[rosalinekarr]

There seem to be a lot of people theorizing that it could be something about the paper itself that they're looking for, i.e. flash paper, paper circuits or physical one-time encryption pads, but what if it's not about the paper at all? Maybe, the TSA is simply trying to discourage passengers from traveling with or using paper, thereby encouraging people to store their information digitally on phones and laptops where that data can be more easily copied and analyzed?

[djsumdog]

Or it's simpler than that: security theatre. We're adding a new level of annoyance so people have this false impression their jobs aren't totally beyond worthless.

Fuck the TSA and the airlines. These days I'll pay more to take am AmTrak or just drive. Next time I fly, it will be after taking a train to Canada first. If I have to fly internationally, I'd rather not fly out of a US airport. I've flown through over a dozen countries, and yes, it is getting ridiculous everywhere, but America is still the worst. Especially when it comes to pat downs. No other country I've been through did pat downs except Moldova; and even theirs weren't anywhere near as bad (typically police arms/leg pat downs. No reaching under your belt or any other TSA bullshit for the false-positive/random-number-generator they try to tell you are body scanners).

[oasisbob]

> These days I'll pay more to take am AmTrak or just drive.

I take it you've never been searched by Amtrak police. Once on a cross-country trip all my belongings were searched twice - in Chicago where I departed, and again mid-trip.

It's not a great time.

[jmcdiesel]

It's not nearly so complex and conspiracy based...

They simply have found issue with dense objects (like books, stacks of paper) hinder the xray imaging they use in the scanners... thats all. Nothing special here...

Im sure over some bad-guy communication network it was mentioned to attempt to get contraband on a plane by masking its location in luggage under some seriously thick books or something...