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re TSA to swab airline passengers' hands in search for explosives - CNN.com
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:27:23 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com> Date: February 17, 2010 10:15:53 PM EST To: dave () farber net Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] RESEND re TSA to swab airline passengers' hands in search for explosives - CNN.com What's the scientific testing that demonstrates that such tests are reliable indicators of bomb-wearing? (False negative rate, false positive rate, how many subjects, how many bomb manufacturing and dressing procedures are detected, how many are not detected, ...) I'd bet that the testing involved some small number of "pour standardized nitrate over hand" tests, and almost no "test random civilians off the street who happen to be wearing perfume, working in factories, or ..." tests. I sometimes wonder if these artificial nose detectors themselves actually work reliably. The "dowsing devices" that the UK profiteers sold to Iraqi police probably work nearly as well - there might even be a hidden button to press if the person looks Muslim, giving a little boost to the detector reading. Using such awe-inspiring technology would cut mfg. costs and probably work better for security theater than those finicky mass spectrometers and gas chromatographs. :-) Note: I wouldn't say this in the UK, because profitable companies that sell pseudo-scientific crap can sue you for libel there, and probably win. :-) ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- re TSA to swab airline passengers' hands in search for explosives - CNN.com Dave Farber (Feb 17)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- re TSA to swab airline passengers' hands in search for explosives - CNN.com Dave Farber (Feb 17)
- re TSA to swab airline passengers' hands in search for explosives - CNN.com David Farber (Feb 17)
- re TSA to swab airline passengers' hands in search for explosives - CNN.com Dave Farber (Feb 18)