TSA Employee Caught With $200K Worth of Stolen Property 655
The plane moves me or I move the plane? writes "After years of people complaining about their luggage locks being broken in the name of the Transportation Security Administration, and after countless properly-stowed utilities and tools had been scrutinized from a paranoid point of view, an employee of the TSA (which is part of the Department of Homeland Security) has been captured with evidence of over $200,000 worth of stolen property he was selling on eBay. With the help of local police and the USPS, a search of his house found a great deal of property pilfered from the un-witnessed searches that occurred after luggage had been checked, where the rightful owner was not allowed. 'Among the items seized were 66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, 20 cell phones, 17 sets of electronic games, 13 pieces of jewelry, 12 GPS devices, 11 MP3 players, eight camera lenses, six video cameras and two DVD players, the affidavit said.'"
thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
jesus christ.
i'm mailing my shit next time.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, 20 cell phones, 17 sets of electronic games, 13 pieces of jewelry, 12 GPS devices, 11 MP3 players, eight camera lenses, six video cameras and two DVD players
$200K? That can't be right. 11 MP3's are worth that much according to the RIAA.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
Then again maybe the TSA employee felt it was Christmas everyday. Hohoho.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
The partridge and the pear tree were both confiscated after being detected by sniffer dogs patrols operated by the Department of Agriculture. They are now being cared for at the local zoo. At this time the DoA would like to remind all air travellers not to bring in non-native species to any location they are travelling to.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Interesting)
You also face import tariff in almost any country if you ship certain items. That can make it very expensive.
Soon, it is only going to be safe and easy to take whatever you can carry in your pockets or shove up your ass.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
Soon, it is only going to be safe and easy to take whatever you can carry in your pockets or shove up your ass.
So you're saying that the watch my dad wore in Vietnam is the only thing safe when I'm traveling?
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
You shove your laptop, camera and phone up your ass?
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
You can see up your ass?
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
You can see up your ass?
It's always good to have hindsight !
Re:thieves standing around (Score:4, Funny)
Doesn't the TSA offer to do that for you? Maybe I just asked them too many questions...
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
I choose vibrate
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
which is why my laptop, camera, and phone never leave my sight.
You don't have a choice. The TSA has the authority to seize anything. You either give it to them or get arrested and they take it anyway.
The issue here is that instead of following procedure and putting the items in the TSA system, the agent decided to keep them. This is not new. I remember, as a kid, reading about about a customs agent caught keeping items he had seized. Legally. The government charged him with stealing government property. The items in question where never returned to their original owners.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
what i mean is, they don't go into checked luggage, they go with me as carry-on.
and yes, i know that they can do whatever the fuck they want and get away with it.
but what really burns my ass (other than the obvious bullshit with the TSA) is the increasing authoritarianism in the US. and what else really gets me is that people in other countries criticize Americans for this as if we had some say-so in the matter.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course they do. You, personally, might not have voted for the incomptents that are pushing for this sort of thing/not actively working to make it illegal... But many of your peers did.
I'd say that in at LEAST 2/3rds of the conversations I've ever had with Americans about the 2nd amendment, they bring up the idea that a well armed populace will keep the government from doing illegal things, because the populace will call them to account.
I'm not suggesting that shooting people is the appropriate response to luggage being stolen, but I've never once gotten a satisfactory answer as to what will cause the people to rise up. It seems to me that the ability to own shitloads of guns hasn't been used very effectively over the history of the USA to enforce the constitution or the rights of human beings. It still might in the future, but I'm not optimistic. As long as American Idol is still playing, and Walmart is still selling clothes for cheap, the vast majority of the American people seem unwilling to risk their own comfortable lives over things like the contitution, their rights or more particularly, the rights of others.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
correct.
we could, but we *won't*..we won't throw these fucking tyrants out because, because people are fucking sheep.
individuals can't do it, because they'll be arrested and/or shot in the process. we would have to have the whole fucking populace just up and storm the capital buildings, oppressive police districts, etc.
i mean, all at fucking once -- and that's never going to happen.
the slow, steady decline into authoritarianism has no foreseeable end. god, it's depressing.
it's almost enough to make me want to just end it all.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
No, people don't throw them out because people are wolves. Each of them is all too happy to partake in the meal when shit happens to someone else; it's only when shit happens to yourself when the wolf howls a protest, and even then only until it's his turn to eat again.
