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March 12, 2008

huh

TSA steps in to address MacBook Air security issues

Posted Mar. 12, ’08, 11:14 AM PT by Aayush Arya
Category | Apple » Huh?

MacBook Air takeoffOn Friday, we advised you to leave early when traveling with your MacBook Air and keep some room for the TSA agents to ensure that your pretty little notebook isn’t something more sinister like, maybe, a bomb [Wouldn’t you think that something 0.76” thick wouldn’t have a lot of room for explosives, anyway? -DM].

As it turns out, you might not have to worry about that anymore because, according to Bob on the Transport Security Administration’s Evolution of Security blog (try saying that five times fast), those MacBook Airs will soon be “cleared for takeoff” (ooh, Bob, you missed out on your stand-up career, huh?).

He deems that the TSA agents on duty hadn’t seen any notebook like Nygard’s MacBook and probably couldn’t wrap their heads around the concept of a notebook “as thin as a potato chip.” So they were completely within their rights to have made him miss his flight while they fiddled with the notebook.

I have to say that, as much as I love to see security agents leaving no stone unturned in performing their duty, it sounds kinda dumb that they’d never heard mention of the MacBook Air, when it has been popping up on television, er, once in a while ever since its release.

Also, I think I would be pretty ticked off too if I missed a flight just because I happen to have with me the latest, spiffiest notebook. Whatever happened to just pushing the power button and ensuring that it worked, people?

Bob says that he’s contacted Apple and is trying to have the notebook X-rayed in front of him so that he can alert TSA agents all over the States if it looks any different from your ordinary notebook.

Assuming that Apple doesn’t send him a notebook laced with explosive residue, just to have some fun, I think it would be safe to assume that MBA-toting passengers will soon find themselves herded in just like all the other normal people with their run of the mill notebooks.

[Via TUAW]


3 Comments

fletcher Author Profile Page said:

I feel safer already.

March 12, 2008 11:50 AM
Anonymous said:

Do you seriously mean to imply that people who *don't* watch a lot of TV are "dumb"? What's "dumb" is to epect that everyone everywhere has exactly the same level of tech-awareness as we do. I'd rather have TSA personnel err on the side of caution than of complacency; and if that means I might conceivably miss a flight because I insist on taking my first-in-class new tech as carry-on, so be it. Boo freakin' hoo.

March 12, 2008 2:06 PM
Dave-O said:

You have got to be joking, @Anonymous. It's security theater. They are not making anyone more secure. If anything, being stymied by a MBA just shows how mistaken their entire approach is. Technology changes too quickly, they need to focus on the human element rather than knowing every cell phone, digital camera, and laptop that might come their way.

March 13, 2008 12:31 PM

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