Boston authorities have once again put their hair-trigger reactions on display for the world today in a case involving an MIT student and bad fashion choices. In a situation eerily similar to the
Aqua Teen Hunger Force debacle, Star Simpson (the student in question) was placed under arrest at gunpoint (submachine gunpoint, that is) at Boston's Logan airport because of an "art project" she was wearing. Simpson, who was at the airport to meet her boyfriend, was sporting a black sweatshirt with a circuit board and flashing LEDs attached... and was inexplicably holding Play-Doh. Authorities mistook the combination for some type of explosive device. Maj. Scott Pare, the airport's commanding officer said, "I'm shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport," and then lovingly added, "She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue." Here's our suggestion to authorities next time: just ask, "What's up with the bad art?"
posted Sep 21st 2007 7:24PM
Other than the laughable amount of paranoia in my country today...
Does anyone remember those light-up t-shirts in the early 90s?!?! This post just totally reminded me of them! LOL I wanted one so bad as a kid but my mom always said no, citing something about radiation or something? Meh =(
Unfortunately, this is nothing but a college student going out to get a reaction, and some attention. Of course they are going to freak out about it. I am not saying it is right, but neither is going out and trying to provoke an over reaction. The police aren't allowed to entrap citizens, let us not do it either.
Repeat after me...
L.E.D does not mean I.E.D.
Funny to the few but not to the many. I doubt that 96% of the population knows what I.E.D. stands for.
Isn't an I.E.D. one of those birth control devices?
You're thinking of I *U* D (Intra-Uterine Device).
*sigh*
@uagent
It was a joke...Obviously others got it but you missed it...
@JohnBoy - yeah, cause they let anyone "waltz through security unchallenged" She can't even get through security, she's picking up her boyfriend so she doesn't have a boarding pass.
But, I do agree they reacted properly. As much as that doesn't look like a bomb, I'd rather airport security make the mistake of going ahead and arresting her, than making the mistake of not reacting when it is a real bomb.
@ScottG
I agree, they acted accordingly, but honestly, wouldn't questioning, and, you know, following police rules etc... have been a better choice? The fact that the security dude said 'She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue.' is rather frightening.
Personally, I'm canadian, so I'm used to much more lax securty systems at airports, but a good friend of myne was killed in the london terrorist attack, so I can appreciate good security. But honestly, this issue takes security a bit far.
We all know that bombers make their bombs fully visible on their shirts with large flashing lights just to let everyone know.
How f*cking stupid and paranoid has this country got? You got as much of a chance of being killed by a terrorist as getting run over by a train and stuck by lightening at the same time.
You do realize terrorists do "dry runs" all the time to measure law enforcement response times and such.
A MIT student with wires, batteries, dodgy looking circuit boards and some mystery putty in their hands. Hanging around in an airpot.
Surley this is the ultimate example of how education and intelligence hold no correlation atall.
Actually, dumb ass, in Israel, they wear heavy winter coats (which cover their detonation vests) in the middle of summer and board buses loaded with women and children...
She's from the MIT Media Lab. Those kids have been embedding circuitry into their clothing for almost a decade to the point where some of them look like Borg in public.
Not an excuse for her though. Just sayin', she's probably wasn't trying to pretend that she had a bomb ... she was probably trying to make some social-technological statement.
Must suck being an American and being frightened over everything, all the time.
Personally, I don't live in America, and have absolutely no fear of terrorist attack. At all. Ever.
Go figure.
If the police hadn't reacted the way they did, what would be the result? Say they had simply ignored her and let her waltz through security unchallenged.
The headline on tomorrow's NYT frontpage would read: "Student Smuggles Fake Bomb Past Boston TSA" And all of the same people who are defending her now would be talking incredulously about how incompetent airline security is.
Bottom line is that airport security reacted exactly how they were supposed to, and anyone who thinks that TSA agents should have knowledge equivalent to an mechanical/electrical engineering degree, to tell the difference between a real bomb and a fake bomb at a glance, is an asshat.
