I assumed that security would be even tighter at Washington National (DCA), what with it being in the Nation's Capital, home to half of the 9/11 attacks, etc...
Having learned from my mistakes last week, I walked up to the Northwest desk with the boarding pass issued to me by the easy-checkin machine, and asked them to print me up a new one marked "SSSS" as I did not have ID. After verbally confirming that I was without ID, the agent printed me out a new pass.
Next stop: The TSA Checkpoint.
The contractor manning the pre-checkpoint security station received the news rather well (Note: "I don't have ID" works far better than "I am envoking my court-recognized right not to show ID", esp. for 8 dollar an hour security folks who don't want their jobs made more difficult). She wrote the words "NO ID" in very large red letters on my boarding pass, and shoo'ed me into the checkpoint line.
Alas, at DCA, selectees/terrorists to be must stand in the same lines as everyone else, and so I didn't get rushed to the front as at Indianapolis.
DCA, at least at the domestic Northwest checkpoint, has 2 lines. One line with just an x-ray/metal detector, and another with a High Tech "Smiths" creepy puffer machine.
As opposed to other airports where you are randomly selected for the puffer machine, at this airport, everyone going through the sole-xray line is spared the puffer treatment, and everyone unfortunate enough to think that the puffer line is shorter is subjected to a few blasts of air.
I approached the guy manning the Smiths machine - handed him my boarding pass (clearly marked "SSSS" and "NO ID"), and explained that I did not want to go through the puffer machine, and that I was happy to undergo additional screening.
2 supervisors later, after carefully explaining to me that by not going through the Smiths machine, that they would be looking at every individual item in my carry on bag, they let me skip it.
Success. Thus, while Indianapolis airport's TSA folks insisted that I go through the puffer machine, the folks at DCA let me skip it after speaking to a supervisor.
The rest of the story is the same as Wednesday for the most part. Again, they tried to take away my sex lube, and yet again, I had to pull over a supervisor and remind her of what the TSA website states.
Other than that. I yet again made it onto an airplane without showing a single piece of ID, and the entire search/TSA experience didn't take more than 15 minutes.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
TSA Love
I flew from Indianapolis to Washington DC yesterday. Given that my flight was pretty early in the afternoon, and with a fairly free schedule, I figured I'd take John Gilmore up on the public challenge he issued earlier in the summer, and try to fly without my ID.
I arrived at Indy airport at 4:30ish, walked straight to the computer-easy-checkin machine that Northwest had at the curbside, inserted my credit card, selected my seats, and then promptly recieved my boarding pass. A friendly Northwest employee assisted me with the touch-screen which needed to be pressed rather firmly, but didn't ask for any ID.
Score. With my boarding pass in hand, I walked to the security checkpoint for the northwest terminal.
However, before I could get to TSA, I had to pass the 3rd party contractors who check ID/boarding passes. I walked up to a friendly 70 year old woman with a uniform on, gave her my boarding pass, and told her that I was declining to show ID. I didn't want to make her life too difficult, and asked her if I could speak to one of the TSA officers.
It seems that these guys are paid by the airlines, and not TSA - and as such, their responsibility is to the airline paying them. She had been told not to let people past without an ID, or a boarding pass stating that they didn't have an ID, and so she walked me to the Northwest checkin counter.
There, I spoke to their head supervisor. I explained what I was doing, that I was exercising my right to not show ID, and that I would be happy to undergo secondary screening. She was really nice, and told me that in the future, I should just tell them I had forgotten my ID (as there are standard procedures to deal with this). She had one of her employees print me up a new boarding pass which clearly listed me as "SSSS" - which is their lingo for Secondary Screening Selectee.
Armed with this new boarding pass, I was ushered into a special line at the TSA checkpoint, allowing me to bypass all the other people in line. Not bad! As I approached the x-ray machine, the words "We have a number 2 coming" were echoed down the line of TSA employees. It seems that SSSS = Number two.
In general, I tend to refuse to be screened by the fancy GE entryscan machines - the high tech gadgets that shoot air at you, and then analyze the particles which it dislodges. They freak me out, and I consider them a intrusion into my private space. After all, you never know what they're checking for, in addition to bomb making chemicals.
I declined to go through the easyscan machine as normal, and was mid-way through being hand-searched by a TSA guy with a hand-held metal detector when a supervisor came over, and informed me that as an SSSS selectee, I didn't have the right to decline the GE air-shooting machine. I could either submit to a search by the machine, or I could not fly. If I had any objection to this choice, he would be happy to summon a police officer who could explain it to me.
I could easily see that this could turn nasty, so I took down his name, got the business card of the TSA customer service person assigned to Indy airport, and consented to the creepy air-blast search.
Once that was done, they moved on to searching my bags...
The only thing worth mentioning, is that I had brought a bottle of personal lubricant (i.e. KY Jelly) - after seeing it on the TSA website as one of the medical necessity liquid items that you're allowed to bring.
During the rather extensive search of my bag, they of course found this.
