DHS Requires carried on electronics to be able to power up

[jakeroot]

What is "Suspicious Activity" exactly? 

Well I heard of stories of the defense contractors need to get stimulated economically to TSA looking for loopholes. But there will never be a perfect security system as long as we are alive.

Being middle-eastern.

[oscar]

This all reminds me of the 2002 comic movie "Big Trouble", where clueless airport security made a passenger turn on his carry-on device -- unaware (as was the passenger) that the device was an atomic bomb, and what was turned on was the timer for the bomb to explode. 

The movie was scheduled for release in late 2001, but it was delayed to put more distance between 9/11 and its mockery of airport security. 

[Laura]

What is "Suspicious Activity" exactly? 

Well I heard of stories of the defense contractors need to get stimulated economically to TSA looking for loopholes. But there will never be a perfect security system as long as we are alive.

Being middle-eastern.

Or my aunt (who is a petite white lady). Seriously, she got flagged once because they claimed she had "residue" on her (gunpowder?) and now gets pulled aside EVERY SINGLE TIME she flies. They try to tell her it's "random" as they rush 3-4 people through in front of her and then have to "randomly pull her aside". I really don't understand it - she's the biggest play-by-the-rules person ever, and she is who they target?

[vdeane]

I'm pretty sure that once you get flagged once by the security state, you're essentially flagged for life.

[jakeroot]

I'm pretty sure that once you get flagged once by the security state, you're essentially flagged for life.

I would bet with great certainty of my own that there is a list with "flagged" customers, who end up getting selected "randomly", which of course means "she got flagged before...select her again". It sucks but hey, welcome to America, no?

[Scott5114]

It's been established that there is such a list. Hilariously, it only contains the names of undesirables, meaning that if one John Smith gets flagged, every John Smith in the world is flagged.

[realjd]

Everyone here seems to have missed one key piece of information from the article: this only applies to US-bound international flights. You don't need to power anything on for domestic flights and TSA won't be touching your electronics any more than they do now.

US-bound international flights, especially those from Europe, already have increased security at the gate with private security contractors conducting random bag searches and pat downs. They usually conduct interviews at the ticket counter and randomly at the gate about whether you packed your own bag and whether any electronics inside had been repaired or otherwise not in your possession during the trip. I expect this will just be an additional part of the random bag searches they do. And if your device battery is dead, I don't see why they wouldn't let you plug it in to a charger to demonstrate it.

Is it a stupid policy? Absolutely. I just wanted to be sure that everyone understands what's actually going on.