
    Image of orthorim orthorim
    10/19/09

    @geiko: there is real demand for it. #xkcd
     Reply
    Rex the Decadent promoted this comment orthorim was starred orthorim was unstarred
    Image of uRbAnlP uRbAnlP
    10/19/09

    In reply to You Definitely Don't Want to Tell Airport Security About the Volatility of Laptop Batteries
    The expression on the officer's face is priceless. #xkcd
     Reply
    lostarchitect promoted this comment uRbAnlP was starred uRbAnlP was unstarred
    Image of Duckspwn Duckspwn
    10/19/09

    @uRbAnlP: Haha, it's funny cause they have no expressions! See? There are no faces drawn in! Get it? Get it?!? #xkcd
     Reply
    Duckspwn was starred Duckspwn was unstarred
    Image of TheSonOfKrypton TheSonOfKrypton
    10/19/09

    In reply to You Definitely Don't Want to Tell Airport Security About the Volatility of Laptop Batteries
    lol, this shit is hella funny #xkcd
     Reply
    TheSonOfKrypton was starred TheSonOfKrypton was unstarred
    Image of Harman_M Harman_M
    10/19/09

    @TheSonOfKrypton: Mas o menos. #xkcd
     Reply
    TheSonOfKrypton promoted this comment Harman_M was starred Harman_M was unstarred
    Image of Shamoononon: I shave my legs. Shamoononon: I shave my legs.
    10/19/09

    In reply to You Definitely Don't Want to Tell Airport Security About the Volatility of Laptop Batteries
    The strangest thing I ever saw was the TSA making my co-worker remove a prosthetic leg. It kind of freaked me out at first because I didn't know it wasn't a real leg. #xkcd
     Reply
    92BuickLeSabre promoted this comment Shamoononon: I shave my legs. was starred Shamoononon: I shave my legs. was unstarred
    Image of Tylerknight Tylerknight
    10/19/09

    @Shamoononon: I shave my legs.: What's the etiquette with missing legs, anyway?

    I worked as an environmental inspector a while back, and saw this one guy that worked for the town about once a week. One day he showed up without a leg, and I was really uncomfortable asking the question: "um...what happened to you leg, man?" #xkcd
     Reply
    92BuickLeSabre promoted this comment Tylerknight was starred Tylerknight was unstarred
    Image of Shamoononon: I shave my legs. Shamoononon: I shave my legs.
    10/19/09

    @Tylerknight: Well, i'm not sure my response was well appreciated.

    "Ahhhhhhh!!! Holy Shit"

    I think he probably should have mentioned something first. I really had no idea and was caught way off guard.
     Reply
    92BuickLeSabre promoted this comment Edited by Shamoononon: I shave my legs. at 10/19/09 7:32 PM Shamoononon: I shave my legs. was starred Shamoononon: I shave my legs. was unstarred
    Image of [DFX] Deimos [DFX] Deimos
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    Encrypt your hard drive with TruCrypt and have a strong password (which you should anyways).

    -OR-

    When you travel overseas use it as a thin client and connect back to your work / home machine to retrieve the data you need.

    Problem solved.
     Reply
    [DFX] Deimos was starred [DFX] Deimos was unstarred
    Image of jedimaster0103 jedimaster0103
    08/28/09

    @dfxdeimos:
    -OR-

    Leave your building blueprints and kiddie porn at home.
     Reply
    Skunky promoted this comment jedimaster0103 was starred jedimaster0103 was unstarred
    Image of Skunky Skunky
    08/28/09

