$500,000 Prize for Faster Airport Security Checks 517
coondoggie writes "A security company is willing to fork over $500,000 in prize money to the person or company that comes up with an innovative
technology to speed airport security lines. The company making the offer, Clear, says the winning technology must meet a number of criteria including TSA approval and it must reduce inconvenience by, for example, allowing for no divesting of shoes or outer garments."
So let me get this straight... (Score:5, Funny)
No, you are incorrect... (Score:4, Interesting)
Like most government million-dollar prizes (such as for the next-generation of battery technology), the prize is a bonus. The government, or in this case the security company, also agrees to purchase X units at whatever it costs you to build (including start-up costs, and usually a profit margin of 6-10%). So, if you have a good idea, and invest your time in making it work, the company will end up giving you millions, but you know that $500,000 will be upfront as an interim reward.
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Thank you, I'll be waiting for my check. you may mail it to... wait this is the internet. contact me directly please.
Re:No, you are incorrect... (Score:4, Insightful)
So your point of view is that suicidal terrorists will somehow dislike the idea of getting into a pitched gunfight on a crowded airliner?
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Re:No, you are incorrect... (Score:5, Funny)
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Now a bombing remains possible.
Easy as Pie (Score:3, Insightful)
please send check to AIK
When do I get my money? (Score:3, Insightful)
Do Nothing.
It will be just as effective, and much cheaper.
When do I get my money?
Stand in line! (Score:3, Funny)
There are many people after this prize and you need to stand in line. To expedite processing please remove your shoes and place your keys and watch in the basket.
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Re:When do I get my money? (Score:4, Funny)
Lisa: That's specious reasoning, dad.
Homer: Why thank you, honey.
Lisa: By your logic, I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: Hmm. How does it work?
Lisa: It doesn't work; it's just a stupid rock!
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: But I don't see any tigers around, do you?
Homer: Hmm... Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
Much Apu About Nothing [wikiquote.org]
Re:When do I get my money? (Score:5, Funny)
Or you always do more profiling, I hear thats popular these days when you don't want people to fly.
You can also put the terror alert level up to code Magma Hot Super Extreme Red. Red means bad, so people will avoid flying for sure then.
Move to another country (Score:3, Informative)
UK security sucks as much if not more than the US (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:UK security sucks as much if not more than the (Score:2)
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The whole thing is a farce- I know (hypothetically of course) of many cases when the scanners haven't spotted knives, lights, liquids, even bullets. Maybe they only spot those sorts of things with the "Evil bit" set??
A simple way to speed up the security queues is by giving more space for taking off coats/shoes/whatever and putting it back on again on the other side.
Then by abolishing the daft rule of "if a man is being searched, th
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Liquids etc. (Score:5, Insightful)
It also applies to medicines:
My mum has multiple sclerosis and the Rebif medication she takes is temperature/pressure sensitive meaning it must be taken on board the plane along with ice packs to keep it cool. The whole thing comes in a pack with quite long needles.When traveling before the liquid restriction she was only required to take a letter from a doctor to confirm that it was essential to carry the medicines on board, although from experience nobody bothered to read it. After the restriction on liquids was put in place she was refused the right to take it on board unless she "tasted" the substance in the ice packs to prove it was not dangerous. Which it is, but only for consumption.
Tastability, to my knowledge, is not an established indicator of a substances ability to combust.
Thankfully, being aware that the substance was toxic, she point blank refused. Eventually they relented and let her through making the whole unpleasant experience rather pointless. I'd have to question the sense - and legality - of coercing people to consume toxic substances as a means of "security".
Re:Liquids etc. (Score:4, Funny)
The whole point behind removing shoes (Score:5, Insightful)
a) We take this seriously.
b) The terrorists are nasty people and they're doing this to you, not us.
c)Keep the whole War On Terror in your face. A scared citizen is a controllable citizen.
If they had the space and could get away with it, they would make everyone strip and get the Rubber Glove.
Re:The whole point behind removing shoes (Score:4, Funny)
We should all be very very thankful that no terrorists have been caught with explosives in their rectums.
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Re:The whole point behind removing shoes (Score:5, Insightful)
Face it, a terrorist is not likely to try to walk through a security check point with something that screams "this is a dangerous weapon, I must be a terrorist, arrest me." If they want to plug holes in security then they need to start with the support crew that have access to the aircraft on the tarmac and the luggage handlers.
Of course they can't do anything about that, they can't even prevent the luggage handlers from stealing whatever they want from the bags they handle. But nobody says much about that anymore. And they seem to think that occasionally catching ground crew smuggling guns and drugs in airplanes is going to make that problem go away.