The exchange went something like this:
TSA screener: You can't have this sir.
Me: I checked the TSA website, it says I can have 4.0oz of KY. That's 3.8. It's allowed.
TSA screener: I'm sorry sir, no liquids.
Me: Please get your supervisor.
The supervisor arrives..
Me: I checked your website, and this is on the list of approved items.
TSA Supervisor 1: No. You are not allowed to take it onboard.
Me: But the website....
TSA Supervisor 1: The sign over there says no liquids. That means no liquids.
Me: Can I speak to your supervisor?
Finally, a 2nd supervisor arrives:
Me: I checked your website. It clearly states I can have this. Why am I being forbidden from taking it on?
TSA Supervisor 2: That is for items of medical necessity like preperation H.
TSA Supervisor 2: What medical necessity do you have that you need KY on board?
Me: Are you a doctor? Are you qualified to decide what is and isn't a medical necessity. It's on the website as approved.
TSA Supervisor 2 grumbles and then intructs the junior officer to test the KY
for bomb-materials and then let it through.
Success!
In the end, the screening process took about 10 minutes - it was quite interesting to see them all at work. I successfully boarded an airplane without showing a single piece of ID to anyone at the airport, and managed to get bottle of sex lube onto
the plane without TSA taking it away.
I've emailed the TSA customer service rep to get a clarification on the SSSS/mandatory air-blast test issue, and to also find out why all of the TSA
staffmembers are not aware of the list of approved liquids.. I'll update the blog
once I hear back.
I arrived at Indy airport at 4:30ish, walked straight to the computer-easy-checkin machine that Northwest had at the curbside, inserted my credit card, selected my seats, and then promptly recieved my boarding pass. A friendly Northwest employee assisted me with the touch-screen which needed to be pressed rather firmly, but didn't ask for any ID.
Score. With my boarding pass in hand, I walked to the security checkpoint for the northwest terminal.
However, before I could get to TSA, I had to pass the 3rd party contractors who check ID/boarding passes. I walked up to a friendly 70 year old woman with a uniform on, gave her my boarding pass, and told her that I was declining to show ID. I didn't want to make her life too difficult, and asked her if I could speak to one of the TSA officers.
It seems that these guys are paid by the airlines, and not TSA - and as such, their responsibility is to the airline paying them. She had been told not to let people past without an ID, or a boarding pass stating that they didn't have an ID, and so she walked me to the Northwest checkin counter.
There, I spoke to their head supervisor. I explained what I was doing, that I was exercising my right to not show ID, and that I would be happy to undergo secondary screening. She was really nice, and told me that in the future, I should just tell them I had forgotten my ID (as there are standard procedures to deal with this). She had one of her employees print me up a new boarding pass which clearly listed me as "SSSS" - which is their lingo for Secondary Screening Selectee.
Armed with this new boarding pass, I was ushered into a special line at the TSA checkpoint, allowing me to bypass all the other people in line. Not bad! As I approached the x-ray machine, the words "We have a number 2 coming" were echoed down the line of TSA employees. It seems that SSSS = Number two.
In general, I tend to refuse to be screened by the fancy GE entryscan machines - the high tech gadgets that shoot air at you, and then analyze the particles which it dislodges. They freak me out, and I consider them a intrusion into my private space. After all, you never know what they're checking for, in addition to bomb making chemicals.
I declined to go through the easyscan machine as normal, and was mid-way through being hand-searched by a TSA guy with a hand-held metal detector when a supervisor came over, and informed me that as an SSSS selectee, I didn't have the right to decline the GE air-shooting machine. I could either submit to a search by the machine, or I could not fly. If I had any objection to this choice, he would be happy to summon a police officer who could explain it to me.
I could easily see that this could turn nasty, so I took down his name, got the business card of the TSA customer service person assigned to Indy airport, and consented to the creepy air-blast search.
Once that was done, they moved on to searching my bags...
The only thing worth mentioning, is that I had brought a bottle of personal lubricant (i.e. KY Jelly) - after seeing it on the TSA website as one of the medical necessity liquid items that you're allowed to bring.
During the rather extensive search of my bag, they of course found this.
The exchange went something like this:
TSA screener: You can't have this sir.
Me: I checked the TSA website, it says I can have 4.0oz of KY. That's 3.8. It's allowed.
TSA screener: I'm sorry sir, no liquids.
Me: Please get your supervisor.
The supervisor arrives..
Me: I checked your website, and this is on the list of approved items.
TSA Supervisor 1: No. You are not allowed to take it onboard.
Me: But the website....
TSA Supervisor 1: The sign over there says no liquids. That means no liquids.
Me: Can I speak to your supervisor?
Finally, a 2nd supervisor arrives:
Me: I checked your website. It clearly states I can have this. Why am I being forbidden from taking it on?
TSA Supervisor 2: That is for items of medical necessity like preperation H.
TSA Supervisor 2: What medical necessity do you have that you need KY on board?