    @jedimaster0103: But if you're trying to BRING it home? The blueprints, that is... >
     Reply
    Skunky was starred Skunky was unstarred
    Image of d_r_e d_r_e
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    This shit better not happen to me when I leave to go on tour in Europe/Japan ... I'll be fucking furious.
     Reply
    d_r_e was starred d_r_e was unstarred
    Image of atheos atheos
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    If I were a terrorist, I'd just make an image of my hard drive, put it somewhere online, fly to U.S., buy some cheap junk PC from Best Buy and download & restore my hard drive image. But I guess some people are just dumb enough to carry all those bomb instructions, plans and schematics with them. And if I had an actual bomb, I most certainly wouldn't put it in a camera or a laptop...
     Reply
    atheos was starred atheos was unstarred
    Image of wingbatwu wingbatwu
    08/28/09

    @atheos: some terrorists go as far as putting their data inside droids and then send them in the middle of the frakkin desert!
     Reply
    badhatharry promoted this comment wingbatwu was starred wingbatwu was unstarred
    Image of badhatharry badhatharry
    08/28/09

    @wingbatwu: You win.
     Reply
    badhatharry was starred badhatharry was unstarred
    Image of thebigcheese thebigcheese
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    So... adding "respectively" doesn't really clarify what you are talking about when you mention 2 maximum days, but 3 different items. It also doesn't work when it's that far away from what you are referring to, assuming you are referring to the items.
     Reply
    badhatharry promoted this comment thebigcheese was starred thebigcheese was unstarred
    Image of badhatharry badhatharry
    08/28/09

    @thebigcheese: Border protection -- 5 days. Customs -- 30 days.
     Reply
    badhatharry was starred badhatharry was unstarred
    Image of DustyButt™ DustyButt™
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    The one thing I don't think anyone mentioned is how weak our border security is in the first place. If someone had some truly nefarious information or items that they needed to get into the U.S. there are thousands of points on our northern & southern borders where they could simply hand carry it. They'd NEVER see the TSA, Border Patrol... No one.

    Rules like this completely miss the point.
     Reply
    Curves promoted this comment DustyButt™ was starred DustyButt™ was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    Here's my good deed for the day: BORDER SEARCHES DO NOT REQUIRE A WARRANT

    The rules regarding search-and-seizure has always been that border searches require no warrant. There are some areas of the country that have always been permitted to play by different rules. Military bases are one. "Borders" are another.

    The First Congressional Congress made it legal.

    "That searches made at the border, pursuant to the longstanding right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border, should, by now, require no extended demonstration."

    Authorized by the First Congress,88 the customs search in these circumstances requires no warrant, no probable cause, not even the showing of some degree of suspicion that accompanies even investigatory stops.

    This type of search and seizure at the border is legal. It has been legal for decades. It is not Marxist nor Socialist nor is it truly the product of 9/11. It is a search and seizure which is an exception - known as the Border Exception - and it is an exception to the warrant requirement of the 4th Amendment.

    If you are interested read the Supreme Court case: United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606 (1977).

    As the Ninth Circuit very intelligently decided in US v. Arnold, the files on your computer are cargo. There is no functional difference between a document you typed into Word and the printout. Imagine you had a locked box that you refused to open. They'd seize the box.

    The printout is subject to search; the file is the exact same thing. Airports are borders. Different standard applies.

    Many things are legal and constitution that may give you the wicked heebie-jeebies. If a city wants to install security cameras in all of its parks to watch for crime, that's not a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights as you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public park. Does it go against the original intent of the Constitution? Probably. Is it Constitutionally-permissible? Yes.

    The Border Exception is nothing new, is legal and constitutional, and has its basis in the genesis of the Constitution. It doesn't matter if they're look for child pornography, bomb schematics, or a kugel recipe. Your computer may be searched at the border.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of mths mths
    08/28/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: You beat me too it, and typed about 4524508 times more than I planned. So... +4524508

    That's why you're well known here: Because you know what you're talking about.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment Edited by mths at 08/28/09 9:23 AM mths was starred mths was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    08/28/09

    @mths: In all fairness, I just cut and pasted a lot of what I wrote last time when people were getting in a tizzy about the Border Exception and the TSA's plenary right to search without warrant or even probable cause.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of mths mths
    08/28/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: Well it's still true.