A tyrant can keep armed populace under control just fine, just as long as he manages to spin it as an opportunity to feast on their neighbours - the American Dream, in other words. As long as each wolf things he can become the Alpha Wolf, he's only too happy to make sure the Alpha has godlike status and no checks on his power.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Well said, ultranova.
The only thing I would add is that not a single gun needs to be touched to oust the current crop of Alpha Wolves. If the populace gave a damn about anything other than making sure that someone else pays for them to go to the doctor, all they have to do is pull lever C instead of A or B. They have to expend exactly ZERO energy beyond what they were already expending.
Sadly, most would rather waste their votes on A or B, deciding HOW all their rights and property will be taken, instead of whether or not it will be taken.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:4, Insightful)
What a pathetic lot US citizens must be. "Oh our government are evil tyrants wiping their asses with our beloved Constitution, taking away our rights, and stealing our precious money. But we can't do anything, because we'd need everybody in the country to act at once. Waah waaaah waaaah I want to kill myself."
What if Osama bin Laden had such a pathetic, cowardly attitude? He never would have started Al Qaeda all by himself and built it into a world-class terrorist organization entirely through his own efforts. Well the other terrorists helped him a bit of course. But Osama bin Laden didn't sit around saying "Well I have to get the entire population of Iraq and Afghanistan to attack the USA at the same time, or it'll never work." No, he got 19 Iraqis and Afghanis and attacked the USA! All by himself! An individual named Osama bin Laden did it.
Sure, the USA got mad at Osama bin Laden for doing that dreadful attack. Sure, they declared war on him, and invaded Afghanistan and Iraq to find him and bring him to justice. But have you noticed? They never caught him. The mighty USA, supposedly the most powerful country in the world, the country that spends more on its military than all the other countries in the world, can't catch Osama bin Laden. The US DOD is spending trillions of dollars every year, and their task is to catch Osama bin Laden and chuck him in Gitmo, but they can't do it.
But apparently you drank the Cherry Flavored Government Kool Aid, and you believe that the US Government is all-powerful and can do what it says it will do. Guess what? They can't. It's over seven years now, and they still can't find that one person they said was their top priority. And guess what? If a few individuals start the American Revolutionary War Part II : Rambo Returns, the government will try very hard to stop those people. But the government certainly isn't guaranteed success. They couldn't catch Osama bin Laden, after all. They couldn't turn Afghanistan or Iraq into peaceful democracies, like they said they would.
The situation is looking pretty grim in the USA at the moment. Many people are realizing they've been swindled. They've seen the bank collapses and the house foreclosures. They've seen that their taxes will go to bailing out the fraudsters who swindled them out of their money and their houses. Many people are losing their jobs. If somebody comes up with a New Declaration Of Independence, and it catches hold of people's imaginations, the Government will be in serious trouble. What happens if large numbers of people stop paying tax? The Government won't be able to afford to pay for all those soldiers, cops, bombers, guns, etc. Obviously the Government wants you to think they can't be beaten. But look at their best efforts. There are still regular suicide bombings in Iraq. There are still people blowing up and shooting US soldiers. Iraq only has 20 million people. If the US Government can't control that lot, how are they going to control 300 million people in the USA?
Simple answer, they can't control the US population with military force. They don't have enough soldiers. Instead they control the US population by causing the people to be afraid, lazy, greedy, and uncertain. And apparently, it's working.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Why exactly would they want to *actually* catch OBL?
He was the new Red Menace. The commie pinko bastard that hides in your closet waiting for you to go to sleep so he can rape your dog, kill your kids and steal your wife.
The New Russian Empire is still building up steam and isn't scary enough yet to have Joe 'The Plumber' Sixpack duck and covering.
Now Joe Schmoe Revolutionary, he's actually a threat to them. The full weight of the government will be thrown against him, without prejudice or restraint.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
"he got 19 Iraqis and Afghanis and attacked the USA"
I presume you mean that "fifteen of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon." (source Wikipedia)
Not sheep (Score:4, Insightful)
Simply paid off. The majority lives off the minority who pays the bulk of the taxes. Income redistribution makes for some very lazy and apathetic people. There is nothing about fairness in a progressive tax, it is all about control.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Funny)
because people are fucking sheep.
