Comment by tluyben2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tluyben2 | Hacker News Reader

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The metal detectors and bag inspections are everywhere; supermarkets, malls, hotels and every time you enter even if it is the hotel you stay in all the time for months. Most businesses have guards with guns (rifles often) outside the entrance as well as bag scanners and bag checkers/friskers.

Small and big airports where you can be checked and scanned 3-4 times from entrance to flight. And flying into an airport they check again. And not by friendly people either (contrary to China strangely where border patrol often have a little friendly chat to practice their english; had my bag checked 0 times coming in). Cannot enter an airport before a few hours before your flight even if you have lounge access. Guard said ‘terrorism’ when I asked why (for the umpteenth time as they usually do not answer).

And yes, my friends with businesses who live there complain about the corruption restrictions. But I think that part goes for China as well.

Edit; as I hear from my friends, it all got really bad only like 5 years ago. I did not go then; I have been going for 3.

I think that tracked with the pakistani attack on mumbai, where they specifically targeted hotels and other soft targets.

India has had a lot of terrorist attacks on its soil over the past 40 years. I know of at least 5 major attacks in mumbai alone.

That said, after the TSA was created, flying in America became a pain.

I usually walk around with a backpack. And yes, the bag gets scanned and I get frisked every time I enter a mall or a local metro station. The only time I was asked not not bring something in was at a cinema, where food and drinks from outside were not allowed. I've had to face similar restrictions at European cinemas too. Apart from that, these scanners and friskers have not restricted my movement in any way.

I think the only time I saw someone get turned away was after a bomb blast at a cinema. It was some dude with a computer SMPS in his backpack -- I knew what it was, but the security guard didn't. But that was just once in my lifetime.

I'm not (blindly) defensive of India just because I happen to be Indian. There are plenty of things wrong with India. But this isn't one of them.

> The metal detectors and bag inspections are everywhere; supermarkets, malls, hotels and every time you enter even if it is the hotel you stay in all the time for months. Most businesses have guards with guns (rifles often) outside the entrance as well as bag scanners and bag checkers/friskers.

The metal detectors are just security theater in almost every single place except at airports. When the person doing the checks is asked what it is they hope to find or detect, the answer usually is that they've been told to wave it around. It's just an inconvenience to people than anything to do with security as such.

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