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Here' are some excerpts from one of the articles, and some comments,
along with my comments since I would have never in a million years
even guessed that you can now get arrested and even shot drad as a
terrorist for simply wearing a legaly purchased legally marketed to
citizens legally bought official Star Trek T-Shirt in what is supposed
to be a free countyry, the U.S.A.
and as you can see, there are indeed many concerns for anyone who
just happens to be wearing one of the Star Trek T-shirts that were
officially made like that.
Or anyone with a similar official shirt.
Even though hers wasn't a Star Trek t-shirt, it still perfectly
describes the star trek t-shirt which was advertised in Starlog
magazine many years ago.
Short version: it wasn't a "fake bomb" at all, it was a wearable tech
jacket on the body of a friendly young technologist who would have
been *way* better off wearing something else to the airport today.
Authorities in Massachussetts who've been accused of overreacting to
tech art misunderstandings before -- remember the Mooninite Menace? --
are throwing the book at her.
So wearing a legally marketed legally purchased official Star Trek T-
shirt now gets the book thrown at you and you would have been "way
better off wearing something else to the airport today" or anywhere
else for that matter. You never know where you might have to go anyday
and you might already be out and about and end up having to go
someplace you didn't expect like a federal building like unexpectedly
taking a friend to the social security office (bang bang you're dead)
or ending up at a certain mall with some mall ninja security guards
(bang bang you're dead), or having to bail someone out of jail at the
local jail/sheriff's department (bang bang. you're dead).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This being Boston, I'll be interested to learn whether this was a
legitimate threat or a misunderstanding/overreaction by authorities,
combined with poor fashion judgement on the young lady's part.
So now wearing a legally marketed legally purchased official Star Trek
T-shirt is "poor fashion judgement"???
Well, yeah some people would consider it "tacky"
Here's a happy-fun quote from the AP item:
She's extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force
would have been used," Pare told The Associated Press. "And she's
lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."
So now you're lucky if you don't end up dead in a morgue from wearing
a legally marketed legally purchased official Star Trek T-shirt.
.... there were wires attached to a battery that actually lit up...
I'm shocked and appalled that somebody would wear such a device to the
airport. We had someone with a submachine gun at the airport go right
to the scene."
Yes. The LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt
also has wires attached to a battery that actually lit up, and
actuallyu lights up. "I'm shocked and appaled that somebody would
wear such a device to the airport". So there you have it, TSA
officials have said it is NOT legal to wear a LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY
purchaserd OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt to the airport. And if you do
will immediately send someone with a submachine gun right to the
scene. "We had someone with a submachine gun at the airport go right
to the scene"
And said it's "shocking and appalling to wear such a device.". yes,
to some people it is shocking and appalling that anyone would wear
something as tacky as a T-shirt where the lights on the Starship
Enterprise light up and constantly blink. Homeowner Associations would
have a fit over that. And not just because it's out of style and over
five years old like the jomeowners association who made that guy get
rid of all of his clothes that were over five years old and took him
to court for refusing to do so because since they were over five years
old and anythng over five years old isn't the current style, and is
out of style, it gives a bad impression of the neighborhood and
lowers property values when potential buyers see someone wearing
clothes that aren't the current style or wearing any clothes more than
five years old. And the court ruled in favor of the homeowners
association in that case!!!!
Note I do not agree with that homeowner association about what they
said about the styles.
.
Update 3: They're showing the LED hoodie on CNN right now (screengrab
from a local TV report below).
Yes. And the L.E.D.s on the LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased
OFFICIAL Star Trek t-shirt also light up.
I learned in school the government is NOT allowed to pass ex-post-
facto laws and that if something was legal when you bought it, they
are not allowed to arrest you for it just because they latrer passed a
law making it illegal.
yet since you can now get arrested for it and even shot dead for it,
that is EXACTLY what the TSA governmentt officials have been and are
doing.
Looks like the "improvised electronic device" consisted of a circuit
board and a common battery that caused her sweatshirt, which had
painted writing on it, to light up. Authorities referred to the paint
as "putty."
Just like the LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek t-
shirt. It consists of a circuit board and a common battery which
causes the front of the shirt to light uo and blink.
The hoodie reads "Socket To Me / COURSE VI." A BB commenter familiar
with MIT stuff says, "Course VI means she majors in Electrical
Engineering / Computer Science."
Sounds like something from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. If the
happenings described in the article were't so DEADLY serious.
Sheesh! Someone needs to not let these hyperintelligent hacker chirren
out of the house wearing this kind of stuff when they're headed to
airports in Boston. {shakes head}. Poor thing.
So there you have it. You need to NOT be let out of the house wearing
your LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt
with the blinking starship Enterprise on it.
Update 4: She's being charged with "posession of a hoax device" (again
with the hoax devices!) and disorderly conduct. But on the plus side,
she's not dead.