Eeeeeewww... I did not know that bestiality was rampant in the USA now.
No wonder all you people ignore what is going on, you to busy shagging sheep to notice.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:4, Insightful)
Remember....
If they are against us, they are Insurgents and Terrorists.
If they are working for us they are Freedom fighters and heros.
The actions of both are identical , naming is simply relative to what side you are on.
If Afghanistan women were strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up enemy (to us) bases we all would be cheering on how they are so patriotic!
War in all it's forms is barbaric and evil. Anyone that denies that is also barbaric and evil.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:thieves standing around (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
The summary is trying to make this about "un-witnessed searches," but this is about dishonest transport employees.
...who only have the opportunity/incentive to be dishonest because of the "un-witnessed searches", yes?
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
We weren't prevented from locking our baggage until a few years ago.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, it used to be that you could carry on all your most valuable items and be able to travel with some degree of personal property security because you were personally in charge of it.
Today the less you carry on, the less hassle you get. Problem now is that everything you check is likely to be rummaged. I've lost diving gear without recourse. Kind of a pain.
I have little interest in traveling by air anymore for just this reason. The less you carry, the better chance of you arriving. I don't think there is any real security considering. For $200,000 from one person, I wonder just how many travelors are victims of robbery there are since HSA versus the number of travelors turned victims from terrorists.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
For $200,000 from one person, I wonder just how many travelors are victims of robbery there are since HSA versus the number of travelors turned victims from terrorists.
There have been 0 acts of terrorism in the US since 2001 unless you count the recent US$700^H^H^H850B bailout.
I am a victim of theft of by the TSA, sometimes they leave a little piece of paper saying that they took something and sometimes they do not. They do not say what they decided to steal.
And no, no matter how many times they ask me at the border, I never lived in Oakland and why do you keep asking me that every time I go through?
Re:thieves standing around (Score:4, Insightful)
Fixed that for you. Don't think that 0 attacks on the news is for the terrorists' lack of trying.
ALL of the attacks on airports, malls, etc. in my adopted home country (the Philippines) since 9/11/2001 would have succeeded in the US. And in the Philippines you must pass through security to even get inside any public building.
Some countries, like the Philippines, have a terrorist problem. Other countries like the US, do not.
And your point is?
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
There have been 0 completed acts of terrorism in the US since 2001 Fixed that for you. Don't think that 0 attacks on the news is for the terrorists' lack of trying.
I should think that informing the public of a successfully prevented attack increases people's confidence in the new counter-terrorist measures, establishes their necessity, and makes people more willing to suffer additional losses of freedom to increase their perceived security.
No. If there had been any real attempts since 2001, the US and the world would have heard of it.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
There have been several completed acts of terrorism in the US since 2001.
Fixed that for you. The Anthrax mailings? The DC snipers? The smiley face bomber? How quickly you people forget.
Yes, you can lock your luggage. (Score:5, Informative)
You're not prevented from locking your luggage. The TSA doesn't want you to lock your luggage because they're searching it after you check it. Therefore, locking it makes it difficult for them. However, if you lock it, they'll deal with it. You might not like the way they deal with it, but they'll deal with it and you've broken no law by locking your luggage. TSA does offer a compromise; you can use one of those locks they have keys to. It's not foolproof; there have been lots of reports of those locks being destroyed. However, it's worth a shot.
Some of us have been forced to learn the ins and outs of this crap in more detail than we wish. If, like me, you travel with firearms, you'll learn that the FAA is statutorily in charge of what can and can't be checked and the TSA can't order me to do anything that violates FAA regs. FAA regs mandate that luggage with firearms must be locked. Period.
There are some tips and tricks for dealing with this situation but they're beyond the scope of this discussion. My point is simply that it's incorrect to say that we're "prevented" from locking our baggage. We most assuredly are not.
Re:Yes, you can lock your luggage. (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Cut the lock off
2. Open the lock because they have a key
In both cases, the result is the luggage is now open and they can steal any property they wish.
