TSA Software Bug Creates Airport Bomb Scare

192939495969798999 writes "An article at CNN's website reports on a serious software bug at the Atlanta airport." From the article: "TSA screeners are given tests around the clock to check their alertness. Images of bombs and other suspicious devices that are hard to detect are put up on the X-ray machine, followed after a brief delay by an alert that reads, 'This is a test.' After reviewing a tape of the images, Hawley said the software failed to alert the screener of the test."

The good news....

[tverbeek]

Fortunately the innocent traveler whom TSA employees gunned down on suspicion of being a terrorist had no immediate family, so the chances of a wrongful death lawsuit are slim.

quote from big trouble:

[Keruo]

[At the Airport Security Walk-through]
Airport Security Checker: What is this?
Snake: A garbage disposal.
Airport Security Checker: A garbage disposal?
Snake: Portable.
Airport Security Checker: You'll have to turn it on.
Snake: It's got a timer.
[turns the switches of the bomb on]
Snake: Grounds up your garbage, while you're out.

Brazil....

[ronfar]

JACK: Well, your A. Buttle has been confused with T47/215, an A. Tuttle. I mean, it's a joke! Somebody should be shot for that. So B58/732 was pulled in by mistake.

SAM: You got the wrong man.

JACK: (a little heated) I did not get the wrong man. I got the right man. The wrong man was delivered to me as the right man! I accepted him, on trust, as the right man. Was I wrong? Anyway, to add to the confusion, he died on us. Which, had he been the right man, he wouldn't have done.

SAM: You killed him?

JACK: (annoyed) Sam, there are very rigid parameters laid down to avoid that event but Buttle's heart condition did not appear on Tuttle's file. Don't think I'm dismissing this business, Sam. I've lost a week's sleep over it already.

SAM: I'm sure you have

JACK: There are some real bastards in this department who don't mind breaking a few eggs to make an omelette, but thank God there are the new boys like me who want to maintain decent civilized standards of terrorist eradication. We've got the upper hand for the moment, but they're waiting for us to slip up, and a little slip- up like this is just the chance they're looking for.

--- Brazil [corky.net]

bwahahahahah!

[Thud457]

Gee, maybe printing a picture of a bomb with lead-based paint in the skymalls catalog was a bad idea...

Audio also revealing

[FerretFrottage]

The TSA screener terminal can also be heard producing the sounds "Would you like to play a game?" as the image appeared on screen.

maybe this explains the past 5 years

[subtropolis]

Was Diebold involved with this software, by any chance?

Great, I can see it now

[hypergreatthing]

A terrorist places a briefcase with a bomb inside on an x-ray machine, then places a plastic box with letters that spell out "This is a test" made out of lead.

How retarded can we get?

How to sneak stuff into luggage

[jridley]

So I can put some handguns into luggage, but I need to cut out the words "this is a test" out of lead sheet and put it in the liner of my suitcase, so it'll show up on the x-ray.

I see the parody now:

[griffjon]

baggage,baggage,baggage,baggage,baggage,baggage,ba ggage,baggage, laptop laptop! baggage,baggage,baggage,baggage,baggage,baggage,ba ggage,baggage, laptop laptop!
snake! snake (this is a test)

And repeat.

Re:Fun with false images

[griffjon]

Or, more fun, write "this is a test" in lead on your luggage :)

Re:Fun with false images

[electronym]

Wasn't there an incident last year where a terminal had to be reprocessed after they discovered a metal detector had actually been turned off for like an hour?

Yes. [cnn.com] Originally they reported that it wasn't even plugged in. Then they decided it was just "out of calibration." As in, "The plug was out of calibration with the electrical socket."

Re:quote from big trouble:

[NaDrew]

Snake: Grounds up your garbage, while you're out.

I heard he was dead.