So now wearing a LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek
shirt is "disorderly conduct" that you're lucky if you're not dead for
wearing.
.Update 6: Christy from Instructables.com (Simpson is a regular
participant on the site) says: Star was an intern at Squid Labs this
summer, and is an all-around awesome geek who loves to build things.
FYI, friends at MIT say she wears the hoodie on a regular basis- it's
just unfortunate that she had it on while trying to pick a friend up
at the airport. MIT students don't really do mornings, or worry about
what they're wearing, so I can't imagine she'd even think about her
clothes before heading out to pick up a friend at the airport before
8am.
Well, I certainly in a million billion trillion years never have
thought anything of wearing a LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased
OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt with blinking Enterprise lights anywhere.
Until it was too late like it was with her.
1) how to get arrested at the airport without being shot, and
2) how to package your homemade electronics to look purchased.
The Star Trek T-shirts WERE purchased by people. They are LEGALLY
marketed LEGALLY purrchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-Shirts, NOT homemade.
Shheeeesssshhh! They were even advertised in Starlog magazine. That's
where most people got them from.
If they're illegal, them someone NEEDS to file a LAWSUIT against
STARLOG magazine for illegally marketing and illegally selling illegal
merchandise. But they can't. And they can't becaus they are LEGALLY
marketed LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirts that were never
illegal until recently which is an illegal EX-post-facto law made by
the government.
IF it's actualy illegal like the government says it is.. But I don't
rexall the government ever passing any such law making t-shirts like
that T-Shirt illegal in which case, it is f"alse arrest".
Update 7: Christy from Instructables.com says (1125am PT), I talked
to Star briefly -- she's out on bail, is just fine, and thinks the
whole thing is crazy.
Of course, they've impounded her sweatshirt, so she's got to do
something else for Career Day.
Sheeessshhhh!!! That Star Trek t-shirt was a very expensive shirt to
buy and now if you wear it, they will impound it and you're out all
the money you paid for it since you will no longer have the t-shirt.
Update 8: Bruce Schneier: "Definitely stupid police overreaction.
Refuse to be terrorized, people!"
you said it. exactly. When you can get arrested and immediately shot
dead without being arrested simply for wearing a LEGALLY marketed
LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt, there is then something
very very wrong.
And Chris Anderson, who, apart from being Editor in Chief at Wired
Magazine is also a total UAV nerd, says:
Sorry to be late chiming in with support for Star, but I can confirm
that she's a world-class geek and otherwise cool person. While she was
at SquidLabs this summer, she helped with our UAV testing. Cracked one
of the imaging problems, too. Really sorry to see the lapse of
judgment that led to this arrest, but I'm sure she's got a glorious
career ahead of her regardless.
Si now wearing a LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased Star Trek T-shirt
which has a blinking starship Enterprise on it is a "lapse of
judgement"???
Update 9: BB reader Sujal Shah says, One clarification: Simpson did
answer the original information desk staffer's question about what the
art was. That there's no step between an answer that wasn't believed
and guns drawn is a big issue to me. Innocent people will get killed
this way.
There you have ikt, innocent people get killed this way, that is
innocent people get killed from wearing a LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY
purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt with a blinking starship
Enterprise on it.
Here's the post I left on Schneiers blog:
Just so we're all clear on this, she DID ANSWER the desk staffer who
asked her what the contraption on her sweatshirt was. She responded
that it was art. Link to local TV account. The employee had to repeat
the question before she got an answer. This bit of info was missing in
the original AP version, which made it sound like she refused to
answer what the device was. 223 Comments
So if yyou answer that Star Trek is art, they keep repeating the
question and keep asking you again becaus they don;r believe your
LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt is
"art". To them, it is "terrorism" and "being a terrorist" and "a bomb
threat". or "a fake bomb threat"
Hamish Grant • #1 • 7:51 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
Sheesh. That's like walking up to a customs agent and saying, "I have
a bomb." What an idiot.
So now you're an idiot if you wear your LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY
purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek T-shirt with the blinking starship
Enterprise.
And wearing YOUR LEGALLY marketed LEGALLY purchased OFFICIAL Star Trek
T-shirt is s like walking up to a cusstoms agent and saying "I have a
bomb" "What an idiot".
"What an idiot" for wearing your LEGALY marketed LEGALLY purchased
OFFICIAL blinking starship Enterprise Star Trek T-shirt.
edgore • #2 • 7:51 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
Electronics. Strapped outside the hoody. Of an MIT Student.
Electronics. Strapped outside the body of a Trekkie who are also into
all those electronic gizmos just like the mit students, ham radio
operators and cb radio operators but the Trekkies knowlede is smarter,
probably as smart as the mit students or even smarter since they're
into all that science stuff and science-fiction stuff.