Well no, what I meant was, they didn't need to hold her at automatic machine gun-point
"How f*cking stupid and paranoid has this country got? "
Very....on both counts.
"Not an excuse for her though. Just sayin', she's probably wasn't trying to pretend that she had a bomb ... she was probably trying to make some social-technological statement."
So what is the putty suppose to represent other the plastic explosive?
JohnBoy, she didn't try to go through security. The article states that she showed up to meet a friend. Only passengers go through security and as we all know, they won't let you through if you're carrying too much shampoo. The TSA weren't involved and noone would have published an article on how they let a fake bomb through security.
It was the airport armed police who have been using Alias as a training video and think that bombs are brightly colored and flashing, like they do on TV. I suppose she is "lucky" that they didn't kill her, but who's the biggest moron: a moron with a battery and play-doh or a trigger-happy moron with a gun? I think this is a lesson for us all.
Nogami: you are confusing Americans with our government. Just because our government throws its own shadow in jail for following too closely behind doesn't mean that it's citizens are afraid.
I have quit watching network news for precisely this reason. The media is even worse than the government.
I guess MIT students are way beyond just holding up a sign with a name on it.....O'brien? Murphy?
i friggen know that kid! she's really spaced out all the time :P
From http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/mit_student_arr.html, they report that when an employee questioned her about the circuit board, she walked away without responding.
Nice to see MIT students with such little common sense.
I think that people do lots of stupid things & are then mad when people react the way they want them to.
If you are at an airport & security asks you a question I recommend answering.
Plus- keep the play-doh at home.
I also recommend keeping compressed air cartridges @ home too (I speak from experience).
There was no play-doh on the shirt. They are calling tape and paint play-doh to make it sound to people who don't have pictures as if this was a bomb. This looks NOTHING like a bomb, it's a breadboard with some LEDs and a battery.
"She was holding a lump of what looked like putty in her hands. "
Hey ben - maybe it looks nothing like a bomb to you - but if you're a 30-50 year old police officer/security guard who's never touched a wire, what are you going to think? It's not a matter of looking like a bomb or not - it's a matter of this girl not using common sense. It's not like she was on the street with this, she was in a goddamn airport. You can't bring certain amount of liquids past a certain security point, and she thought this would be acceptable?
Hahahahahahaha
America scares the fuck out of me.
Now that the canadian dollar is at par ($1 == $1) I keep thinking, "boy I'd love to go to disney world again" cuz it's cheaper now, then I hear shit like this, and it's like, scratch that I don't like micky anyways.
At least our money isn't all goofy fkn colors and we wont hand you a buncha coins as soon as you walk in .. But you got us in the stripper dept .. i call it a draw
I wouldn't say that too loudly, the Europeans like their coloured money as well. we also have the metric system so I don't call it a draw ;) counting by 12's... jesus christ...
what's next? counting by 1024's?
oh... wait a minute...
Oh you can be our 52'd state anytime , Oh wait ...
Why do you try this stunt in Canada. Do you seriously think the Mounties would just laugh it off?
@Manny, would I try this stunt in canada, me personally, no. but if I did, 1) mounties don't patrol airports, and 2) I would not be afraid of being shot or even arrested in a canadian airport for doing this. I would be afraid of getting a stern talking to by the police if somehow I didn't answer the 30 people that asked me why the hell I was wearing such ugly LED's... but that's all.
Hey shut up about Canada, and shut up about the US. I'm from Canada, and I love America and Canada. Plus, she didn't get shot down. That's what counts right? If you walked into a Canadian airport with something that resembles a bomb, You might run the risk of getting shot down if you ignore anyone who questions you about it too. And Can't an MIT student come up with some better LED art than that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnIkhYCS4w watch this and still call America a "free country" you cant even ask a fucking question anymore "the right to free speech"!
Oh please jroc - get your head out of your ass - that kid was asking for that response, and you're falling for it. If he had half a brain he would of been able to ask questions and have them answered without looking like a total jackass.
It sounds like they overreacted, but still. Wearing anything even remotely dangerous looking into a airport the way people are now about this crap is just plain stupid.
