Schneier, Journalist Poke Holes In TSA Policies 296
Fallen Andy points out an article in The Atlantic written by Jeffrey Goldberg. He and Bruce Schneier teamed up to put the TSA's policies to the test at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They found plenty of evidence for security theater, and rather less for actual security. Quoting:
"'The whole system is designed to catch stupid terrorists,' Schneier told me. ... As I stood in the bathroom, ripping up boarding passes, waiting for the social network of male bathroom users to report my suspicious behavior, I decided to make myself as nervous as possible. I would try to pass through security with no ID, a fake boarding pass, and an Osama bin Laden T-shirt under my coat. I splashed water on my face to mimic sweat, put on a coat (it was a summer day), hid my driver's license, and approached security with a bogus boarding pass that Schneier had made for me. ... 'All right, you can go,' [an airport security supervisor] said, pointing me to the X-ray line. 'But let this be a lesson for you.'"
Re:lol (Score:5, Informative)
George Carlin had that nailed years and years ago when he said security is there to make the white middle-class feel safe. There is simply no way to make it safe, too many variables.
RIP George.
Printable single page version (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not true (Score:1, Informative)
The 20-30 times I've flown in the past several years, my ID has never been checked with my boarding pass. I'm sure of this because as soon as I'm through the xray machines, I put my wallet with my ID and all my other documentation except the boarding pass for that particular flight into my carry on bag. They don't check ID at the gate against your boarding pass in the U.S....unless, perhaps, you're flying International.
Re:So what if he had terrorist propaganda? (Score:3, Informative)
Hasn't stopped them before. [aclu.org]
Re:Well... (Score:5, Informative)
Is it? How about kids being fingerprinted to enter Disneyland?
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/01/walt-disney-world-fi.html [boingboing.net]
http://disney.families.com/blog/disney-world-implementing-new-fingerprint-scanner-security [families.com]
Re:Not true (Score:4, Informative)
Don't some of our TV programming and films make it over the border? After seeing those, are you surprised to see U.S. government and industry collaborating on something that's kind of stupid?
They check ID against your boarding pass at security. They don't (at least here in the U.S.) check either against the "no-fly" list, at least for domestic flights. (IIRC I did have to zip my passport over a reader on flights to Japan, and I'm presuming that it checked me against the list.)
You buy a ticket with a fake name, say "Omar K. Ravenhurst" [westnet.com], and stolen a credit card number. The ticketing system finds no "Omar K. Ravenhurst" on the no-fly list, so lets the transaction through,
With a little PDF manipulation, you print out a boarding pass for "Omar K. Ravenhurst", and one for your real name, "John Smith".
You show the "John Smith" ID and boarding pass at security, then the "Omar K. Ravenhurst" boarding pass at the gate. You're allowed on the plane. and the party starts.
Or heck, you show the "Omar K. Ravenhurst" pass at security, and claim to have forgotten your ID. They let you through, just like they let through the author of TFA. You're allowed on the plane. Hilarity ensues.
Or you do what many 19-year-olds do every day and get a fake ID and match it up with your stolen card number. It's not like terrorists can't counterfeit ID cards, or get "genuine" ones from the DMV with fake birth certificates or by bribing an employee. (And "REAL ID" bullshit won't much change that.)
Or you do what many of the actual 9/11 terrorists did and use your actual goddamn ID, because the odds are damn good that you're not on the list anyway since this is your first suicide hijacking...
Re:Schneier bothers me (Score:5, Informative)
They're not interested in catching terrorists Bruce!
He rocks the boat, but he never connects the dots.
Yeah, sure he doesn't.
That's why he says things like these:
much of our country's counterterrorism security spending is not designed to protect us from the terrorists, but instead to protect our public officials from criticism when another attack occurs. [schneier.com]
what I've come to call security theater: security primarily designed to make you feel more secure. [schneier.com]
Re:Whom does this surprise? (Score:4, Informative)
Q: Why did the [nation X citizen] sprinkle salt on the road?
A: To keep elephants away.
Q: But there are no elephants in [Nation X].
A: See, it's working!
Maybe instead, the drop in hijacking attempts means that potential hijackers who aren't suicidal terrorists (historically, the bulk of hijackers) have figured out that attempting to hijack a plane these days is effectively suicidal because the non-hijackers in the plane will mob you with no concern for your welfare. A free plane flight to Cuba just isn't worth the risk because the odds of success are so low. Knock over a [place of business] for funds and arrange proper transportation (though Mexico or the Caribbean) instead.
Apparently hijackers have a better feel for the actual risks in hijacking than the sheeple like you. The first thing I remember saying when I found out, after the fact, that planes had been hijacked and crashed into the WTC towers was "That'll never happen again". That was clear no matter what the TSA did.
Re:Schneier bothers me (Score:3, Informative)
United 93 was the fourth plane.
Re:So what if he had terrorist propaganda? (Score:1, Informative)
Wasn't somebody denied boarding at an airport a couple of years ago because he was wearing a shirt that had Arabic writing on it?