MIT student arrested at Boston airport for wearing fake bomb

<p>That now makes TWO idiots named Simpson who've done really stupid things this week...:eek:</p>

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Suppose someone decides the challenge is to rig up something harmless, battery-operated, but a lot more realistic looking?

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<p>Or worse - perhaps someone decides that the challenge is to rig up something quite deadly and make it look harmless?</p>

<p>Sorry - for at least 10 years it's been a federal offense even to joke at an airport about hijacking a plane; this takes it one step further. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that flashing electronics and airports don't mix. (Oh, wait, she is a rocket scientist . . .)</p>

<p>Not to put words in midmo's mouth, but I also see "arrogance" and brashness in this behavior.</p>

<p>I see it as "let's see how far I can go" or "the rules apply to all but me" attitutde.</p>

<p>One can reasonable assume that a student of the intelligence level to gain admissions to MIT has not been living in a social vacuum since 9/11 or Columbine, or Virginia Tech. </p>

<p>To display a device such as this in an airport is akin to me standing in a ticketing line with a plastic holstered sidearm. We both should probably know better.</p>

<p>If it was done as a stunt, to test the security system, or as a harmless joke, it still makes no sense in the current collective world climate.</p>

<p>Just my $.02.</p>

<p>Bail of $750....back to court in Oct.</p>

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If it was done as a stunt, to test the security system, or as a harmless joke, it still makes no sense in the current collective world climate.

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<p>From what I can tell, it was done as none of the above. It was a nametag, a pun on her name. She made it to wear at the Career Fair. She was going to pick up a friend. She might have wanted to show him what she made, or she might have been so absent-minded that she forgot she was wearing it (and honestly, I would not put that past her). She's a bit out-of-touch at times. And a fair number of MIT students are apt to forget that the general public doesn't know the difference between a breadboard and a bomb at a glance.</p>

<p>It doesn't have to have anything to do with arrogance or brashness or pushing the limits. Here's how I know.</p>

<p>Three summers ago, I was flying home from LAX with my younger S, who had just finished a 3-week CTY course in Electrical Engineering. They had all brought home their final projects, which were tiny little (2" max) robotic vehicles with solar cells attached, which moved in predetermined patterns. The head of the CTY program gave each student a signed letter on university letterhead paper, explaining the course and saying what the projects were, and providing a cellphone number if there was any concern about allowing them to be transported home. S was very proud of his project; I put it in a baggie in my carry-on, with the letter attached, expecting we'd be quizzed about it. </p>

<p>And were we ever. </p>

<p>Luckily we were at the airport VERY early. We were, as you might expect, pulled aside and detained. I calmly explained what it was and offered the letter; I was not allowed to touch my bag. I offered to throw it away and not take it on the plane, but was told that we did not have that option, it might be hazardous waste. There was much commotion, and two officers arrived with drawn guns. A supervisor guy arrived eventually, put on gloves, read the letter, carefully moved the project pieces around and looked at them and looked at my S and said, "This is an electronics project." And S said, "Yeah here's the capacitors and here's the something-or-other and it's got this solar cell so when you take it outside it rolls in circles and..." and the guy smiled and stopped him and performed some magic, and we were allowed to continue. They took copies of all my IDs, though, and my address and phone number and I had to sign some statement saying that if it wasn't what I said, they could come after me or something.</p>

<p>I was completely expecting them to investigate and was ready to dispose of it if they had problems with us taking it on the plane. I did not expect the guys with the guns. In retrospect, we probably should have thrown out the project rather than taking it home, but I was sure that, knowing it was harmless, I could handle any conversations about it sanely.</p>

<p>Perhaps Star was thinking the same thing. Except she was arrested, and we weren't.</p>

<p>(Walking to our gate, we passed another student from my S's CTY course. He smiled and told us he'd hidden his project inside a Coke can and they hadn't noticed it. That wasn't terribly reassuring.)</p>

<p>Looks like some of our elementary school science projects!</p>

<p>jessehl wrote:</p>

<p>< From what I can tell, it was done as none of the above. It was a nametag, a pun on her name. She made it to wear at the Career Fair. She was going to pick up a friend. She might have wanted to show him what she made, or she might have been so absent-minded that she forgot she was wearing it (and honestly, I would not put that past her). She's a bit out-of-touch at times. And a fair number of MIT students are apt to forget that the general public doesn't know the difference between a breadboard and a bomb at a glance.></p>

<p>I will defer to your knowledge of the person in question and familiarity with the academic climate from which it emaninated.</p>

