Comments on: Airport “Security” http://geekfriendly.org/blog/10/airport-security/ Posting in spurts. Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:04:54 -0800 hourly 1 By: #904 When you manage to squeeze enough toothpaste out for one last brush « 1000 Awesome Things http://geekfriendly.org/blog/10/airport-security/comment-page-1/#comment-24930 #904 When you manage to squeeze enough toothpaste out for one last brush « 1000 Awesome Things Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:02:36 +0000 http://geekfriendly.org/blog/?p=10#comment-24930 [...] from: here, here, here, and [...] [...] from: here, here, here, and [...]

]]> By: Ron http://geekfriendly.org/blog/10/airport-security/comment-page-1/#comment-17056 Ron Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:09:42 +0000 http://geekfriendly.org/blog/?p=10#comment-17056 I can see your frustration with the airport security rules, however, all of these rules, do have a purpose, and that is to protect the personal safety of everybody on the airplane. I can see your frustration with the airport
security rules, however, all of these rules,
do have a purpose, and that is to protect the personal safety of everybody on the airplane.

]]> By: Peter http://geekfriendly.org/blog/10/airport-security/comment-page-1/#comment-464 Peter Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:23:39 +0000 http://geekfriendly.org/blog/?p=10#comment-464 Dan -- I just read this blog entry having googled the rules for taking a flight. I thought it would be worth a moment of my time to clarify your question, having just read everything the tsa seems to say on the issue and reading between the lines a bit. The issue with the toothpaste, ludicrous as it is, isn't a problem of potentially bringing too much toothpaste into the plane. You're seemingly a smart guy, so you're missing that the rules were not designed for smart people. They were designed specifically so that no decision-making happens on the part of the tsa screener. They are not expected to be smart. They are not expected to understand the mechanics of bombmaking. They are not expected to properly weigh the likelihood of you being a terrorist against the lives of the 200 or so people on your plane and the countless more your plane might harm on the ground. They are given rules that have been meticulously thought through to weigh exactly those likelihoods. They are, by law, not allowed to bend those rules because it is assumed they are far less informed than the people who wrote the rules. Like I said, nobody wants them making field decisions based on their experience. Keep in mind that the rules are not designed to prevent a terrorist attack. They are designed to make it more difficult to perpetrate and, in so doing, make it easier to detect. The ziplock restricts the total volume of liquid. The need to contain it in 3oz portions further limits the volume because of the space taken up by the nonuniform containers themselves as well as the loss of liquid due to its clinging to the inside surface of each container. Sure, a terrorist can make perfectly shaped containers to maximize the volume, but it would certainly get him taken from the line for additional scrutiny. As for your point about how easy it would be to mount an attack regardless of these rules, I can't say that I think you're wrong. But this particular rule seems to be pretty well thought out. --Peter Dan –

I just read this blog entry having googled the rules for taking a flight. I thought it would be worth a moment of my time to clarify your question, having just read everything the tsa seems to say on the issue and reading between the lines a bit.

The issue with the toothpaste, ludicrous as it is, isn’t a problem of potentially bringing too much toothpaste into the plane. You’re seemingly a smart guy, so you’re missing that the rules were not designed for smart people. They were designed specifically so that no decision-making happens on the part of the tsa screener. They are not expected to be smart. They are not expected to understand the mechanics of bombmaking. They are not expected to properly weigh the likelihood of you being a terrorist against the lives of the 200 or so people on your plane and the countless more your plane might harm on the ground.

They are given rules that have been meticulously thought through to weigh exactly those likelihoods. They are, by law, not allowed to bend those rules because it is assumed they are far less informed than the people who wrote the rules. Like I said, nobody wants them making field decisions based on their experience.

Keep in mind that the rules are not designed to prevent a terrorist attack. They are designed to make it more difficult to perpetrate and, in so doing, make it easier to detect. The ziplock restricts the total volume of liquid. The need to contain it in 3oz portions further limits the volume because of the space taken up by the nonuniform containers themselves as well as the loss of liquid due to its clinging to the inside surface of each container. Sure, a terrorist can make perfectly shaped containers to maximize the volume, but it would certainly get him taken from the line for additional scrutiny.

As for your point about how easy it would be to mount an attack regardless of these rules, I can’t say that I think you’re wrong. But this particular rule seems to be pretty well thought out.

–Peter

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