Pretty Good at Gettin' By

Pretty Good at Gettin' By
George Smith, 2003-10-27

Whether it's a student slipping contraband past airport metal detectors, or a researcher modeling an unstoppable computer virus -- demonstrations just don't do justice to the real state of security.

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-28
Anonymous (2 replies)

"Sending Heatwole to trial is a waste of time. No one was threatened or put in danger"

everything in the article is fine except for the above quote, sending him to trial achieves a lot, it shows that if you try to take on potentially dangereous items, no matter what your excuse, you will be prose...

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-29
bl0rf

Nice comment, I totally agree....

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-30
Anonymous

> sending him to trial achieves a lot, it
> shows that if you try to take on
> potentially dangereous items, no matter
> what your excuse, you will be prosecuted

Normally, yes. But what benefit does "shooting the messenger" (which it clearly is, at least in this case) have for the general (...

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Strip-searching passengers... 2003-10-28
Anonymous

Well,

it sort-of-works for El-Al.
People would just have get used to the fact that they'd have to be at the airport 4-5h ago and be able to answer basic questions about their intented trip (where, who, why, when etc.).

Over-loading one's suitecase with all sorts of things would also be a bad ...

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disagree with author 2003-10-28
Anonymous

I disagree with the author, about letting Nathaniel Heatwole get off scotch free. His committed a federal crime, now he should serve the time....

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-29
Anonymous (1 replies)

He obviously is a very smart kid. What will he learn in jail? How to hate and resent the government? By doing nothing to keep him on "our side" and by punishing him we've effectivly throw him to the other side. I'm sure those in the terrorism world would pay very big bucks to him in a few years. And...

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-31
Anonymous (1 replies)

That's a good argument, but that's not the point. He committed a crime, no matter what the reasons. I think maybe he shouldn't be prosecuted harshly, but he, and people like him, need to learn that breaking the law is not the way to get things done. At least not in this country....

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-11-04
SFN

"I think maybe he shouldn't be prosecuted harshly, but he, and people like him, need to learn that breaking the law is not the way to get things done."

Ok. So what would have been the way to get this particular thing done?...

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-29
Anonymous

Good article... much better then last time....

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-30
Siddhartha Jain

All this in the name of security is pretty meaningless. Bcoz terrorists used planes to attack so you are paranoid about airport security. But what is really at risk or what really can be used by terrorists to launch an attack is any public place - trains, buses, office buildings, shopping malls, sch...

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-30
a security expert for the fbi (2 replies)

Once again, a string of articles with no real substance or analysis. Just a few ponts:

?There was no inconvenience or economic loss.?

As a result of this pranksters actions the entire US commercial jet fleet, some 7000 planes, had to be searched by order of the TSA. Direct financial damages ...

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-30
Anonymous

Interspersed:

[Pretty Good at Gettin' By
by a security expert for the fbi
Oct 30 2003 3:44PM

Once again, a string of articles with no real substance or analysis. Just a few ponts:

?There was no inconvenience or economic loss.?

As a result of this pranksters actions the entire US comm...

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-10-31
Anonymous

Your post is a bit confusing ...

Should researchers be punished or not? You left out how you go about proving a flaw exists without attempting to do it? Also, companies don't react unless there is "real" proof that is reproducible. Afterall, companies (government included) don't want to spend ...

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Pretty Good at Gettin' By 2003-11-03
Anonymous

Oh of course it is occassionally the way to get things done. Our government breaks its own laws all the time, and it doesn't take too long a look, either back or deep, to see that people willing to risk jail have and will continue to make effective change. See the Civil Rights Movement for details....

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