It's only a matter of time until all visitors to an airport (not just those travelling) are required to wear nothing but those disposable painters overalls with all baggage being FedExed, and that's only because forcing someone to travel naked would be against human rights.
Yeah, sorry but this is ridiculous.
Would you take a realistic toy gun into an airport? Waving it around?
C'mon. I can't believe that we have to cater to these idiots.
sometimes when you play with electronics you forget that normal people don't know what a breadboard is.
I can see why they freaked out, I can also see though why she didn't expect anyone to honestly confuse a breadboard with 12 led's and a 9v battery as a bomb, the same as it would be hard to confuse a lightbulb with a bomb.
Sounds like she was suicidal. I really think she was hoping to get shot and become a martyr.
"Here's our suggestion to authorities next time: just ask, "What's up with the bad art?"
which art are you refering to? the stupid persons bomb looking art, or the jackson pollack made up of body parts, blood, and brains scattered on the walls? cause surely when we become lienient on stpid hippies and their art, a real bomb that looks like bad art will go off.
Exactly. This is why yelling "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater is illegal. It's NOT art.
She intentionally evaded security's questions about her shirt and the play-doh she was holding in her hand in order to make them believe she had something to "hide". She could have said "I'm an engineering student, it's just a gimmick. Here, I'll show you."
If she hadn't have had electronics on her, she would probably have been tazered, and deservingly so. When a security officer asks you a simple question, you can provide a simple answer.
@James Sonne Are you out of your mind? If the words "I'm an engineering student, it's just a gimmick. Here, I'll show you." had left her mouth, she would have been gunned down on the spot because they would have construed that as "Hey I'm going to blow myself up." Further more last time I checked we have this whole right to not incriminate ones self. Kinda means you don't have to answer anything they ask you unless you want to. Granted it might have been wise to say it's just showing off her nerdiness, she didn't have to. As for the Maj. Pare's statement about being disgusted that someone would wear such a thing? What the hell? It's a nerd statement. LOTS of people do it.
Airport security agents need to be thoroughly screened before they should even be given the job. Not to mention they should be properly trained on how to spot an explosive device. Most of the airport security personnel I've encountered were incompetent morons who couldn't differentiate an explosive device from an external hard drive. (I didn't appreciate being escorted from the check point because some idiot isn't up to date on modern technology.)
Easy. The Government is using these things to see how responsive the police and other authorities are when certain occasions arise.. Just like that thing in Austrailia where a comedy show did some kind of stunt and passed security.. That right there would receive a failing grade as opposed to the situation that happened in Boston where things basically went well.
the question shouldn't be "would you think it was a bomb."
but "would you be stupid enough to wear it into an airport."
I was packing cheese in my carry on and had to wonder if the TSA might shoot me over it.
ohhhh, man.. did anyone here know anyone that died on 9/11?? anyone here from boston and knew someone that died on 9/11? these airport scares don't happen all that often here AT ALL.. some of you understand, but others are blowing this (no pun intended) WAY out of proportion.. you don't get stopped by security all that much at logan airport.. an incident even remotely like this has happened MAYBE 10 times in the last 6 or 7 years.. like someone said earlier, if this future engineer from the most prestigious engineering school in the world had somehow created some sort of new bomb made of that material, security DIDN'T REACT, and she had blown 26 people up, EVEN IF SHE WASN'T BOARDING A PLANE, then the city and country would be in uproars because security was too lenient.. again, this happens like twice a year while 100,000 people go in and out of that airport.. THEY'RE NOT FREAKING OVERREACTING, THEY'RE PROTECTING US FROM THE UNKNOWN AND UNEXPECTED.. and if you say that real terrorists don't show their bombs, then ok, i guess from now on real terrorists SHOULD just wear bombs above their clothing, because then security will just say "hey, it's not like they'd wear it out in the open like that".. jeez people.. security wasn't tight enough in '01, and now it's too tight.. no one's happy
I wouldn't say the airport staff reacted incorrectly. If I saw someone with wires, lights and a battery hanging on their clothing at an airport, it would bother me too.