Previously, when we could lock the luggage and it would REMAIN locked, we could be assured our stuff would not be stolen. We no longer have that assurance, whether we lock our luggage or not. That's the point the GPP was making...
Re:Yes, you can lock your luggage. (Score:5, Informative)
Well, no they can't at least when traveling with a firearm. You get to have real locks, the bag(s) are inspected in front of you, and you lock 'em. They also can't label it as having a firearm in it, in plain English or in a code/symbol/special tag, other than the bag has been cleared.
And any firearm will do. For under $100, you can get the action (serial numbered part, the part BATFE says is the gun) for a single shot shotgun - you don't need to keep the stock, barrel, etc. attached. You can put it in a camera sized case, locked, and put that in your regular luggage, also locked with a proper lock. Check in, tell them you need to declare a firearm (helps to have your airlines policies printed out, as well as the FAA and BATFE regs), get it checked, adn life is good.
Best part is getting to watch the look on the luggage guys face if your stuff doesn't show up or has been opened. Amazing what the phrase "Will you call the BATFE, or do I need to?" will do.
Of course, this doesn't help with international travel, but for domestic it works like a champ.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:4, Insightful)
Airplane terrorism really isn't all that effective. In contrast, blow a series of holes in the Colonial Pipeline -- 5500 miles of target -- and the eastern seaboard is out of gas: http://kaznak.web.infoseek.co.jp/big/colonialpipeline.jpg [infoseek.co.jp]
Realistically, 9/11 affected a small number of people and the stock market. If the terrorists had taken out a significant portion of the energy infrastructure, America would have simply withered. In other words, the "terrorists" are just media junkies -- it's plain they don't actually want to hurt America at all because if they did, their targets would NOT be airplanes.
Anyway, our response to the "attack" was to attack ourselves, our freedoms, and unrelated countries. We chose to do nothing to actually enhance security, but we have managed to spend ridiculous sums of money and create huge annoyances for ourselves.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah -- flying airplanes into a couple buildings was a tragic event for those affected.
40-50,000 people per year die on the highways. As a result, shall we allow warrantless wiretapping? To we start wars? Do we abandon habeas? It would be really easy to reduce the death rate in all kind of annoying ways. We could shutdown freeways. Mandate all cars have breath test. Require rigorous testing of drivers. Forbid teenage driving.
My point was that terrorists are not "at war" with us -- if they were, they wouldn't pick such useless targets. Our knee jerk response has been ridiculous compared to the actual threat. We have run to the government to build up a police state all around us. Look at any police state ever -- they're all corrupt from the top levels with their bailouts, to the bottom levels with their hands in the luggage or a hand out for a small bribe.
I was in NYC, (Score:4, Insightful)
Fuck you for using them to push your police-state agenda.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, 9/11 was a terrible tragedy. But an even larger tragedy is what we've slowly started to give up since then. The PATRIOT Act and Gitmo and these kinds of things should scare the living shit out of people, but they're seemingly oblivious. The death rate for those killed by terrorism in the United States falls somewhere between suicide by ball peen hammer and death resulting from paper cuts.
Yet, because the single tragedy is so spectacular, we say, "OK, we can live with fewer rights, to protect us from horrible terrorists." Drive the highways in NJ and you'll stop worrying about dying in a terrorist attack.
I'd love for someone to point out to me all the terrorist attacks that have been thwarted by the TSA at airports in the United States since 9/11. Because you know if it happened, it would be all over the news. They'd be shouting, "Look what we did!" Seems like it's more frequent to see some college student getting caught with a gun because he just wanted to prove how crappy security is.
As a conservative, it makes me shudder to think how many fellow conservatives fall in lockstep with this kind of thinking. When the Constitution is sufficiently covered with shit stains, we will be in serious trouble my friends.
Re:thieves standing around (Score:5, Informative)
I could have advised that... in fact, I believe I have. If all of my comments are available for your viewing (I think paid subscribers can see them all) you would know that I am an ex-TSA screener. I screened both baggage and passengers. And in the case of baggage, some screening is done in the presence of the passenger and some is not. (It depends on the air carrier and the airport.)
