Woman Says TSA Forced Piercings Removal

[Thalassamania]

The TSA, and the Justice Department, and others keep forgetting that deprivation of civil rights under color of authority is still a felony.

 

[Tomeck]

[c]

[/c]

Very good!

 

[Rickg]

Modern digital cell phones work up to around 5000 feet and then are hit and miss above that. They are too weak to transmit any further, and the transponders on the ground are directed horiz and down on coverage. The 9/11 planes were flying low for visual navigation by the hijackers. Most of the calls came in over onboard seat-back phones.

You show me a cell phone that works at 35000 feet and I'll buy one. That is almost 6 miles range.

mempilot,

I can't vouch for how well cell phones work at altitude but modern cell phones definitely work at ranges greater than 6 miles. In congested areas (e.g., cities and suburbs) the towers are directed horizontal and down to limit ranges but that isn't the case out in the open areas like the deserts in S. CA.

Cell site - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some excerpts:

Cell site range
The working range of a cell site - the range within which mobile devices can connect to it reliably is not a fixed figure. It will depend on a number of factors, including

The type of signal in use (i.e. the underlying technology), similar to the fact that AM radio waves reach further than FM radio waves.
- The transmitter's rated power.
- The transmitter's size.
- The array setup of panels may cause the transmitter to be directional or omni-directional.
- It may also be limited by local geographical or regulatory factors and weather conditions.

The maximum range of a mast (where it is not limited by interference with other masts nearby) depends on the same circumstances. As a rough guide, based on a tall mast and flat terrain, it is possible to get between 50 to 70 km (30-45 miles). When the terrain is hilly, the maximum distance can vary from as little as 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to 8 kilometres (5.0 mi).

To do this, the signal of a cell mast is intentionally kept at low power and many cases tilting downward to limit its area. The area sometimes needs to be limited when a large number of people live, drive or work near a particular mast; the range of this mast has to limited so that it covers an area small enough not to have to support more conversations than the available channels can carry.

Mobile phones on aircraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Channel reuse works because from a mobile phone on the ground, there will only be one "closest" tower that can possibly use a particular group of frequencies, CDMA codes, or time slots. The software that manages the system assumes that the signal from a phone on a particular tower can, on other towers, only be "heard" at greatly reduced signal strength. The frequency, code, or time slot used by the phone can therefore be reused by other phones on other towers.

If a mobile phone is operated from an aircraft in flight above a city, this assumption is no longer valid, because the towers of many different cells may be about equidistant from the phone. Multiple towers might assume that the phone is under their control. The phone could be assigned a free channel by one tower, but could be heard on other towers using the same channel group, and the channel might already be in use on those towers. This could cause interference with existing calls. It is possible that the software controlling the towers could crash.[citation needed] Even if the software can cope with hearing the same phone on multiple, non-adjacent towers, the result at best is an overall decrease in the system's capacity.

 

[Rickg]

Every time I see this sort of story, I am reminded of the quote attributed to Franklin:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Ms. Allred got her apology. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out, now...

ianw2,

You got that right and now we'll have to wait "for the rest of the story". Will the apology be sufficient or will $$$ be required to make the pain go away.

 

[DandyDon]

The TSA, and the Justice Department, and others keep forgetting that deprivation of civil rights under color of authority is still a felony.

Yep, I'd like to see those agents up before a Lubbock grand jury. But we have to wait for the other side; they want to get their story just right...

 

[Cacia]

meanwhile, the rest of us just want to get through the friggin line and get on the plane.

Hey , fantastic cell phone technical post!

I guess that explains why all those doomed people were calling loved ones from the plane, 9-11
(shudder) They were probably fairly low.

 

[DandyDon]

meanwhile, the rest of us just want to get through the friggin line and get on the plane.

Yep, me included. I carry extra quart ziplocks to share with needy passengers and often due in line.

Hey , fantastic cell phone technical post!

I guess that explains why all those doomed people were calling loved ones from the plane, 9-11
(shudder) They were probably fairly low.

There are sites and forums that will discuss other views of that. I won't touch it here.

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

As a visitor to the United States last year, I went expecting to show respect for their rules and receive fair treatment in return.

My experience was less than satisfactory, my first security check after passing through customs, I did what was normal for Australia as I saw no signs to the contrary... leave my laptop in my bag.

As a result I had some TSA person hold up my backpack shouting "WHOSE BAG IS THIS!!" Then quite publicly usher me over to a second screening area without offering me an explanation. They swabbed everything for drugs or explosives or both, totally unpacked my bag and only THEN did they explain I have to remove my laptop from my bag and the battery from the laptop. When I tried to say there wasn't any sign they pointed at a sign which said nothing of the sort. I didn't argue further. (I later found out its usually made as an announcement over the PA every 5 mins but as I wasn't in the terminal for more than about 30 seconds after leaving customs I didn't hear it)

The main issue with this is that it seems I must have somehow been flagged in their systems or something because for no reason whatsoever (I followed all the rules) more than half my flights I was subjected to additional screening and questions.

As a result, I think I'll be avoiding the USA as a holiday destination in future. Good work TSA!

Few airports have security sufficient to catch a smart and determined person.

Security agents at airports around the world are infamous for not beeing the sharpest knives in the drawer. And the US agents are just known as plain social idiots, although I'm sure there are some exceptions!

I think it is a predictable result of giving small minds great power. Police jobs that pay well and that require a college degree do not tend to have these sorts of problems. When's the last time you had to deal with a surly FBI agent?

Oh... I don't know much about the FBI school of gentlemen. However, some years ago they raised the requirements to become an ordinary police officer here. They now go through 3-4 years of "college", and even get university degrees before they hit the streets. One unplanned outcome of that has been that too many police officers pursue higher careers, and no one seems to be interested in wearing "blue" and patrolling the streets anymore. Not good enough work for one with a degree perhaps? Anyways, only 20 year old "kids" straight out of high school, or perhaps the military, attend the policy adademy nowadays. Hardly any of them has ANY kind of job experience or LIFE EXPERIENCE at all... This may make more polite officers, but smarter? -Don't think so... So wether or not "educated" FBI agents handle such situations better than "rough" off the street officers can be an interesting discussion anytime.

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

And to sum it up, I too think the policy geeks in this case behaved like they morons the likely are.

 

[Thalassamania]

I just speak to the experience of my home town that raised the requirements to join the police force and raised the salary too, the caliber of the police greatly changed over time, crime dropped and at the same time the police went from notoriously nasty to reasonably polite.