Wearing a wired-up circuit board to an airport is like approaching bank staff with a rifle-like object under your arm.
Never underestimate the depths of human stupidity.
One time I was at Philadelphia International Airport they backed everyone out of the security line to about 100 yards away for 45 minutes. It turned out a person had a belt buckle that was a fake grenade. When questioned about it, the man responded "oh, it's fake, I can show you by taking out the pin". It's idiots like this that make me sometimes think maybe it would be better if security guards had a little more itch in their trigger fingers.
Well it would help if they didnt just hire JoeBlow to be security guards for our airports.. Yeah they do Bground checks but why not IQ tests too????
What exactly would have been the charge in that their bomb.. LOL.. Plus when in an airport, I cant ever tell forsure if someone I dont know was talkin to me.. Im too focused on getting from point A to B without my plane leaving b4 me..
Like when I had only 10 mins (not even I think) to get from one side of MN to the other cuz of a fuel light problem we had in Vegas, which delayed our flight out..
Can we stop calling this a fake bomb? This was an LED shirt, an obvious breadboard with lights on it, and ANY trained police or TSA officer should have known IMMEDIATELY that it was NOT an explosive. The media are reporting this as a "hoax" or "fake bomb" when it was really a cool shirt.
I own two shirts with LED lights which are example projects of clothing with alterable messages. They are normal. What's not normal is the media trying to cover idiotic police by framing the argument. She did not *act* like it was a bomb, or *say* it was a bomb, so it's not a "hoax" or a "fake" bomb. It's a shirt.
Engadget - calling a sweatshirt with lights which was part of an MIT project a "fake bomb" just perpetuates the fearmongering. Please stop!
According to this dumb B!tch it was Art. well, Her jail cell is a peiece of Art Now. enjoy loser.
Excuse the language, but you're a f*cking idiot. There are times and places to wear circuit boards on your clothes: your dorm, MIT, an Engadget get together. However, to the airport is NOT one of them. If you've ever been to Logan you would know that there are a TON of people in a tight area and the person that asked about her shirt probably wasn't so good with the english. Time to spend less time making breadboard shirts and more time watching the news. moron.
Your definition of "really cool" is frightening, but your naivety means you're only about ten or eleven so there is still hope.
1. It was quite a silly blunder to wear that thing to an airport.
BUT..
2. Stop calling her dumb. She probably is smarter than all you dumb fucks.
3. She probably was working all night (which is common at MIT) and left to airport on whatever she was wearing.
4. Why is it really scary to call a breadboard cool? If not for the sorta people who do, you'd still be in the middle of amazon sucking a gorilla dick.
5. Everybody makes mistakes, a probably sleep deprived and spaced out smart kid is no exception.
6. The tragedy is not the forgetfulness of a 19 year old, nor the police who took whatever the action they had to take, but the fuckers who are making a living out of it, the over hype, that guy who is claiming the kid is lucky to be alive, and all you Americans who has betrayed your freedom for a world of paranoia.
whateva's - she is as dumb as a rock. I can prove I am smarter than she is - I've never walked into an airport with wires and batteries attached to me.
This wasn't a simple mistake - walking wired up into an airport may result in death. She crossed the line between mistake and stupidity the second her life was at risk.
You can assume she was tired, I can assume she did it on purpose because she's a giant douche - either way making assumptions to prove a point is worthless.
"Stop calling her dumb. She probably is smarter than all you dumb fucks. "
She's an extremely dumb borderline-personality-disordered attention whore. Running around with an neo-nazi haircut and a bomb-like device in an airport makes her about as looney as Giuliani.
America is basically a police state now, so I don't see anything barring your law enforcement from shooting 'smart' people who turn out to be more trouble than they're worth.
Hurry up, police. You have most of slashdot to get through as well.
Perhaps the movie industry should take responsibility and stop 'educating' 'security' personal that bombs have lights that blink and count down and beep.