In any case, the opportunities are very obvious and I have no doubt that temptation plays out as a huge contributor to the problem. Sometimes things are accidentally left out of bags when re-packing them. I know I personally failed to repack a toiletry kit with prescription drugs inside. Unfortunately by the time I realized what I had done, the bag was already loaded onto the plane. I could have simply pushed it aside, but instead I insisted that I be allowed to bring the toiletry bag to the carrier and ultimately to the passenger with my apologies. (I felt it was necessary because I had no idea how critical those drugs may have been.) Also, there are regulations about other things such as compressed gas containers (like hair spray and butane) and even hard liquor above certain volumes. (These are FAA rules, not TSA.)
So it is not uncommon to not put everything back... and because of this, other things slip through. And while I was with TSA, there was no rule about reporting items removed at the time. (There may be now, but there wasn't several years ago.) And while the items removed were "seized" it is unclear, even to myself, what was done with them... big ole bottles of whiskey? I have no idea... I didn't have the balls to want to take any home with me personally, but I am sure some may have.
Now with all that said, these expensive items... well, damn. I feel really bad for the passengers and for the innocent TSA screeners who will now be watched more closely or simply viewed with suspicion. I hope the guy gets nailed to the wall with all sorts of charges and that this story is paraded all around the TSA as an example. But with this said, the problem has always existed. Baggage handlers have been known to steal all sorts of things and even moreso as they often have access to vehicles for carrying things off. (I recall a baggage handler who was busted with a pickup truck full of golf bags and laptop bags... and he had, as I was told, been doing it for YEARS.) Furthermore, in the case of baggage claims, it is quite common to see someone randomly come up to the carousel and pick up bags and walk away with them... treasure hunting. LOTS of stuff goes missing in that way especially.
The short of it? Yes, it is better (and often cheaper these days) to send things via UPS or FedEX! Checking into a hotel? Send it a day in advance and let your hotel know it's coming. Visiting friends or family? Same thing. But if you can't depend on that, there are other rules that allow you to carry extremely valuable things with you in spite of the carry-on limitations. So camera bags and laptops can also go with you even if it doesn't fit in with your carry-on luggage. Simply put: You insist that it is going with you and that it is too important or valuable to be put in with regular luggage.
flying sux (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Funny)
But Ebay is great: A++++ seller, would buy from him again!
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Funny)
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Insightful)
Just curious - will they actually have the right to inspect your property (open your bags) without you being present if you look at it from the strict view of what the constitution says?
More specific the Fourth Amendment [usconstitution.net].
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Of course - X-raying wasn't on the list when that amendment was written, but that should be OK, but as soon as the property is to be opened I would like to first have a warrant and then also be able to contest that before any proceeding.
Has there ever been a court verdict saying that the fourth amendment isn't valid here?
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Interesting)
You waive your rights when you purchase your ticket.
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Interesting)
You cannot waive your constitutional rights (or ammendments therein)
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Insightful)
What are you smoking? A Miranda warning spells out your rights, then asks if you wish to waive them. How much more expicit does it need to get?
Re:flying sux (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:flying sux (Score:4, Informative)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Re:flying sux (Score:4, Informative)
Minor nitpick: There are no Constitutionally-protected rights except through amendments, making the parenthetical a bit redundant.
Bullshit. This is why the Founders were leery of promoting the Bill of Rights, on the grounds someone would argue that "It's not in the Constitution, therefore the people don't have the right".
This is the purpose behind the Ninth Amendment. [usconstitution.net]
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Insightful)
But you forget. It is a voluntary search as you give them permission by boarding. They will say that you did not have to enter the boarding areas that are usually clearly marked.
Oops that still is the rule in Canada but in the US it is no longer the case http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/court-says-trav.html [wired.com] as you pretty much cannot enter the airport without automatically agreeing to be searched at any time.
Oh well, if you drive or take the bus or train you still have some rights that are upheld. But to get people to refuse to fly and hurt the airline industry in a way that makes them listen probably will not happen.
This still leaves private aircraft.
Re:flying sux (Score:4, Insightful)
Its getting to be that if you want to fly somewhere, you FedEx your stuff to your destination, then report to the airport in your birthday suit...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The root problem is that the government claims for itself the power to determine who can and cannot operate aircraft. Similar to taxes and other regulations, you aren't really agreeing to the terms voluntarily when some third party forces every airline to require consent for searches.