So I guess now that makes Trekkies a threat as far as the government
is concerned since they're as smart or smarter than mit students.
I call shenanigans (on security). My guess is it's some sort of
harmless project.
Just like the blinking starship Enterprise Star Trek T-shirt is
harmless.
Brian Damage • #3 • 7:54 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
Hi, Jack!
yeah, someone has brain damage alright.
We need to see a photo of the device before we pass judgement
There's a picture in the article. Or you can look through old Starlog
magazines and see the picture of the Star Trek T-shirt if you can find
the right issues. They don't look much different except that one is
Star Trek with a picture of the starship Enterprise and the other
isn't Star Trek at all so doesn't have the Star Trek picture.
abelincolnjr • #5 • 7:58 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
I like the comment the police released to the press:
"She's extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force
would have been used," Pare told The Associated Press. "And she's
lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."
Yep. Wearing a LEGALLY MARKETED LEGALLY PURCHASED OFFICIAL STAR TREK T-
SHIRT Will now IMMEDIATELY get you "HE'S DEAD, JIM".
or if you're a girl like she is, will now immediately get you SHE'S
DEAD, JIM."
abelincolnjr • #6 • 7:59 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
A quote from Boston Police:
"She's extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force
would have been used," Pare told The Associated Press. "And she's
lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."
Robert • #7 • 8:02 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
Wow, she sure put the "mor[on]" in sophomore! Maybe for her next art
project she can run around the airport screaming "I'm Al Qaida! Look
at me! I'm Al Qaida!"
So now WEARING A LEGALLY MARKETED LEGALLY PURCHASED OFFICIAL STAR TREK
SHIRT WHICH WAS LEGALLY MANUFACTURED WITH BLINKING LIGHTS ON THE
STARSHIP ENTERPRISE IS "A MORON" AND THE SAME AS SCREAMING you're with
Al Qaida???
Anon • #8 • 8:03 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
I thought MIT students were supposed to be a bit more intelligent than
the rest of us. Walking into an airport with an electronic device
strapped to her chest ..... a very stupid action. She is lucky to just
be in a cell, but I have a feeling a lot of people (including her)
will never understand why, this time, the Boston Police are in the
right.
So now the POLICE ARE IN THE RIGHT IF THEY ARREST YOU OR EVEN
IMMEDIATELY SHOOY YOU DEAD JUST FOR WEARING A LEGALLY MARKETED LEGALY
PURCHASED OFFICIAL STAR TREK T-SHIRT WHICH WAS MADE BY THE
MANUGACTURER TO HAVE WORKING BLINKING LIGHTS ON THE STARSHIP
ENTERPRISE"???????
As Al would say, "I don't think so," One thing is for sure. If I can
help it, I will never ever be flying. Another thing is for sure. When
TSA officials and other officials can now arrest you for wearing your
LEGALLY MARKETED LEGALLY PURCHASED OFFICIAL T-SHIRT WITH BLINKING
STARSHIP ENTERPRISE LIGHTS", they have truly "gone where no man has
gone before".
And have even "gone where no one has gone before"
xadrian • #9 • 8:24 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
I think what we're all missing is an MIT Computer Science student is
probably not into making a lot of "art." I know, board/chip design can
take some creativity, but I don't see this as guerrilla performance
art or even an attempt to poke holes in the TSA web.
I think she's a bit unhinged.
so now wearing a LEGALLY MARKETED LEGALLY PURCHASED OFFICIAL STAR
TREK SHIRT WHICH WAS MANUGACTURED BY THE MANUFACTUTRER WITH BLINKING
STARSHIP ENTERPRISE LIGHTS IS "A BITT UNHINGED"????
YEAH, I guess quite a few people would call most Trekkies "a bit
unhinged"
Hamish Grant • #10 • 8:26 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
...and she did it in BOSTON! Home of the overreaction to improvised
electronic devices!
drewstarr • #11 • 8:40 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
before anyone tries to come up w/ a crazy theory for what "Course VI"
means...
all the majors (and course titles, and buildings) are numbered and
referred to by their numbers, not their names.
All that Course VI means is she majors in Electrical Engineering /
Computer Science
Christovir • #12 • 8:40 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
Can anyone tell me what practical use a machine gun is to security in
an airport? Isn't that just about the worst security weapon you could
use where you have one or two "bad" people mixed in with hundreds of
"good" people, short of a rocket launcher?
"Look, there's a terrorist in the crowd of people! Open fire on them
with a machine gun!"
Like most "security," automatic weapons are theatre. Although there is
virtually nil chance security would need to use a gun in an airport,
on the very rare occurrences where guns are used, I cannot imagine any
scenario where a machine gun would be more useful than a handgun.
Nicholas Weaver • #13 • 8:41 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
Screen capture?
Raian • #14 • 8:42 AM Friday, Sep 21, 2007
I can't believe anyone in their