Me: Are you a doctor? Are you qualified to decide what is and isn't a medical necessity. It's on the website as approved.
TSA Supervisor 2 grumbles and then intructs the junior officer to test the KY
for bomb-materials and then let it through.
Success!
In the end, the screening process took about 10 minutes - it was quite interesting to see them all at work. I successfully boarded an airplane without showing a single piece of ID to anyone at the airport, and managed to get bottle of sex lube onto
the plane without TSA taking it away.
I've emailed the TSA customer service rep to get a clarification on the SSSS/mandatory air-blast test issue, and to also find out why all of the TSA
staffmembers are not aware of the list of approved liquids.. I'll update the blog
once I hear back.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Facebook fun
Now that I'm a student again, it's time to join the masses and start playing with facebook.
I'll leave it to plenty of other people out there to point out how insane it is that people post rather important information on themselves. For fun, do a quick search for people between the age of 18-20 who list beer as a hobby/interest.
It's a shame that federal student loan data is private (and probably a federal crime to dig through if its not private) - as it'd be a rather fun query to see the intersection of students who list marijuana as an interest and those who receive student aid - given that you lose your right to get student aid forever if you ever get caught smoking pot.
So instead, lets focus on another fun feature of Facebook... privacy.
A user can specify that their profile is private, and thus only their friends can view it. Someone browsing through profiles will just see their name, a photo, and their school/year.
However, if you search for specific terms, Facebook will return all positive matches - including those people who have marked their profile as private.
Case in point. Which IU students moonlight at strip clubs in Bloomington:
http://indiana.facebook.com/s.php?adv&k=10010&n=-1&cy=Night%20Moves&o=4
http://indiana.facebook.com/s.php?adv&k=10010&n=-1&cy=Legends&o=4
From this, we learn that [redacted] ('06) works at Night Moves, but her profile is public, so this is not such a revelation.
However, far more interesting is that [redacted] ('07) also works there, and has marked her profile as private.
And what the hell. Since we're looking, it's also worth noting that [redacted] lists marijuana as one of her interests: [redacted facebook query]
Now, what about Legends.
Well, this is somewhat tougher.
[redacted] ('10), [redacted] ('09) and [redacted] ('06) all return a positive match.
[redacted]'s profile is public, and reveals the fact that she works at the Legends Title company. Drat, it seems there are false positives due to common names.
However, a quick search for Legends Title only returns Shelley's name (http://indiana.facebook.com/s.php?adv&k=10010&n=-1&cy=Legends%20Title&o=4), thus leading me to believe that either [redacted] and [redacted] work at the Legends strip club in Bloomington, or some other company whose name has legends in it.
Clearly, this is not foolproof.
I'm willing to bet that in the case of Night Moves, we won't have any false positives due to the uniqueness of that company's name.
And the moral of this story is:
Just because you mark something private on facebook, doesn't necessarily mean it is private....
I'll leave it to plenty of other people out there to point out how insane it is that people post rather important information on themselves. For fun, do a quick search for people between the age of 18-20 who list beer as a hobby/interest.
It's a shame that federal student loan data is private (and probably a federal crime to dig through if its not private) - as it'd be a rather fun query to see the intersection of students who list marijuana as an interest and those who receive student aid - given that you lose your right to get student aid forever if you ever get caught smoking pot.
So instead, lets focus on another fun feature of Facebook... privacy.
A user can specify that their profile is private, and thus only their friends can view it. Someone browsing through profiles will just see their name, a photo, and their school/year.
However, if you search for specific terms, Facebook will return all positive matches - including those people who have marked their profile as private.
Case in point. Which IU students moonlight at strip clubs in Bloomington:
http://indiana.facebook.com/s.php?adv&k=10010&n=-1&cy=Night%20Moves&o=4
http://indiana.facebook.com/s.php?adv&k=10010&n=-1&cy=Legends&o=4
From this, we learn that [redacted] ('06) works at Night Moves, but her profile is public, so this is not such a revelation.
However, far more interesting is that [redacted] ('07) also works there, and has marked her profile as private.
And what the hell. Since we're looking, it's also worth noting that [redacted] lists marijuana as one of her interests: [redacted facebook query]
Now, what about Legends.
Well, this is somewhat tougher.
[redacted] ('10), [redacted] ('09) and [redacted] ('06) all return a positive match.
[redacted]'s profile is public, and reveals the fact that she works at the Legends Title company. Drat, it seems there are false positives due to common names.
However, a quick search for Legends Title only returns Shelley's name (http://indiana.facebook.com/s.php?adv&k=10010&n=-1&cy=Legends%20Title&o=4), thus leading me to believe that either [redacted] and [redacted] work at the Legends strip club in Bloomington, or some other company whose name has legends in it.
Clearly, this is not foolproof.
I'm willing to bet that in the case of Night Moves, we won't have any false positives due to the uniqueness of that company's name.
And the moral of this story is:
Just because you mark something private on facebook, doesn't necessarily mean it is private....
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