MIT computer whiz arrested with fake bomb at Logan airport

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Rudey

Sometimes it is that clear.

The bomb is the explosives, not the circuit board, and there was nothing resembling an explosive. There was no gun powder, dynamite, very large liquid container attached to it, plastique, etc.
Circuit boards are in all devices like laptops which are legal.

-Rudey

She had two handfuls of playdough. I'm assuming to simulate plastique.

There were wires coming out of the laptop.

It's a federal crime (a misdemeanor) to even joke to airline personnel about having a bomb. The possession of a device made to appear to be a bomb? That can possibly be a felony.

Now you tell me -- was what she constructed -- a circuit board with wires coming out of it going into two fistfuls of playdough made to resemble a circuit board or a bomb? Consider the venue.

Did the cops overreact? It's hard to say. In a post-9/11 world, I'm not certain overreaction is possible. If the device was constructed to give the appearance of a bomb, that's a crime. Maybe just a misdemeanor, but it's a crime.

Here's the law I think she's charged under:

18 U.S.C.A. § 35

(a) Whoever imparts or conveys or causes to be imparted or conveyed false information, knowing the information to be false, concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made or to be made, to do any act which would be a crime prohibited by this chapter or chapter 97 or chapter 111 of this title shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 which shall be recoverable in a civil action brought in the name of the United States.


(b) Whoever willfully and maliciously, or with reckless disregard for the safety of human life, imparts or conveys or causes to be imparted or conveyed false information, knowing the information to be false, concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made or to be made, to do any act which would be a crime prohibited by this chapter or chapter 97 or chapter 111 of this title-- shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

-- the act prohibited of course has to do with bomb making/possession, etc.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Kevin

She had two handfuls of playdough. I'm assuming to simulate plastique.

There were wires coming out of the laptop.

It's a federal crime (a misdemeanor) to even joke to airline personnel about having a bomb. The possession of a device made to appear to be a bomb? That can possibly be a felony.

Now you tell me -- was what she constructed -- a circuit board with wires coming out of it going into two fistfuls of playdough made to resemble a circuit board or a bomb? Consider the venue.

Did the cops overreact? It's hard to say. In a post-9/11 world, I'm not certain overreaction is possible. If the device was constructed to give the appearance of a bomb, that's a crime. Maybe just a misdemeanor, but it's a crime.

Here's the law I think she's charged under:



-- the act prohibited of course has to do with bomb making/possession, etc.

A 19 year old female M.I.T. student was arrested at gunpoint after entering Boston's Logan International Airport with what authorities claim was "a fake bomb" strapped to her chest, according to wire reports. The device is said to have been some kind of computer circuit board with Play-Doh and wires attached, strapped over her black hoodie. Link to AP report on her arrest.

The young woman is identified as Star Simpson, shown in the image above left, and she is a sophomore from Hawaii.



http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/21...-arrested.html


and then you have to take this in exception also:

same place:

The city was the focus of a major security scare Jan. 31 when dozens of battery-powered devices were discovered in various locations. Bomb squads were deployed and some transportation links were closed temporarily. They turned out to be a promotion for the Cartoon Network.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/...b_N.htm?csp=34


want the smoking gun?

watch the video for the cops' side of the story:

http://usatoday.feedroom.com/index.j...terstitialskip

nice lil part where they asked her to stop and she kept on going....hmmmm

[Rudey]

Originally Posted by Kevin

She had two handfuls of playdough. I'm assuming to simulate plastique.

There were wires coming out of the laptop.

It's a federal crime (a misdemeanor) to even joke to airline personnel about having a bomb. The possession of a device made to appear to be a bomb? That can possibly be a felony.

Now you tell me -- was what she constructed -- a circuit board with wires coming out of it going into two fistfuls of playdough made to resemble a circuit board or a bomb? Consider the venue.

