IP: more on The curious irrationality of airport security (Slate)

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Ellen Rony <ellen@rony.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 09:26:36 -0700
To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
Subject: Re: IP: The curious irrationality of airport security  (Slate)

Two tips for those travelling in airports with notebook computers.

1) When you place your computer in a tray to be x-rayed, stand behind it at
the end of the conveyor belt as a barrier.  The laptop of the traveler in
front of me fell on the floor when the security checker reversed the
direction of the conveyor belt to double-check an item.  The fall knocked
out his battery, and who knows what other damage occurred to the notebook.

2) Put address stickers on every individual item that is going to be
x-rayed: luggage, computer, camera, coat, cell phone, PDA, CD-player,
microtape recorder.  If you are stopped to remove shoes or to be wanded,
another traveler could easily pick up your equipment, unintentionally or
not.

Recently, I went to the Social Security Administration office to submit a
name change.  My first visit there, I took a number and sat at the only
small table in the room to complete the requisite forms.  15 people were
seated, awaiting their appointment or turn.

A uniformed guard entered about 25 minutes later and bruskly booted me from
his chair and table.  How was I to know?  Then, he judiciously checked the
purses, bags, coats and briefcases of everyone who arrived AFTER he
returned from lunch.  I guess his assumption was that those of us who
arrived during his absence, without going through his security check, posed
no threat. So here, it was the appearance of security that mattered, not
the security measures themselves.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ellen Rony                    //          http://www.domainhandbook.com
Co-author                  *="  ____ /      http://www.domainsleuth.biz
The Domain Name Handbook      \     )                    ellen@rony.com
                              //   \\
   On the Internet, no one knows you're a nail polish.  Carpe TM.






At 12:07 AM -0400 4/21/02, Dave Farber wrote:
>Slate
>
>
>hey, wait a minute
>
>Checking Out the Checkpoints
>The curious irrationality of airport security.
>
>By Malcolm Gladwell
>Posted Thursday, April 11, 2002, at 12:42 PM PT
>

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