But there's a good possibility those cops are just bored stiff and are using the weakest of excuses to harass people, then make up crap to make it sound more plausible (I don't for a second believe the student had play-doh)
Wow, there is nothing like being stupid enough to wear a circuit board and carry play-doh to the airport. This was not Boston being paranoid, this was just someone doing something they probably knew was stupid.
Ok.. So do you think it woulda been ok to have been wearing this in an airport b4 911..
Nobody woulda thought twice.. Many would have found it cool..
When can we get back to living the way we used too..
And if we cant calm down a lil and enjoy life instead of living in fear, then you might as well say..
THEY WON..
Even before 9/11, walking into an airport with a plastic toy gun with a red tip would get you arrested or beat to shit by another civilian.
Same deal applies to someone with a circut board attached to their chest.
How easy is it to take the shirt off in the car before walking into the terminal?
This is one of those stories where you can quickly discern those that are in touch with reality, from those that aren't. A girl walks into an airport in this post 9/11 world, holding play-doh shaped like a detonator, and with wires hanging out of a circuit board on her chest, and it's any surprise that security quickly pounced on her? Anyone that thinks she shouldn't get the book thrown at her for blatant stupidty alone (along with the other felonies she's now guilty of) is an idiot themselves.
It's a shame. From what I've seen, this girl had a bright future in front of her. MIT student, gifted in robotics, and she blows it on a ridiculous stunt like that. Gah
Amen
C'mon Engadget, I can appreciate why this is "funny" on some level but look at the facts of the case: Black hooked sweatshirt with a circuit board, lights, and wires running to a battery. She was HOLDING PLAYDOH in her hand. Was *ASKED* about what she was wearing and just WALKED AWAY from the employee. You may question the hair trigger, but you can't tell me with a straight face that you wouldn't be concerned if you saw that getting on an airplane with you. Time to move on from the "look how funny Boston is, they were concerned that someone was trying to blow them up!" default response.
"Time to move on from the "look how funny Boston is, they were concerned that someone was trying to blow them up!" default response."
1 - Wasn't Boston one of the airports the 9/11 hijackers took off from?
2 - Why an airport? Why didn't she wear her "art" into McDonalds or an art museum?
3 - Why do certain people pretend to be terrorists?
4 - Why do they get upset when law enforcement acts like they might be terrorists?
5 - If Airport Security DIDN'T stop her, wouldn't the same people criticizing them now instead be criticizing them for FAILING to stop something so obvious?
Because holding someone who is ostensibly about to blow themselves up at gunpoint is a very effective strategy..."I was about to kill myself anyways, but please don't shoot me!"
This girl is an idiot for wearing that to an airport, but the airport security acted just as stupidly by holding her at gunpoint and saying she's lucky they didn't shoot her.
"This girl is an idiot for wearing that to an airport, but the airport security acted just as stupidly by holding her at gunpoint and saying she's lucky they didn't shoot her."
Yes she is an idiot but airport security did exactly what they should have done. Would you like to stand a few feet away from someone who might be about to set off an explosive vest?
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD BLESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAMERICAAAAAAAA
Welcome to the future, enjoy your next encounter with the local gestappo.
Guess what, the terrorists won 6 years ago, because we did just what they wanted us to. Change our way of life. We went from carefree oblivious capitalists. Now were afraid of our own shadow, and apparently, LEDs...
I think she was damn lucky not to be shot. In the UK our Police shot a guy because he was wearing a rucksack and looked a bit dodgy (i.e. foreign).
In this case my sympathies lie with the Police and them actually showing restraint. That device she was wearing just begs for trouble, it almost looks like an attempted suicide by Police shooting. It's the most idiotic thing anyone could do at an airport, except for carrying a bomb with the words BOMB written on it... and then shouting "BOMB!"
Not only all that, she's from MIT and that's the best circuitry she could manage? She needs to be expelled for her lack of skills!
Oh yeah, nice wig Star...
What a dumbass. She was obviously trying to get a reaction and got exactly what she wanted. Art or not I wish they had shot the bitch. People who do these types of things are asking for it. Her intention was clearly to appear that she was wearing an explosive device and if they had shot her I would feel it was completely justified. If I walked up to a cop pointing a plastic gun that appeared real at him what do you think would happen. When you are trying to appear as though you are a threat for fun or just because you're stupid you should be given a severe punishment. No question.