<p>Einstein was well known for specific behaviors not necessarily suited for mass consumption. Personally, I'm familiar with a number of engineers and academics, and while brilliant in their disciplines are indeed often lacking in some very basic common sense or are quite inept in a variety of social
settings.</p>

<p>Everyone of us is capable of very stupid or seemingly irrational behavior.</p>

<p>I however cannot comprehend how she was incapable of or recognizing that strange electronic device in airport = cause of grave concern.</p>

<p>That's just the way I'm wired.</p>

<p>jessiehl, violadad explained perfectly what I had in mind when I used the word "arrogant". I think she thought she could attract a little attention and then walk away unscathed because she was, after all, just an eccentric, brilliant student. As I said, that is my judgment from afar and I concede it may seem harsh to someone who knows her.</p>

<p>I don't see the "absent-minded" thing at all. I've been married for several decades to the EPITOME of the absent-minded professor. Absent-minded is walking into the Denver airport and boarding a plane for St. Louis when you know full well you left your car at the airport in Kansas City at the beginning of the trip. Absent-minded is ending up on the wrong side of the state at the end of the day. Walking around an airport with a device designed to attract attention is not absent-minded. IMO.</p>

<p>I hope I don't get flamed too bad, but I find it interesting that so many people (not necessarily the ones on this thread) felt that the UF kid's behavior was threatening (his talking back, flailing his arms, begging and pleading, resisting police, etc.)- some suggested he could have been carrying a gun, could have been the VT type of mass killer and in this day and age you can't be too careful. Yet when it's a science student walking into an airport with a history of terrorist activity, wearing a fake bomb (even if it's a fakey-fake bomb), that's absent-minded or arrogant. </p>

<p>If I were embarking a plane, and I saw someone who had something stuck on their chest with wires- whether or not it looked fake- I'd want that person removed. Just the mere fact that they want to appear to be wearing a bomb is enough of a threat to me. Yes, I would feel threatened by someone carrying any kind of fake weaponry onto a plane. It just isn't funny to me and the fact that they think it is, is enough to make me seriously question their motives and self-control.</p>

<p>I think perhaps the proper word here is 'self-absorbed'. This young woman wasn't thinking of anything or anyone beyond herself and her immediate world. It may never have crossed her mind that there would be a problem. Hopefully this whole incident will wake her up to the fact that there's a wider world out there that she should be paying attention to.</p>

<p>Whether it crossed her mind, whether she was absent-minded or arrogant - I don't care. Her motives are irrelevant to me. I agree completely with doubleplay, and I happen to be very glad that she was arrested. She should have been. This time, there was no overreaction, and I don't care how many engineers could see at a glance that it was harmless.</p>

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It just isn't funny to me and the fact that they think it is, is enough to make me seriously question their motives and self-control.

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<p>It wasn't meant to be funny, it was meant to be "I made a cool display in intro electronics that I can wear to impress EE employers at the Career Fair, which I happen to still be wearing as I go to pick up my EE geek friend." And she wasn't carrying it onto a plane anyway. She entered the airport, asked about an incoming flight (as she was there to pick up a friend from the lab that she interned with over the summer), and left to wait outside. She was arrested in a public area, not a secure one.</p>

<p>A lot of people seem to think she did this to flout authority, to test the security system, or as a prank. Based on what I know, I disagree.</p>

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I don't see the "absent-minded" thing at all. I've been married for several decades to the EPITOME of the absent-minded professor. Absent-minded is walking into the Denver airport and boarding a plane for St. Louis when you know full well you left your car at the airport in Kansas City at the beginning of the trip.

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<p>Let me amend that to "absent-minded EE geek", then. :) Absent-minded can mean forgetting that you're wearing a certain article, or forgetting the likely different reactions to certain things in different contexts (campus vs. airport) despite the fact that you should know better.</p>

<p>One thing that I gather a lot of people here don't get, and I don't blame them, because it's a cultural thing...a LOT of MIT students, especially in the part of campus where she lives (and I lived) which is geeky even by MIT standards, do not understand that most people have never seen a solderless proto-breadboard before. They don't understand that the average person can't be expected to know that this is a harmless device. I'm seeing great evidence for this right now as I argue with MIT friends online who are saying "This is ridiculous! Anyone could glance at this and tell what it is, that it's not a bomb! Police officers should know that!" It was dumb of her, I haven't heard anyone dispute that, but I find it likely that it didn't occur to her that people would mistake this for something sinister.</p>

<p>Edited to add: To doubleplay: I also thought the tasering of the UF guy was blatant excessive force. I know many will disagree with me, and it's not an argument that I want to have in this thread, but I didn't want you to think that I had a double standard for scientists and non-scientists, or for my friends and others.</p>

<p>I think the girl was clueless - but really have you looked at the "device"?</p>

