cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

[theprez98]

Re: cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

One last note - this policy change is set to go into effect on August 4th... so that means i can have my Bottle-Opener-Lighters as giveaway prizes at DefCon this year.

Doesn't DEF CON start on the 3rd?

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

regarding the liquids ban... if anyone hasn't seen the very well-written and well-researched Register piece which debunked that whole plot, it's a rather good read.

[I-baLL]

Re: cigarette lighters... TSA gets their head out of their ass

I'm still waiting for the idiotic liquids ban to be lifted. That's probably the most asinine restriction out there today.

[Deviant Ollam]

U.S. Will Allow Most Types of Lighters on Planes

WASHINGTON, July 19 — Federal aviation authorities have decided to stop enforcing a two-year-old rule against taking cigarette lighters on airplanes, concluding that it was a waste of time to search for them before passengers boarded. ... “Taking lighters away is security theater,” Mr. Hawley [assistant secretary for the TSA] said. “It trivializes the security process.”

Security officers have been collecting some 22,000 lighters a day nationwide, slowing down lines at check points. ... Disposing of the seized lighters has cost about $4 million a year.

By lifting the ban, Mr. Hawley said, security officers could spend more time looking for bombs or bomb parts. ... Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, who in 2004 helped lead the effort to ban lighters, has not objected to the change, a spokeswoman said. (emphases mine)

this practically knocked me off my feet...

1. reduction in red tape and needless bureaucratic nonsense
2. an official who actually recognizes and publicly identifies something as "security theater"
3. loads of the our money being saved
4. recognition that limited resources should focus on actual threats
5. a public official stating that they had seen new data and changed their mind from a previous position.

Who are these people and where have they hidden my government? (And for how long will they keep it bound and gagged in a hole in the desert somewhere before some lobbyist notices something is wrong?)

One last note - this policy change is set to go into effect on August 4th... so that means i can have my Bottle-Opener-Lighters as giveaway prizes at DefCon this year. All participants in both the BCCC event as well as the Exotic Meat games will get at least one.