Good on the security for getting onto her so fast. Even if it was a joke this kind of stuff has no place in airports and such places. I hope they give that idiot a proper punishment to show they don't see the funny side of terrorism and death.
The girl is a dumb-a$$! She is lucky she didn't get shot. God forbid it was a mid-eastern student wearing that outfit.
Boston's Logan Airport needs to be on guard, because it was their lack-a$$ security that allowed the terrorists of 9/11 to board those planes. All of the terrorists that hijacked the planes that crashed into the WTC, Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvannia, all boarded from Boston's Logan Airport! With that sorry type of legacy, I can fully understand why they might want to err on the side of caution these days. As a New Yorker, we have something else to despise about Boston besides the Red Sox!
This isn't illegal, wearing a bomb is highly illegal. Pretending to wear a bomb is not.
That is like walking into a bank and saying "I have a gun , give me all your money" and then walking out isn't illegal.....It is just scary and stupid.
are you fucking serious? you guys are fucking morons... whoever here is defending this girl and saying th at security was int he wrong, you should all check yourself.
then if that was a real bomb she had under her hoodie and they did nothing because it's "obviously not a bomb" and she blows up an airport or a plane, then the us government are terrible for not responding properly...
whoever is defending this bitch is a moron and should really contemplate suicide.
Actually, it is illegal, in both cases.
If you say "I have a gun, give me all your money!" that counts as armed robbery. There have been many cases, especially here in Canada, where a man walks up to a bank teller and hands them a note saying "I have a gun, give me the money." After they are arrested when their money bag explodes from dye packs a block away they don't have a gun on them. But they are still charged with armed robbery because he used the fear of weapons and violence to commit a crime. That happened to my mom, she was a teller at a bank and had that happen to her, the guy was put away for quite a while for just saying he had a gun.
So walking into an airport with a bomb like (and super ugly) device on your shirt and scaring people is illegal too. What makes you think you have the right to scare other people, disrupt them from their daily life, just so you can have some kicks or look cool in your ugly shirt?
actually if you walk into a bank in Texas and hand the teller a note saying "give me all of your money" they give it to you along with the dye pack and button pushing and shoot you when you step outside. True story. Police excuse "he might have been armed and forgot to mention it in the note"
Coming from someone that is at the airport every day, this person has to be a complete moron. Anyone with common sense would never think of doing something like this. Say what you want about the state that our country is in, but how many of you would ever be stupid enough to do something like this? Not many I hope. Hopefully one day we can all wear exposed circuit boards with batteries and wires hanging out of them around an airport, but until then, use some F---ing common sense!
I can't BELIEVE that people are actualy defending this idiot. How stupid would you have to be to do something like this. A publicity stunt like this proves that she is not only incredibly pompous, but also a major asshole. Why anyone would where something that looked even REMOTELY like a bomb/weapon of anysort is beyond me, especially in a f'ing international airport in a decently large city. They should have shot her.
On another note, I can't imagine what this would have been like if the police DIDNT stop her and she was allowed on the plane. Can you even contemplate the kind of bitch fest that would be going down on the internet? It's mind boggling.
sorry, not on the plane, my bad, but still, the police would be under serious investigation if they didn't stop her.
dude,.. its some leds on a tshirt for crying out loud... if thats the definition of a bomb, or bom look a like, every geek in an airport with a wifi detector key chain is screwed... people (myself included) are not defending this, but questioning the paranoia level for good reason, because it IS paranoia.
I know that it wasn't a bomb, and that it didn't even really look like a bomb. But still, the circumstances were too wierd (like how she was holding play-dough and didn't answer the questions that authorities asked her), and for the majority of people in that airport, that didn't look like an LED shirt. Even if the police didn't stop her, someone would have said something and the cops wouldn't have had an option but to escort her off or arrest her. And yeah, some of you aren't defending her, and I agree that this country has become rediculously paranoid, but there are still people that claim that it was incredibly stupid of the police to arrest her, even though it wasn't.
