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by anigbrowl 4362 days ago
And why aren't they worried about the cargo baggage which also contains electronic devices that are potentially uncharged?

Because you can't swap in a live battery in mid-flight if the device is stuck in the cargo hold, of course. I'm not sure what's so terrible about this, since most people will have a charger with them anyway. If their device happens to be out of battery but they can plug in the charger and demonstrate its safe operation, there's no problem. Indeed, this doesn't strike me as anything particularly new, rather an old story being recycled as churnalism.
2 comments
adamnemecek 4362 days ago
The TSA released a statement about it today

http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2014/07/06/enhanced-securi...

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anigbrowl 4362 days ago
A statement so vague that it could be construed to mean anything. Every minute adjustment of TSA standard procedures is intended to 'enhance' their security regime.
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panarky 4362 days ago
The secrecy is ridiculous. The bombers and bombmakers already know what's going on. The TSA is just keeping innocent travelers in the dark.
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yason 4361 days ago
Swapping in a live battery probably isn't a problem. They want to see if the device works or not.

What I meant that if I build a bomb into a laptop, and use its battery space to contain the explosive so that it looks 99.99% the same in the X-ray, I can just put the bomb in the checked in baggage and have it in the cargo space while not having to show anyone that the device doesn't boot up.

But if they can already detect bombs built into devices such as laptops for checked-in baggage — which they obviously(?) and presumably do — then why can't they detect these bombs similarly for cabin baggage? They could just do that instead of asking the passengers to boot their devices.

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