[thu2111]

Um, academics aren't allowed to assemble bombs and then try and sneak them onto planes with the excuse that it's not a human trial. That'd be absurd.

It's easy to think of studies that don't involve humans so that statement is just wilful obfuscation. Physics, chemistry, heck lots of biology, and of course computer science are primarily made of studies on objects rather than people. Of those that are done on people they are almost always done on people who know they are the subject of an experiment. Very few studies are like this one.

[ClumsyPilot]

I am sorry, you arument is all over the place. What on earth are you arguing? That human trial does not excuse what would otherwise be a crime? That airport security is not tested with real bombs? That every study outside of natural sciences is a human expriment?

Studies of airport security are done all the time, thats how we know its terribly ineffective. The staff of the airport are not told about them, they are not human experiments.

The experiments on people have a spesific definition that goes beyond "a human is present"

[buffersandbeer]

Airport security staff consent to this type of testing at hiring time so testing can be random, and not just anyone can try to sneak a weapon through security to see if it's caught as "a test".

Perhaps a similar approach that allows randomness with some sort of agreement with the maintainers could have prevented this issue while preserving the integrity of the study.