The best option to improve security is to let people get training and a permit that allows them to carry a weapon anywhere. If you have a significant portion of the population armed at all times then the chance of terrorist getting much further than "I have a bom..." before someone drops them would reduce the chances of such act to virtually zero.
It would probably make most people a lot more polite as well.
Re:The whole point behind removing shoes (Score:5, Insightful)
Then all the terrorist will try to do is to try to take down the plane, taking everyone else with him. It won't hit buildings, but if it'd be legal to get a loaded gun on the plane, so there's not much planning involved.
The key to terrorism is that there's no way to stop any determined person from doing a very significant amount of damage. Stop one method, and another one will replace it. It's unavoidable.Re: (Score:3, Funny)
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Incidentally, the lesson for terrorists everywhere is to do what Jesus would do: Wear sandals and make sure that everyone thinks that you'v
Re:Move to another country (Score:5, Interesting)
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You joke, but my parents know someone who heads a polka band (no jokes please), who, when he goes to Europe, takes nothing with him but the clothes on his back and his ticket. He buys everything he needs in Europe and leaves it all behind when he comes back.
Here's my suggestion (Score:4, Insightful)
There ya go, no need to take shoes off or all that other ridiculousness.
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I noticed a trend in the kind of person that attacked on 9/11.
Oh wait, that's racial profiling, and we can't do that. We have to waste EVERYBODY's time to make sure some people's feelings aren't hurt.
Or even easier would be to just arm everybody.
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Only takes one.
I'll take those odds. If over 90% of the terrorists attempting to attack the US are of Middle Eastern descent, but only 1% of the travelers are, then that means they're far, far overrepresented in the dirtbag category. You don't have to be a statistician to figure out that 75 year old American women deserve less attention than 25 year old men from Saudi Arabia.
Olive complexion? Beard? Going to hassle anyone who isn't blonde-haired and blue-eyed and might be stressed about flying?
Olive
How about... (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes and no (Score:2)
I'm not a fan of show-business as security, and I do believe that the USA could clean up its act... a lot. So far from me to speak against that idea.
That said, believing that just because you're nice, everyone will treat you nicely... is a bit naive.
- Some people will hate you just because they're crazy and suffering from various delusions, and in their deranged mind you're the Antichrist. Sad to say, paranoid schiophrenia is very real.
- Some people are simply sociopaths and simply don't gi
Re:Yes and no (Score:4, Funny)
Come again?
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Heck, (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe if we get it up to $500,007 dollars, they'll get it here sooner.
Easy. (Score:5, Insightful)
Over 50,000 die each year in the US on the highways. If the same "zero tolerance" rule was applied to cars, then all cars would be required by law to remain at speeds below 15mph, would be covered in big foam bumpers, and would require five point safety harnesses and helmets. To maintain the effectiveness of automobiles, we don't do this. As part of acknowledging that risk exists and that we're responsible for our lives, we make tradeoffs.
Absolute security is impossible. It also makes people complacent.
Nobody will ever succesfully hijack a plane the way those were in 2001, because we've all seen a possible outcome. The TSA is the embodiment of the old saying that generals always "plan for previous war".
Where do I collect my check? Or is the painfully obvious exempt?
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Re:Easy. (Score:5, Insightful)
And as Bruce Schneier [schneier.com] likes to point out, if we can't keep weapons (improvised or otherwise) out of prisons, how can we have any possible expectation of keeping them out of airports and off of airplanes?
Re:Easy. (Score:5, Insightful)
Compare this to when someone reports a bag of garbage sitting on an overpass and the police close the road for hours so they can blow it up. Hasn't anyone told the police that there are garbage cans full of potential explosives sitting right at the security terminal?
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Of course, the *real* purpose of the security checks is NOT to protect the passengers. It's to protect the airplane, airline, and things onto which the airplane might crash. Still, you have a valid point.
Perhaps passengers should simply be warned that any plane that gets hijacked, gets shot down without negotiation and we, as a society live with that. Problem solved.
Ooh! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ooh! (Score:4, Insightful)
Pause
"Oh wait, this one...no...uh...THIS one goes in your mouth."
- "Idiocracy"
Easy.... (Score:5, Insightful)
In fact, I think I'll use my Florida permit next time I fly as my "state issued picture ID".
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Sure, the decompression thing is kind of mythically scary, but a
Still, I can't see many people going for that kind of thing,
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Also, having 2 armed, armored, and properly trained air marshals (or similar) at the front of the plane facing backwards in jump seat with 5 point harnes
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Though there are some who argue that concealed carry permit holders should be ultra-secretive about the fact that they have this permit, I think it's an excellent thing to use anytime someone demands a "state-issued ID" or "government ID." a) it's confusing to people who don't realize they exist, which (sadly) is a pretty big group b) it's informative to those same people, might get some of them thinking about i
New Invention: Freedom (Score:4, Insightful)
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Unfortunately, because we have already portrayed ourselves AS a victim, even if we did this, we would still have issues. You can't stop every scenario.