To look at this from a different perspective, let's say a law is enacted which requires every merchant to extract an agreement to invasive home inspections before trade can commence. You have the option of not engaging in trade
Re:flying sux (Score:5, Funny)
Cheer up. At least you don't get tased to death.
Who watches (Score:5, Interesting)
(But who is to guard the guardians?)
Juvenal, Satires, circa 120 AD
And there you have it! (Score:3, Insightful)
You yanks are safe from terrorism!
Your own officers is a different matter though...
Told to F-O (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Told to F-O (Score:5, Insightful)
Furthermore, I don't quite see why this is that terribly hard to handle properly. All the searches (yes ALL of them) should be videotaped and the videos held for a duration significantly long enough to permit any traveler to file a claim against any loss. This should be codified into law and rigorously enforced by independent oversight.
Why is this hard?
Yes, I realize the difficulties this would pose of documenting everything everyone is carrying. But this seems inevitable anyway given where we seem to be headed.
There needs to be a deep shift in perception away from the idea that the TSA polices us to the concept that they WORK FOR us. In the same vein, a transition is needed from the idea that we are all criminals to the idea that they are as well. Indeed, if the TSA has nothing to hide surely they wouldn't mind such oversight...
Re:Told to F-O (Score:5, Insightful)
It's much simpler than that... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is any TSA employee allowed to leave the baggage area with a laptop under his arm?
Search the employees on the way out, problem solved.
Let me say this: I am shocken, truly SHOCKED, ... (Score:5, Funny)
one arrest won't even dent this plague (Score:5, Interesting)
These are the modern day (government approved) highwaymen and the only solution I can think of is to label them socially ("you work in airport security? oh dear - is that the time already ...") as the pariahs they really are.
How deep does the rabbit hole go? (Score:3, Interesting)
According to TFA, Brown has been employed as a screener since 2002. How much has he already sold?
Are there more sophisticated screeners in organized crime?
I'm so disgusted we pay people to waste our time, harass us, and steal from us. I'm looking at you, dept. of homeland security and TSA. Go out and get productive jobs, you leaches.
I don't understand... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I don't understand... (Score:5, Insightful)
...why the TSA is allowed to open up packages without the presence of the owner of said packages. If they were forced to page the owner to come back and observe the TSA performing a screening on the contents, that would cut down a lot on the opportunity for this type of theft to occur. If the owner doesn't respond to the page from the TSA, then the package simply is not allowed onboard is a fair policy I think. Also, make sure that the TSA personnel are required to fill out paperwork for every package they page the owners for will cut down on abuse of powers as well.
That's some good thinkin you got there....almost a little too good. You're a witc...er terrorist!
The guy did a great job of keeping our kids safe (Score:5, Funny)
Imagine all the photographs of naked children that could be taken with 66 cameras.
Imagine all the child porn that could be download/stored/viewed using 31 laptop computers.
Imagine all the phone calls paedophiles could make with 20 cell phones.
Imagine all the children that could be lured into a paedophiles house with 17 sets of electronic games, and 13 pieces of jewellery.
Imagine all the children that could be tracked with 12 GPS devices.
Imagine all the children that could be deafened by paedophiles letting children use 11 MP3 players at high volume.
Imagine the sick movies made and viewed using six video cameras and two DVD players.
And the eight camera lenses......dear God the eight camera lenses!!!
Tip of the iceberg? (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember reading a statistic recently citing that over 100,000 laptops were "lost or stolen" within the realm of airline travel. Now I wonder how many of these occurrences are inside jobs.
Re:Tip of the iceberg? (Score:5, Interesting)
I have never, ever trusted TSA enough to put a laptop in my checked baggage when on a business trip.
In some cities, TSA has gotten so rude. Just went through Denver and organization was a mess, helpful signage was sparse to none, and yet somehow they expected passengers to go through security like little inerring automatons. At one point, I had to try to juggle two bins carring my laptop and briefcase (along with a jacket) so that the TSA worker there could replace the stack of bins underneath with a fresh stack of bins. As the passenger next to me said, "Was that really necessary?" Well, who cares? Inconveniencing the flying public is at the heart of their job.