Did the cops overreact? It's hard to say. In a post-9/11 world, I'm not certain overreaction is possible. If the device was constructed to give the appearance of a bomb, that's a crime. Maybe just a misdemeanor, but it's a crime.

Here's the law I think she's charged under:



-- the act prohibited of course has to do with bomb making/possession, etc.

That's the sweatshirt.

You see that and the first thing you think is bomb? Where are the explosives?

Also, let's pretend it was a bomb. Why would someone walk around with something exposed like that? Don't they keep them wrapped up? She wore this all over Boston, in the streets, in the airport (prior to her asking a question at the help desk) and wasn't a danger and then, bam, all of a sudden she is.

she also didn't pass through any security zones and someone with a sub machine gun accosted her; I'm not sure if you've ever fired a rapid automatic to understand how it lacks precision, but I can vouch that it would be bad news in an airport full of crowds. Plus, it's also really weird that they have silencers on those sub machine guns - because you know, when you're spraying bullets into a crowd you don't want them to hear what's coming.

I'm adding something I saw someone else write on another board:

Boston has a long dishonorable history of overreacting to unfamiliar objects, then claiming they were "hoax devices," which are illegal under Massachusetts law. This is nonsense. A hoax bomb is something that a reasonable person could believe was a bomb, and which its owner claims is a real bomb in order to scare or coerce people in its vicinity.

Boston police pulled this same stunt with Joe Previtera, a nonviolent protester, in 2006. He was doing a silent imitation of the famous photo of the hooded guy standing on a box from Abu Ghraib. The police arrested him -- as far as anyone can tell, because they disliked his politics -- and claimed that the speaker wires hanging from his wrists constituted a "hoax device."

They did it again in January and February of this year -- after their maxed-out overreaction to lite-brite Mooninite images left the rest of the country snickering at them. The best quote on that one was from Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, on the obviously suspicious nature of the Mooninites: “[The device] had a very sinister appearance. It had a battery behind it, and wires.”

(Just a month after the Great Mooninite Scare, the Boston Bomb Squad managed to come up with an encore: they blew up a traffic measuring device that had been put in place by the Boston Transportation Department.)

Judging from their record, charging someone with possession of a hoax device is Boston's way of announcing that they've once again mistaken some harmless bit of electronic gear for a bomb.

-Rudey

[PeppyGPhiB]

Rudey, explosives are not always visible to the eye. In fact, they're often not.

Even though they're sometimes hidden, other times people don't care about hiding the bombs strapped to their bodies because all they care about are blowing some people up when they get around a crowd.

The police reacting to this chick at the airport didn't know she was a MIT nerd. Or that this improvised electronics device on her sweatshirt was her form of artistic expression. What they DID know was that it was ODD, and ODD does not "fly" at the airport.

Sorry, you can't be seen as strange at the airport anymore. You're going to be seen as suspicious or worth detaining. And that's fine with me, because that's actually one of the better ways to catch terrorists if you ask me.

[Rudey]

So they didn't see explosives on her or any other person there that day?

And she was fine and accepted and didn't even attempt to fly (she was picking someone up). It wasn't until after she went to a help desk to ask a question and then left the airport, and was outside on one of the islands that they approached her. Clearly she wasn't a concern this entire time or in the airport and then magically, she became a concern.

But I'm glad they stopped her too. I don't want any borg terrorists running around. I've seen Star Trek and know what they're capable of.

-Rudey

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Rudey, explosives are not always visible to the eye. In fact, they're often not.

Even though they're sometimes hidden, other times people don't care about hiding the bombs strapped to their bodies because all they care about are blowing some people up when they get around a crowd.

The police reacting to this chick at the airport didn't know she was a MIT nerd. Or that this improvised electronics device on her sweatshirt was her form of artistic expression. What they DID know was that it was ODD, and ODD does not "fly" at the airport.

Sorry, you can't be seen as strange at the airport anymore. You're going to be seen as suspicious or worth detaining. And that's fine with me, because that's actually one of the better ways to catch terrorists if you ask me.