My brother used to say that you can put bars on your windows and security cameras on your house and an electric fence and everything but if a thief truly wants in, they will ALWAYS find a way and
Naked (Score:3, Funny)
Where can I claim my prize?
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Won't your face be red the first time someone sneaks [insert weapon] on a plane up their bum.
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There's *no way* I want to see those folks naked.
Chip H.
I heard that my favorite science company (Score:4, Funny)
http://aperturescience.com/ [aperturescience.com]
Talk about R&D outsourcing, eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, they are paying for someone's idea or someone's implementation (equipment design and the like)? If the former, $500K sounds good; if the latter, $500K is pocket change: research ain't cheap.
Anyway, I have one idea: how about reverting back to the pre 9/11 era modus operandi? I mean, c'mon, it is not like a "hijack-and-ram-into-building" stunt is going to work again anyway... The only real worries should be bombs and guns on board, which we managed in an acceptable way back in the 90's.
Another idea is to stop messing with the political affairs in other countries. But that doesn't sound appealing to their prospective neocon customers, does it?
fp?
Occam's Razor my friend.. Occam's razor... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Occam's Razor my friend.. Occam's razor... (Score:5, Funny)
My colleague who has a bolt holding his knee together would be strongly opposed to this plan, methinks.
Then again, I suppose he _could_ be a Terminator.
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No divesting of outer garments? (Score:2, Funny)
my submission (Score:3, Funny)
The travelers arrive in the entrance hall here, and are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort and past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives.
The last twenty feet of the corridor are heavily soundproofed.
The blood pours down these chutes and the mangled flesh slurps into these...
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End the Security Theater? (Score:5, Insightful)
If containers of fluids are dangerous, why are they just thrown away next to the security lines? When the hell is a knife going to help you against a group of 50 angry people in a small enclosed space?
If you search the people getting on the plane, what about the luggage? If luggage handlers can steal stuff from luggage and sneak it out of the airport, what is to prevent that same person from sneaking a bomb into the plane, in place of the stuff they stole? If we are going to search the pilot, why not search the mechanic, and make sure he didn't sabotage the plane?
If you have a security check, then the line to get thorough the check becomes a target. It doesn't matter where you move that check, since it takes time to go through, you have a bunch of people there, and thus a suicide bomber would just blow themselves up there.
Why do Americans not care about their 4th amendment [wikipedia.org] rights to not be searched, and why is simply wanting transportation sufficient cause or not unreasonable?
Re:End the Security Theater? (Score:5, Insightful)
That very thought struck me the first time I flew after 9/11. There were upwards of five hundred people piled up behind the security gates, and there were lines with even more people snaking across the area in front of the ticket counters. How much security do you have to pass through to get up to the security check? None, of course. All they did was make planes less desirable as targets and provided an even higher-value target entirely outside of all the new protections.
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If you have no problems with the current situation, fine. You can give up your amendment rights all you want, since someone in that situation is so used to giving up their rights that they don't even know fo the ones they have. If you do have pro
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So many hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved if, instead, the passengers had retaken one of the planes headed for the WTC...
Nudity (Score:2)
*shudder* (Score:2)
Two Step Plan (Score:5, Insightful)
2. Eliminate the facade that is security the check.
People are still removing shoes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Are people in other regions of the US seeing this recent development? For what it's worth, I was traveling with United.
Re:People are still removing shoes? (Score:5, Funny)
I think that had more to do with your foot hygine than with any change in policy.
Hmm, too bad.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Because changing the laws or TSA guidelines to drop these required checks would probably be the best way - or at least the way that makes the most sense. The checks at airports don't provide much real security - mostly, they are there to provide a (false) sense of security. According to several [schneier.com] reports [schneier.com], the checks don't actually catch most real threats at all (and even very low-tech threats like knives slip through a lot of the time), and are just costing everyone involved a lot of time/money. Also see snake oil security [schneier.com].
Not that the EU is much better in this regard btw - the ridiculous bans on liquids on planes are still in place, even though the European Parliament wants to lift those (at some point).
Are security lines *really* that bad? (Score:2)
Yeah, taking your shoes off sucks, and they can stop being paranoid about deodorant any time now as far as I'm concerned, but the actual waiting period seems very tolerable. A shoe-scanner and some Prozak for the TFA guys would take care
this will work, but won't be cheap (Score:4, Interesting)
1. Walk through detector for both metal/explosives. Appendages like those found on drive through car washes "lick" the shoes.