<p>Why can't the average American - let alone the average security person - recognize an electronics breadboard? As our education system lets the great majority of folks remain completely unexposed to even knowing what a capacitor is - let alone what it looks like, we will shortly surrender any technological lead we have to the far-better educated Asian economies.</p>

<p>I agree with Chedva and doubleplay. If there's a question at all, airport security needs to err on the side of caution. The mere fact that she was wearing this was evidence enough to stop her and arrest her. Fortunately no one was hurt and if it's determined she really was just absent-minded or clueless about the reality of what she did she'll likely get off easily.</p>

<p>btw - It'd be easy to make a real breadboard-based explosives trigger that looks similar to the one she was wearing.</p>

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btw - It'd be easy to make a real breadboard-based explosives trigger that looks similar to the one she was wearing.

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<p>On a breadboard, sure, but a solderless protoboard that's not connected to anything but a battery...</p>

<p>Like I said, I think they were right to detain her under the circumstances. And I'm saying that even though I know and like her. I'm glad that security is on the ball and trying to do their jobs, and they thought it might be a bomb.</p>

<p>But once they'd ascertained that it was a harmless device, I think they should have let her go, without charges. At most they should have escorted her from airport property and then let her go. Or confiscated and destroyed the device and then let her go.</p>

<p>I think they overreacted in UF and think they overreacted here</p>

<p>having my mother surrounded by machine guns because she didn't want to give up her 30 dollar tweezers was also ridiculous</p>

<p>SHe was talking back, said they were stupid, should they have arresed her?</p>

<p>guess some think if you do ANYTHING different you should get hauled off</p>

<p>nice country we are living in</p>

<p>When I read the first news reports I was thinking, "someone walked into an airport with a fake bomb? They deserve whatever happens to them."</p>

<p>Then I saw the photo. It's become more of an indictment of the press than of this MIT student. Security at the airport clearly had to investigate. It's weird, it's electronic, and tensions are rightly high. After finding out that it was a harmless LED display device, she should rightly go free, perhaps after a stern lecture about the necessity of not even looking a little bit suspicious in a public area. That the press described it as a "fake bomb" is not consistent with the picture referenced above.</p>

<p>Now, if her device had blinking lights and wires running to something that looked like explosives (did someone mention Play-Doh earlier?), it would be reasonable to expect that others would think she had a real bomb, and was a genuine threat to the safety of others at the airport. That's felony grounds.</p>

<p>Until someone produces something that looks like she meant for it to look like a bomb, this should die quietly away.</p>

<p>I have to remind WDJr to not carry any EE toys home in his luggage...</p>

<p>so while they are arresting her, what are they missing</p>

<p>priorities people, priotities</p>

<p>if she was wearing a mini skirt, then we would have a double whammy</p>

<p>we got extra searched becasue we had a wrapped up magazine, while in the airport restaurants you get knives</p>

<p>yeah, this is run realll well</p>

<p>jessehl wrote: </p>

<p><one thing="" that="" i="" gather="" a="" lot="" of="" people="" here="" don't="" get,="" and="" blame="" them,="" because="" it's="" cultural="" thing...a="" mit="" students,="" especially="" in="" the="" part="" campus="" where="" she="" lives="" (and="" lived)="" which="" is="" geeky="" even="" by="" standards,="" do="" not="" understand="" most="" have="" never="" seen="" solderless="" proto-breadboard="" before.="" they="" average="" person="" can't="" be="" expected="" to="" know="" this="" harmless="" device.="" i'm="" seeing="" great="" evidence="" for="" right="" now="" as="" argue="" with="" friends="" online="" who="" are="" saying="" "this="" ridiculous!="" anyone="" could="" glance="" at="" tell="" what="" it="" is,="" bomb!="" police="" officers="" should="" that!"="" was="" dumb="" her,="" haven't="" heard="" dispute="" that,="" but="" find="" likely="" didn't="" occur="" her="" would="" mistake="" something="" sinister.=""></one></p>

<p>We can boil this down to a simple legal tenet: Ignorance of the law is no excuse.</p>

<p>Regardless of motive, state of mind, specific circumstances, the prevailing statutes in place outline acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in an airport (or train station, or bus terminal). Debate on the validity of those statutes is not the question.</p>

<p>"I forgot" ain't gonna cut it in her October hearing. </p>

<p>Academic isolation does not negate social responsibility.</p>

<p>If I walk nekkid down the street it has consequences (unless I'm in Brattleboro). If I yell "fire" in a crowded theater it has consequences.</p>

<p>I'm not inferring malicious intent here. I am just dumbfounded by her behavior.</p>