Stun Bracelet

Recently a company has announced a bracelet that every air traveler would wear that when activated delivers an incapacitating shock to the wearer of the bracelet. The details are Here. Ummm.. Ok. Are they crazy? To even think that travelers would subject themselves to this is ridiculous. This is a system that would never be used for the purpose in which it was created. What happens when the system malfunctions? Does everyone on the plane get incapacitated? Too many problems and this system solves absolutely nothing. Items like this really irritate me.

Camera In the Seat back

Now I realize I am not the first person to comment on this but this camera supposedly monitors the person in the seat and looks for potential indicators that they are going to try and take over the plane. The details are Here. What are these indicators? Nervousness? Sweating? Because nobody has ever gotten nervous on an airplane before. Give me a break. I personally don’t think it is possible to determine someone’s intent this way. Even though there may be certain potential indicators they are so close to normal passenger reactions the number of false positives would go through the roof and the system would just be ignored anyway. After all, we can’t even get TV in the back of every seat, but now we can feel comfortable that someone is watching us.

The Issue

The issue with the camera in the seat back and the stun bracelet are how many handle problems in the IT security space. People often spend much of their time working on distractor issues and items that actually do not pose as high of a risk. Logically, isn’t it a bit late at that point? The attackers have already gotten past security checkpoints and boarded the plane. Shouldn’t the point be to stop them from getting on the plane in the first place? Can you imagine combining these two systems together? A complete disaster, don’t get nervous or you will get the crap shocked out of you.

What’s a bigger risk to air travelers, someone getting on a plane and causing damage or airlines laying off maintenance staff? I think that it is fairly obvious the methods employed on 9/11 will never be able to happen again. Every air passenger is going to be aware of the situation and impacts from failure to react. This is also evident by passenger reaction to a couple of other incidents post 9/11. At this point the passengers on the aircraft become a control against that particular attack. Spending large sums of money to combat this particular method of attack is not only a waste but downright stupid. We need to be focusing on real threats and inventive methods so we can avoid real issues to air travelers. Why can people not properly evaluate risk, it drives me nuts.

Air Travelers have the Power

As travelers we have the power to put a stop to stupid items like these. The problem here is most air traveler’s perception of threats is usually not accurate. They assume that “someone” is doing their job to keep attackers away from planes and the methods employed by TSA are actually helping. Blind acceptance of stupid controls should not be tolerated. It’s up to people in the know to educate and protest.

The supervisor walked over to the people waiting in line and said, “This is an example of what you can’t bring through”. She then took the bottle and threw it directly in the trash next to the security line. People started to chuckle a little bit then I heard a man say, “I am glad they caught that”. I turned to him and asked if he knew something that I didn’t know. He looked at me like I was crazy. I asked, “Is Sprite the next big threat to air travel?” He replied, “Well it could be something else”. To which I replied, “Well if it is your in trouble because she threw it in the trash can right next to you”.

My point was obviously lost. Everyone knew it was Sprite. It is what it is. At times I get frustrated about the differences between actual and perceived security. I was making a couple of points to the people in line. The most important point was that if it was something hazardous they just chucked it in the trash right next to them. I wish people would demand more from the people supposedly “securing” them. Unfortunately I think there is a perception that it will require more from them as well. I can’t say as I blame the people with the previously stated perception. Security implemented poorly is often a unnecessary drain on many resources.