2. Carry on scanned same way, with automated "tongues" sampling the residue on the bags.
3. KEY: Everyone, and I mean everyone, on board gets their own Taser. Its clipped into the seat in front of you, right next to the phone! Locked of course until released by the captain (or head flight attendant (the one with the dirty knees?? (had too))). These would be the newly developed "Taser in a shotgun shell" where the entire electronics package is delivered to the target, rather than the wires running from the gun to the target.
4. Profit!!!!
So you breeze through the detectors, which should catch 99% of the nasties coming through, and for the 1% they miss, you've got enough non-deadly force, non-going through the skin of the airplane causing explosive decompression, armed passengers to quell any threat.
Worst case scenario would be a Taser battle in coach!
I guess this is more of "an innovative use of existing technology" rather than "an innovative technology" other than the new "Taser in a shotgun shell", but it meets the criteria.
Where's my half mil?
Airline responsibility + free market (Score:4, Interesting)
Let the airlines make whatever policies they wish, implement them as they wish. Anything from 'Come on aboard, no questions asked!' to strip searching and anal cavity inspections. The customers will reward the airline whose policy makes the most sense with lots of money.
The other side of the coin is that the airlines' insurers would work to make sure that the policies were effective. If your plane gets hijack, and flown into a building, your premiums go WAY up.
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easy (Score:4, Insightful)
- Tell TSA whiteshirts to "work faster"
- Add more lanes
- Actually use all the lanes you already have
Boom. Where's my $500,000 ?The captain obvious solution (Score:2)
Please send me my $500k check, thanks!
The airline issue (Score:2)
And anyway - the majority of people boarding an airplane aren't going to blow it up.
The metal detectors in use are a relatively good way of detecting weapons. Use of other detectors to sniff out nitrate compounds is the best option. Of course - there are explosives that aren't based on nitrogen compounds - but they are rarer. Removal of any lighters and matches will also be a good step - but it's harder to detect.
And hand
not possible with given conditions... (Score:5, Funny)
the winning technology must meet a number of criteria including TSA approval and it must reduce inconvenience
Isnt that the problem? That those two conditions are mutually exclusive? If you have one, you automatically do not have the other.
Technology is already there - fix is simple/cheap (Score:2)
As people tired, you would pull them out of line and send them onto planes so that they would not be slowing down the line. We already have separate lines for people with disabilities so that's not a problem.
Easy (Score:2)
Got it... (Score:2)
Or have everyone travel naked. Ramsey and Trojan would benefit the most with the dire need of seat condoms using this method.
Don't make me chug my coffee (Score:3, Insightful)
Repeat after me:
My beverage is not a national security threat.
Mod up a fleet of Roombas (Score:2, Interesting)
Load those Roombas with floor wax and you have the cleanest, safest airport in the county.
You may donate my winnings to the NASA program dedicated to robotic missions on Mars.
Insurance (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Insurance (Score:4, Funny)
Thanks.
Forehand knowledge of number of passengers (Score:5, Insightful)
Use the knowledge you already have. It's not that tricky.
Lock the cabin door (Score:4, Interesting)
Assuming this is true (or so nearly true that a little R&D could make it true very soon), the best solution would be to strongly lock the pilot's cabin prior to boarding. Then, if a hijacker tried to take over the plane, the pilot could just press a "We've been hijacked" button and the plane would 1) send out an automated signal informing control towers of this fact, 2) divert course for the nearest airport, and 3) land the plane with no further assistance from the pilot.
This way, even if the hijackers managed to force their way into the cabin, they would be powerless to disable the "We've been hijacked" controls and the plane would land anyway.
This doesn't take into account a plane bomber, but it eliminates the possibility of another 9-11.
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This way a hijacker that threatens to kill passengers can do so, but it would be futile. Sure there would be an outrage if the plane landed with 300 corpses, but then again if the hijacker took over and crashed the plane into an important building, there would be much worse damage. Once the plane is in the air, th
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Before 9/11, yes. Now ? Not so, I believe. And practically it'd be hard to kill 300 people by hand or gun of you're alone.
Private Companies (Score:3, Interesting)
Boarding takes longer than security (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the $500,000 should go to someone who speeds up the amount of time it takes to get on and off a plane. That's where the most time is wasted.
How about building some trains? (Score:3, Insightful)
Gimme my $500k! (Score:3, Insightful)
Hell, someone could walk into the lobby area with a bomb vest and kill far more than could board a plane by simply being there, without aircraft ever being involved.
Or crap, just get everyone in the US hooked on PCP, that does away with natural senses of fear altogether, and when there's no fear, there's no terror, let alone terrorism.
Re:Religious profiling (Score:4, Insightful)
UP AGAINST THE WALL TERRORIST! NOW!
Or maybe let's celebrate our diversity and not use knee-jerk reactions as policy, eh?