Collaborate Disseminate
Former TSA Administrator Kip Hawley wrote an op-ed pointing out the security vulnerabilities in the TSA’s PreCheck program: The first vulnerability in the system is its enrollment process, which seeks to verify an applicant’s identity. We know verification is a challenge: A 2011 Government Accountability Office report on TSA’s system for checking airport workers’ identities concluded that it was "not… Continue reading Security Risks of TSA PreCheck
The New York Times wrote a good piece comparing airport security around the world, and pointing out that moving the security perimeter doesn’t make any difference if the attack can occur just outside the perimeter. Mark Stewart has the good quote: "Perhaps the most cost-effective measure is policing and intelligence — to stop them before they reach the target," Mr…. Continue reading Good Article on Airport Security
Interesting research: Mark G. Stewart and John Mueller, “Risk-based passenger screening: risk and economic assessment of TSA PreCheck increased security at reduced cost?” Executive Summary: The Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program is risk-based screening that allows passengers assessed as low risk to be directed to expedited, or PreCheck, screening. We begin by modelling the overall system of aviation security by… Continue reading Security Analysis of TSA PreCheck
Interesting research: Mark G. Stewart and John Mueller, “Risk-based passenger screening: risk and economic assessment of TSA PreCheck increased security at reduced cost?” Executive Summary: The Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program is risk-based screening that allows passengers assessed as low risk to be directed to expedited, or PreCheck, screening. We begin by modelling the overall system of aviation security by… Continue reading Security Analysis of TSA PreCheck
Interesting research: Mark G. Stewart and John Mueller, "Risk-based passenger screening: risk and economic assessment of TSA PreCheck increased security at reduced cost?" Executive Summary: The Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program is risk-based screening that allows passengers assessed as low risk to be directed to expedited, or PreCheck, screening. We begin by modelling the overall system of aviation security by… Continue reading Security Analysis of TSA PreCheck
A proposed law in Albany, NY, would make it a crime to walk away from airport screening. Aside from wondering why county lawmakers are getting involved with what should be national policy, you have to ask: what are these people thinking? They’re thinking in stories, of course. They have a movie plot in their heads, and they are imaging how… Continue reading Arresting People for Walking Away from Airport Security
Remember September 2016 2015? That was the month that [Ahmed Mohamed] brought a modified clock to school and was accused of being a terrorist. The event divided people with some feeling like it was ignorance on the part of the school, some felt the school had to be cautious, some felt it was racial profiling, and others thought it was a deliberate provocation from his possibly politically active parents. In the end, [Ahmed] moved to Qatar.
Regardless of the truth behind the affair, this month we’ve seen something that is probably even less ambiguous. The Washington Post reports that a …read more
Continue reading If You See Anything, Say Something? Math on a Plane
An economics professor was detained when he was spotted doing math on an airplane: On Thursday evening, a 40-year-old man – with dark, curly hair, olive skin and an exotic foreign accent – boarded a plane. It was a regional jet making a short, uneventful hop from Philadelphia to nearby Syracuse. Or so dozens of unsuspecting passengers thought. The curly-haired… Continue reading Economist Detained for Doing Math on an Airplane
The fact that algorithms can contain latent biases is becoming clearer and clearer. And some people saw this coming. Continue reading The Inherent Bias of Facial Recognition