As bad as Denver was, Philly is the worst. The contempt for passengers is thick in the air. I half expect cattle prods to make their appearance there within the next two years.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Why is there any doubt in your mind that the value is less than 100%?
Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess TSA Gangstaz [youtube.com] (NSFW!) was actually a documentary then...
I buy cheap luggage (Score:3)
Then epoxy it together. When I get to my location, I tear it apart and buy more cheap luggage. Problem solved. I suppose now someone will see this and make epoxy illegal.
Re:I buy cheap luggage (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I buy cheap luggage (Score:4, Insightful)
This increases safety and security by ... ? (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember clearly the latter half of September 2001. Of course there were the plastic flags flying from almost every motor vehicle, but what stands out for me is the memory of how I kept scanning the horizon for explosions when I was driving.
I didn't feel safe. Not that I'd ever been safe, but my perception had always been so.
The thing that still puzzles me, though, is how we in the US have tolerated such a rapid erosion of civil liberty. It's not that our documented rights and freedoms haven't been violated all along, but now there are legal provisions--and already some legal precedent--to protect and justify such violations.
Sure, sure, human psychology, thinking with the fear centers of our brains, even the Milgram Experiment--these and more describe how we react to a perceived threat. And fear is known to reduce the blood supply to the brain.
I find it sad to consider that this particular finding will have no effect on the encroachment on human rights in these United States. I suppose this man is just one "bad apple." Like the cases of the prosecuted torturers at Abu Ghraib (and other locations), the years-later finding that the illegal and shocking techniques were known and even encouraged by the entire organization will have no effect on the policies which shall remain in place.
Re:This increases safety and security by ... ? (Score:5, Insightful)
... the memory of how I kept scanning the horizon for explosions when I was driving.
Interesting. I'm British, and born when the "Troubles" started in Northern Ireland. I lived through a number of mainland bombings during that time, one of which I was very nearly injured by (the Bishopsgate bombing [wikipedia.org] on 24 April 1993). The sound of the blast temporarily deafened me and a couple of people I knew were hospitalised. No 9/11 to be sure - but look at that photo.
After the bombing, I don't recall feeling unsafe in London. The English political reaction to the IRA was markedly different to the way the Americans reacted to 9/11 though. There was no security theatre - if anything rather the opposite. The mood was basically that if the bombings changed the way we lived, the IRA would be winning. So we just put up some road blocks in London and deployed armed police around sensitive areas. I would say that made ordinary English people feel pretty good about their safety. Politicians didn't talk about the IRA very much, and we all just lived our lives as normal.
You guys have had it tough I think. Not by the hands of terrorists as much as by the hands of your politicians.
Hey! That's my MacBook (Score:5, Insightful)
but I am comforted to learn from the article that:
I read that as
"CLOSE TO THREE HUNDRED EMPLOYEES HAVE BEEN TERMINATED FOR THEFT!"
The best part... (Score:5, Insightful)
The best part of the article is near the end. Something along the line of "Don't worrie, crimes like these are REALLY rare. Only about 300 TSA employees have ever been fired for theft".
300 employees fired for theft. If you read the article (i know, i know...) the only reason this guy got caught was because he's a retard (putting his return address on the stuff he sells, always using the same name on ebay, etc). So if 300 were caught, there's probably several times that many. Then you add that the TSA has like 40-45 thousand employees... and that adds up to 2/3rd of a percent of their total workforce (of course, the 300 figure is over time, but its still interesting to put the numbers in perspective).
Thats just insane. It takes only one person to steal enough to really ruins some people's days. And here you have -hundreds- (just the ones that were caught!!!). I'll suffer through GreyHound busses, thank you.
Good thing this is the good ol USA, where victims (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh wait, this is real hard property...
That is not exactly an encouraging number.
Slashdot..say it ain't so (Score:3, Funny)
How dare you criticize anything the administration does during any of the wars they fraudulently start.
If you criticize anything you're with the terrorists.
It's all being stolen for your security.
Most of that equipment could be used to access or record information that could undermine the current administration with stuff like facts.
Homeland security.... (Score:5, Insightful)
... sorry but this shit just ain't acceptable.
Its another of a long and growing list of government abuses that are easily amounting to be worse than the terrorism its supposed to be protecting us from.
