Laptop tested positive for explosive at Munich airport

[jeyaganesh]

They found the traces of explosive on a laptop in the Munich airport, Germany. With further checking, that laptop was tested positive for explosive.

Hope more strict rules going to come regarding taking laptops on board.:(

BBC link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8470954.stm)

[HermanAB]

Traces is the problem. There are lots of people who work in the military industry or who are members of armed forces, or who simply like to go target shooting. My laptop could test positive too. So now I have to wipe it down with gawd knows what before travelling?

[sydbat]

That's the problem with paranoia...

[ssam]

i have heard (first hand) of a film camera triggering an explosives detector, even though the owner has nothing to do with explosives.

could be a false positive. fleeing may suggest otherwise, but maybe he just didn't want to be 'interrogated'.

[Grenage]

Initial reports said explosive traces had actually been found but later accounts could not confirm this.

Clearly he was just paranoid that his porn archive would be discovered. At least he didn't do that here, security would probably have shot him in the back. ;)

[gnomeuser]

Traces is the problem. There are lots of people who work in the military industry or who are members of armed forces, or who simply like to go target shooting. My laptop could test positive too. So now I have to wipe it down with gawd knows what before travelling?

Or false positives it wouldn't be surprising if several common substances would register as explosives.

[BuffaloX]

Is it still allowed to wear underpants when flying?

[whiskeylover]

Is it still allowed to wear underpants when flying?

Yes. But it has to be worn the Superman way.

[pgp_protector]

Traces is the problem. There are lots of people who work in the military industry or who are members of armed forces, or who simply like to go target shooting. My laptop could test positive too. So now I have to wipe it down with gawd knows what before travelling?

I wouldn't be surprised if some of my stuff tested positive either.

I'm a very very amateur magician, and I've used different chemicals for flashes, binary explosevies, fire balls ect.

[pwnst*r]

So now I have to wipe it down with gawd knows what before travelling?

So it takes you a few seconds to wipe it down compared to thousands of dollars for airport security and people's time because you're too lazy?

Yes, you should wipe it down.

[earthpigg]

So it takes you a few seconds to wipe it down compared to thousands of dollars for airport security and people's time because you're too lazy?

Yes, you should wipe it down.

if i can wipe it down so easily, so can bad guys.

ive been flagged before after i went shooting.


also, pic related.
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bag_check.png

[t0p]

The UK airports are getting more paranoid too. According to the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/20/no-fly-list-terror-policy), all direct flights from Yemen to the UK are being suspended; they're instigating a US-style "no fly" list; and whole-body scanners are going to be employed at the airports. (I read something rather amusing in the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/04/new-scanners-child-porn-laws) about these whole-body scanners: apparently, if these scanners are used on children it can be argued that the scanner has been used to create an indecent pseudo-image of the child, which is illegal in many countries. So I suppose the custom officials involved will have to arrest themselves on child porn charges.)

EDIT: whole-body scanners in relation to child porn laws are mentioned in this episode (http://pauldotcom.com/wiki/index.php/Episode182#Stories_For_Discussion) of Pauldotcom Security Weekly podcast.

Incidentally, just because a test indicates there's traces of explosives on your possessions, doesn't necessarily mean you've been anywhere near explosives. There have been several cases of innocent men going to jail because of so-called forensics. For instance, Paddy Joe Hill, one of the "Birmingham Six" who spent 16 years in UK prisons after being wrongly convicted of bombing pubs in Birmingham: a forensic "expert" testified that Hill's hands tested positive for explosives when the Greiss Test employed also showed positive if a subject had been smoking cigarettes or handling playing cards (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14719864.300-forensic-chemistry-in-the-dock.html)! In fact, it's allegedly possible to make explosives from playing cards (http://gargles.net/suicide-at-san-quentin/); so I expect flights from Las Vegas will attract heavy scrutiny! (Yes, I'm aware that different tests are used nowadays: but who says the new tests are any more foolproof than the old ones?)

Anyway, all these new security procedures aren't going to stop a determined bomber. They'll just inconvenience the 99.9999% of travellers who are innocent of any crime. Security officials are playing catch-up - it's what Bruce Schneier calls "security theater" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater): countermeasures intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to actually improve security. And to succeed, they have to catch the terrorists every single time. But for the bombers to succeed, they have to get past security just once.

[3rdalbum]

Laptop tested positive for explosives. Ran off a Sony battery.

[t0p]

and they need to have non-retards carrying the bombs.

they have gotten past security twice. shoe bomber and crotch bomber.

We've been pretty lucky lately that these would-be bombers have been so stoopid. Someone on Pauldotcom Security Weekly (http://pauldotcom.com/wiki/index.php/Episode182#Stories_For_Discussion) said that those virgins have got a real bum deal! :D

[LinuxFanBoi]

When I was in the Army, and traveled in uniform (not dress uniform) I would set off the explosives detectors. What was funny where the questions that followed, like "Do you handle or have you been handling explosives or munitions recently?"

Please remember that the only prerequisite for being a TSA screener is a clean background check, common sense is not.

After the underwear bomber from yemen, I watched Jim Jeffries and he hit the nail on the head. Had the bombing been successful, there would have been 77 very disappointed virgins waiting for him in the afterlife.

[earthpigg]

When I was in the Army, and traveled in uniform (not dress uniform) I would set off the explosives detectors. What was funny where the questions that followed, like "Do you handle or have you been handling explosives or munitions recently?"

100% your fault for wearing a utility uniform outside of the field. you don't often see garbage men wearing their soiled and filth-covered uniform to the airport.

why do you wear yours?

nasty.

(note: i am aware there is no US Army regulation prohibiting you from wearing your filthy utilities to the airport. there is also no garbage man regulation prohibiting them.)


Please remember that the only prerequisite for being a TSA screener is a clean background check, common sense is not.

it would appear there is a prerequisite of having common sense to be a garbage man, however.

[LinuxFanBoi]

100% your fault for wearing a utility uniform outside of the field. you don't often see garbage men wearing their soiled and filth-covered uniform to the airport.

why do you wear yours?


Free drinks in coach.

Even though I was Army, I did launder my uniforms. And they where only filthy in the field.

[earthpigg]

Free drinks in coach.

plenty of other issued uniforms would have accomplished the same, and looked more professional.

[LinuxFanBoi]

plenty of other issued uniforms would have accomplished the same, and looked more professional.

TBH I only flew in ACU's when returning to AIT from exodus and that was because we where ordered to arrive at the air port in that uniform for pickup. Every other time I flew in A's or B's.

[earthpigg]

TBH I only flew in ACU's when returning to AIT from exodus and that was because we where ordered to arrive at the air port in that uniform for pickup. Every other time I flew in A's or B's.

i rescind my criticism, then.

:P

[pgp_protector]

When I was in the Army, and traveled in uniform (not dress uniform) I would set off the explosives detectors. What was funny where the questions that followed, like "Do you handle or have you been handling explosives or munitions recently?"

Please remember that the only prerequisite for being a TSA screener is a clean background check, common sense is not.

After the underwear bomber from yemen, I watched Jim Jeffries and he hit the nail on the head. Had the bombing been successful, there would have been 77 very disappointed virgins waiting for him in the afterlife.

1) Thanks for serving (Did 4 USMC 2841 Myself)
2) I don't think washing utis would even remove all trace amounts of explosives, especially if you're directly handling them (Fun :) ) Only explosives I got to handle in the Military (Other than home made ones :D ) was the Frag Grenades.