-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Tue, 14 Jan 1997, Lucky Green wrote:

I recently took a domestic flight from the Oakland, CA airport. While waiting for the airplane, I spent some time observing the security measures at the X-ray machine.

As most readers probably know, laptops are often subject to manual scrutiny. From my non-representative sample, about four out of five tote bags clearly containing laptops will be manually searched. Typically, the attendant requires that the laptop is powered up. In none of the 20+ manual searches I witnessed did the security personnel wait past the RAM check before clearing the passenger. I could not help but contemplate how much of the insides of the laptop could be replaced while still obtaining an identical display.

I have had the same experience. I am sure that removing all components of the laptop not required for its functioning would yield a significant amount of room inside, especially for larger (non-"notebook") machines. I'm not an expert on explosives, but I would imagine a laptop-full of whatever could be pretty nasty. Someone with determination could even make it look like it had a floppy, a CDROM, etc, just by replacing the devices themselves with facades. Not that the airport security would notice, but anyway. But wait - won't the all-important "did you pack your bags yourself" and "did anyone give you bags to take on the plane" stop them? ;-) It just obviates the fact that airport security is really useless against a determined attacker, but manages to be extremely annoying to everyone else. Krenn -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMtyOLknqfwPpt/QVAQF5PAQArUhAYtLjoSwsKspwysZYvwP0kCEs9ncS xN5VaZTi/ow5xOcoVXbRhGQPlu5v1sL+04yLz+1AWnYX2UdtIdSBlZAhtNufOCQg Au0cDp6vKeL/GIGEYX3/HEsDjicpbfXSuq+OZ79hhhButM+5jlsXz972nhLkmEvM aeVSFjB9WHY= =FYTH -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----