"Those who sacrifice freedom in exchange for security, will have neither."
who said that?
This is what happens (Score:3, Insightful)
You don't exactly get the best people and you get the opportunity for theft.
That said, my electronics NEVER get checked. They go through the x-ray machine where I can keep a fairly good eye on them.
Look at the numbers! (Score:5, Insightful)
465 transportation security officers have been terminated for theft since May 1, 2003
Does anyone find this a little extreme? That's a little over one firing for theft every 4 days!
Makes one wonder...
Can't say I'm surprised... (Score:3)
What the fuck is up with this?? If this is SOP for Security Theater, the sooner the TSA and DHS fall apart, the better.
TSA (Score:4, Insightful)
Taking Stuff from Airtravelers
Oh the irony (Score:5, Insightful)
The actions of a few individuals in no way reflect on the outstanding job our more than 43,000 security officers do every day to ensure the security of the traveling public," she said.
I'm of South Asian ethnicity and have a few Middle Eastern friends. We're all used to getting the secondary protocol at the airport due to our last names. Funny how they say a few bad TSA employees shouldn't reflect upon the other employees, yet they treat anyone with a brown shade of skin as a criminal.
The real moral of the story (Score:5, Insightful)
But this summer, Brown got too ambitious for his own good, allegedly stealing a $47,900 camera from an HBO crew and a camcorder from a CNN employee, authorities said.
Steal from Joe Sixpack and Lizzy Hockeymom all you want. But don't screw with corporate media!
Cameras in the inspection area (Score:5, Interesting)
If I were in charge of things, there'd be security cameras recording the inspectors. Also, each inspector who opened a bag would be required to stamp his/her identity number on a tag affixed to the bag. If anything was reported missing, those inspectors would be the first ones looked at, particularly if their id number shows up on a lot of bags with missing items.
Re:Cameras in the inspection area (Score:4, Interesting)
A story.... (Score:5, Interesting)
So I have a good friend who is on the rather kinky side. Last year, he went on a trip to a certain event that involved bringing various "toys." So he packed various items into checked luggage, and went through the security screening. When he arrived at his destination and opened his luggage to unpack, he discovered a slip of paper that indicated that his suitcase had been opened by a TSA screener.
What he found remarkable was not the paper itself, but where it had been located. It was very neatly and securely wrapped around a large black rubber dildo.
The first thing that came to mind when he told me this was to ask whether he had put it in some kind of ziploc bag. (I am a big fan of storage bags.) He replied, "Why would I do that?" I then pointed out that perhaps the person who put that paper there would have chosen to "handle things differently" (gloves notwithstanding) had they given some thought as to where this object has been.
The moral of the story, my friends, is don't put anything worth stealing in your checked luggage. For example, I would never put computers or electronic equipment in checked luggage. That is like putting a giant bulls-eye on your stuff, saying, "STEAL ME." And sometimes, putting something a little...distasteful might even help prevent stealing. I imagine the TSA screener wasn't about to abscond with an already-used (though clean, my friend claimed) sex toy.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Because that would cost money. If they had to pay their employees a reasonable salary they'd have to pass the cost on to somebody. So rather than every passenger paying a couple dollars more a flight, they just lose stuff out of random bags.
It's a lottery style payment scheme.
Re:Tis the season.. (Score:5, Funny)
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
Your post was funny.
Re:Government sanctioned theft. (Score:5, Interesting)
I previously read on /. a method of shipping your camera gear safely.
A reader had said he'd purchased a larger aluminum suitcase / roadcase, with foam cutouts for his camera gear, and a flare gun.
Upon arriving at the airport, he'd declare he had a weapon, and check the suitcase as a weapon. It got stored, handled and inspected differently, and he never had any loses.
Seems to make sense to me...
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Government sanctioned theft. (Score:4, Insightful)
I wouldn't consider that unusual at all. If I can get to somewhere by car in 8 hours, I'm not even going to consider flying. I'm not going to save any time or money by flying, and the amount of hassle and stress is far lower.
Re:Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Score:5, Interesting)
And if nobody was supervising him to make sure he didn't steal things, what was to prevent him from introducing dangerous items into the luggage?
How hard would it be for someone with ill intent to get a TSA job?
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)