Arrest at Oakland Airport over odd watch | Hacker News Reader

Arrest at Oakland Airport over odd watch

sfgate.com

38 pointsguelo13 comments

What's with the laughing at the stupidity of the airport security circle jerk?

It's all fine and dandy that you can make an IED triggering device with any electronic device, that it is theoretically possible does not make it the absolute way terrorists do it in.

Imagine you are a stupid redneck terrorist, the kind that sends anthrax to scientists and sends death threats to opposition of Sarah Palin. What would you wear? How would you conceal your bomb? What would the device you soldered to trigger it look like?

If you ask me the description of this McGann person is exactly the sort of person I would pick out of an airline passenger queue. Just envision what he looks like, big army boots, army pants, army shirt, weird clock device on his arm.

The real issue you guys should be discussing is why a judge would even accept to hear a case of an accusation of a bombing threat when there is not a grain of explosive material found.

In my opinion, this guys belongings should've been taken in for careful examination, and if nothing was found he should just be released. If the only thing they found suspicious was the watch, why not offer to have it put in a box and sent through the cargo? That would have been proper customer service.

You can have a discussion about this without poking fun at the people who have the near impossible job of finding terrorists amongst 'regular' airline passengers.

At the very least, my model of a stupid terrorist would wear civilian clothes, typically a suit —maybe one that doesn't fit well. I mean, it takes a staggering amount of stupidity to not even think of blending in.

I don't disagree with your point though: if I'm charged with spotting danger, I would have a hard time distinguishing "suspicious" from "unusual". And despite what I said above, I'm not even sure I should.

Crazy watch, oversized shoes, funny shirt... It's official. The war on clowning has begun.

"When you add it all up, it just doesn't add up," Nelson said. "What reasonable person would take those items into an airport in this day and age?"

Jesus wept. Benjamin Franklin gets the last, bitter laugh after all.

If you are planning to explode a plane, presumably with yourself aboard, a timer and a switch do not change your personal outcome.

Photos would make this article Oh So Much Better.

Here's the shirt with built-in tourniquet: (third image down): http://www.shootingusa.com/PRO_TIPS/JARRETT3-6/jarrett3-6.ht.... More on that here: http://gizmodo.com/298930/warrior-wear-army-clothing-has-bui...

As for the oversized shoes and crazy watch, that's left to the imagination.

Nelson, who is on his agency's bomb squad, said, "He had everything to make a triggering device for an IED, so that's a concern."

Can't you make a triggering device for an IED pretty easily? The I stands for improvised, after all. A cell phone or watch could easily be converted into a triggering device - they have all the necessary functionality - so does that mean you can arrest people for carrying those too?

If anything it sounds like Mr. McGann was arrested for liking comfortable shoes.

P.S. I find it hilarious that the officer quoted in the article is one of the bomb squad members who appears on Mythbusters.

EDIT: Oh man, it gets better:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/11/man-arrested-a...

Apparently the fact that he sent his watch through the security screening machine is evidence that he intended to blow up a plane or something. Other warning flags that mark you as a terrorist: not checking a bag, not having clothes in your backpack.

> The watch included a toggle switch, wires and a circuit board

What digital watch doesn't contain those things?

> "Apparently he was wearing it and took it off to go through the screening process,"

So he did the correct thing?

> McGann had "all the components" to make an "improvised explosive device," except for the material that would have actually exploded, Nelson said.

So the dude had a standard watch then? Or a laptop? Or an iPod? Or a battery powered alarm clock? Or a camera flash? etc.

Who exactly in this day and age hasn't boarded an aircraft without "all of the components to make an improvised explosive device?"

Unless you're some kind of Luddite the answer is almost nobody...

> McGann also had no checked bag -- another warning flag

At $50+ a bag I would put my stuff in the overhead bins too.

> McGann also was wearing a military-style shirt [..] The shirts are available for purchase, but are not especially common, Nelson said.

This is too stupid to even remark upon.

Honestly I think everyone involved in this should be shown the door immediately. This is clearly abusive.

If your not going to investigate a guy with electronics that could reasonably be thought to resemble a bomb part on his wrist who are you going to investigate? The risks are totally asymmetric, if there are any doubts you are not getting on the plane.

Honestly, who boards a plane "for fun" in this day and age? We know it's a hassle. Where is your letter of interest from an investor? What other reason could you possibly have for travelling when you are a "founder", meaning you are unemployed? This just does not add up.

The chances that one "founder" is really travelling instead of creating a company are miniscule compared to the risk that this is a cover story and this layabout intends to blow the plane up.

I hope you will agree that the only reasonable course of action is for you to be jailed until you can come up with the truth. Honestly, dia80, why would you even fly?

Are you being serious? You genuinely believe that people should be jailed for not giving a good enough reason to be flying? Goddamnit, we should just decide to shut it down as a society if this is the type of logic we find acceptable at this point.

He's in jail. That's the issue here.

So, the real question: What was the watch?

My guess is something like Sparkfun's BigTime watch: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11178

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