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Re: wearables in airports (was: Re: UPS scare? (OT))

From: Ian Dew <>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 16:08:52 -0500

> 
>         The question is, what would airport security make of someone with
> a wearable?  Laptops are now common enough that they just make you power
> it on, presumably to make sure that it's not a bomb in a box.  However,
> let's face it, someone wearing a wearable usually looks at least a little
> strange with the HMD and al of these black boxes and cables hanging
> around.  I could imagine them being very suspicious of the half-cube
> case that the Lizzy (and, I think, WearComp6) uses; just a black metal box
> with a variety of cables attached to it, maybe a cellular or packet radio
> link, and some batteries.  Since it's all metal, their X-ray machine is
> going to have a difficult time seeing inside.   Doesn't this sound like it
> might be a bomb with an electrical timer/detonator and manual override via
> the radio link?
>         Has anyone ever tried taking their wearable through the airport or
> on a plane?  How hard is it to convince security that it's just an
> exotically packaged portable computer and not something more sinister?
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Mark Lenigan
> 

I went through Dulles a couple weeks ago & they're no longer requiring you to
power up laptops. They wipe the laptop's exterior with a swab & put the swab in
a chemical detector. It was faster than booting up. Assuming this new method is
cheap enough to spread to smaller airports, people should be able to carry all
sorts of gear with them on airplanes as long as it hasn't been near explosives.
-- 
Ian M. Dew    (703) 807-5689, Fax: (703) 524-2420

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