    I hate security at airports, but since I've got nothing to hide, I don't mind all that much. I'm sure I'd disagree if they took my MacBook, but that would be in anger.
     Reply
    mths was starred mths was unstarred
    Image of Paul Combs Paul Combs
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    It's not necessarily the searching I have a problem with, it is the fact that the Border Patrol, and anyone else for that matter, can do it without any reasonable suspicion...
     Reply
    Danny Allen promoted this comment Paul Combs was starred Paul Combs was unstarred
    Image of Danny Allen Danny Allen
    08/28/09

    @Paul Combs: Agreed
     Reply
    Danny Allen was starred Danny Allen was unstarred
    Image of Michael Singletary Michael Singletary
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    "I guess I'm OK with it."

    This is a HUGE problem and contributes to letting the government get away with this sort of crap. You shouldn't be OK with a violation of privacy like this.

    What's worse is that you don't even seem to care much, despite writing an article about it. You could at least be confident in your decision to support it instead of taking a "whatever" attitude. That's the problem with America. People don't care enough.
     Reply
    Danny Allen promoted this comment Michael Singletary was starred Michael Singletary was unstarred
    Image of Danny Allen Danny Allen
    08/28/09

    @Michael Singletary: Huh? I clarified that I'm against unwarranted searches way before you posted.
     Reply
    Danny Allen was starred Danny Allen was unstarred
    Image of phoomp phoomp
    08/28/09

    @Danny Allen: You say you're against unwarranted searches and that there are privacy concerns, but you also roll-over and say "I guess I'm OK with it" when the DHS claims that only 1000 laptops were searched (unwarranted, since all border searches are effectively can be done without a warrant).

    This is exactly how government agencies sneak in invasive policies. First it was to combat terrorism: who's gonna argue against giving up some privacy to fight terrorism? Then it was to fight kiddy porn: who's gonna argue against giving up some privacy to fight kiddy porn? Next, though, it'll be ACTA and we'll want to fight that, even if it's 1 outta 200M, but the policy will already be thoroughly in place by then.
     Reply
    TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment phoomp was starred phoomp was unstarred
    Image of Tim Wayne Tim Wayne
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    "Given those numbers, I guess I'm OK with it. As long as it's only the terrorism and kiddy porn stuff they're after."

    Bullshit. I don't care if some guy on the plane has actual photographs of donkeys having sex with six year old girls - it is not a flight safety issue, which, ostensibly, is why they are snooping through our stuff.

    Bombs. Not contraband. Get it through your head.
     Reply
    Tim Wayne was starred Tim Wayne was unstarred
    Image of The Mikekearn of La Mancha The Mikekearn of La Mancha
    08/28/09

    @Tim Wayne: That is the most disturbingly hilarious way to put something that I also happen to completely agree with. Congratulations, sir.
     Reply
    Danny Allen promoted this comment The Mikekearn of La Mancha was starred The Mikekearn of La Mancha was unstarred
    Image of Danny Allen Danny Allen
    08/28/09

    @mikekearn: Hehe, fair (and disturbing) point. It's a customs thing more than flight safety issue, though.
     Reply
    Edited by Danny Allen at 08/28/09 8:27 AM Danny Allen was starred Danny Allen was unstarred
    Image of Dearhaw Dearhaw
    08/28/09

    In reply to Homeland Security: We Can Still Search Your Laptop, But We'll be Nicer About It
    Low numbers mean squat, if those searches were unwarranted. One, would be one too many.
     Reply
    Danny Allen promoted this comment Dearhaw was starred Dearhaw was unstarred
    Image of Danny Allen Danny Allen
    08/28/09

    @Dearhaw: Agreed. I'm OK with them searching 1000 laptops, but it's the fact they don't need to suspect anything to do so that bothers me.
     Reply
    Danny Allen was starred Danny Allen was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    08/28/09

    @Dearhaw: Different rules apply at the border. Warrants are not needed.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
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