So now LEDs terrify people?
I swear the more Engadget authors write about stuff "non-gadget" related, the more they exposed themselves as ignorant and spoiled kids. Do you airport securities to greet people with makeshift circuit boards dangling out cheerfully?
MASSIVE STUPIDITY ON EVERYONE'S PART.
MASSIVE.
I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!
Ok I checked on google and it seems she was actually holding play-doh, well it's clear that she wanted this to happen and it's all attention seeking nonsense.
Even if it was a real bomb, would shooting the person carrying it be the brightest move? Shooting her or the bomb itself easily could have set it off. I can't believe that we are that paranoid that we have thrown out our value of human life and are so ready to make snap decisions to kill people without even knowing the consequences of our actions.
they didn't actually shoot her, eh?
True I'll give you that one, but its the comments that are pissing me off. People are just crazy when it comes to airports, I thought the whole liquid thing was absolutely ludicrous.
Apparently you don't know London's police. They shot a Brazilian guy they suspected to be a terrorist IN THE HEAD. That's what they do to "neutralize" the situation. They don't shoot the bomb.
This stupid girl deserved nothing less.
On the other hand, the Brazilian guy was completely innocent and the police said it was a case of "mistaken identity." It was more like racism after the London train bombings.
"On the other hand, the Brazilian guy was completely innocent and the police said it was a case of "mistaken identity." It was more like racism after the London train bombings."
Not racism but extremely sloppy work in a high pressure situation. On 7/7 52 people were killed by four bombs in London, on 21/7 four more bombs failed (fortunately). Which started a massive hunt for the bombers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Charles_de_Menezes for more.
What happened to that unlucky man is what might have happened to this girl.
It was the simple addition of play dough that had them even more worried. Plastic explosives can look like play dough.
They had enough reason to shoot her right away if she didnt follow one command.
She really is lucky. This isnt the case of over paranoia, this is her stupidity.
reading from europe: i see too often, at one hand, your scaring police just taking away your rights; on the other, you, just staring at this. and saying, "well, that's what he/she deserves". look at andrew meyer (or whatever his name was), at the university of florida, now this and hundreds of cases more. geez, wake up!
@dj-kenpo
i'm italian, i love my coloured euros and my metric system... and yes, we could wear of course this at the airport: one policeman who thinks that a wearable bomb emits LIGHT is just a f**** idiot!
Interesting that you would bring up Andrew Meyer. He was just like this girl: an asshole that was trying to provoke a reaction from the authorities. Have you read the police reports (and independent media stories) concerning that incident? Meyer was perfectly calm and complaint with the police -- even joking! -- until there were cameras and crowds around. Then he fired up his big act of "THE EVIL POLICE ARE TRYING TO TAKE AWAY MY RIGHTS! HELP! HELP!!" It's just an idiotic form of protesting, and it's been around forever; they're like the spoiled teenagers who pull fire alarms and then invoke the First Amendment.
Also, what is with everyone's fixation on the fact that the thing had LEDs on it? How does that disqualify it from being a bomb, precisely? Airport Security must take all of these sorts of things seriously or they might as well not be there at all. I can just imagine the outcry from these same people when the authority's excuse is, "Well yes, we did see that terrorist with a bomb. But, in our defense, it had lights on it!"
People here are blaming airport security for being paranoid, and not the girl for being a complete idiot? Christ, what have this country's people become?
This girl is a f'ing moron, sorry. Yeah, I know, police state, paranoia, all that bullshit, but she probably did this on purpose, knowing full well what her "art" would be viewed as, especially since she copied the ATHF piece which has caused a ruckus already. And PlayDoh? What purpose did that serve other than to create the illusion of C4, or some other explosive?
Social experiment? No, just another fucktard who thinks she's smart, and probably does belong in a morgue, with a Darwin award on her toetag.
How is any of this news "gadget" related? Is a stupid shirt considered a gadget these days? Engadget is really slipping lately, seriously. Why bother publishing this?