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Geek Wristwatches Are Latest Terrorist Fashion

posted by nrh on Thursday January 06, @01:31PM

Anonymous Coward writes: For those who inspect their keychain before each flight to ensure that mini-leatherman was safely stowed in the checked luggage to avoid TSA confiscation and those who have found their L.E.D. flashlight looks like a zip gun in their carry-on, TSA has found yet another device of choice for wannabe shoe bombers. That multi-sensored Casio Pro-Trek on your wrist.

Seems those pesky terrorists have taken an interest in the altitude function of your watch. Apparently the terrorists and Department of Homeland Security have yet to realize that fancy wrist altimeter does not show an accurate altitude in a pressurized cabin. Sure its great if you just want to know if the pilot is ascending or descending, but the seat of your pants or looking out the window is equally effective for that purpose. It is also fun if you are the type of person entertained by a moving bargraph on your wrist. If you are using it as a detonation device though you may have to wait until your flight has landed below sea level for it to trigger.

At some point they may also realize those Casio watches are not only more expensive, they are much harder to connect your average terrorist device to than something like a surplus radiosonde or a model rocket altimeter. (Apologies in advance to the already beleaguered rocket hobbyists and aspiring meteorologists.)

What will those creative terrorists come up with next? Hopefully no one points out that with the GPS built into their cell phone they will soon have the opportunity to make an in-flight call to their friends-and-family just before it triggers their heavenly departure.

Read the MSNBC report here and see what security expert Bruce Schneier has to say about this here.

Thanks, AC! As Schneier points out, the bomb has to be *inside* the watch for this to make any sense, as a terrorist doesn't *need* the watch to know when to detonate a bomb, so the only way it makes sense is if the person wearing the watch is innocent -- hence the bomb must be concealed from them.

< How to Catch an Honest Terrorist | New York Subway Photography Ban May Be Close >

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Geek Wristwatches Are Latest Terrorist Fashion | Login/Create an Account | Top | 6 comments | Search Discussion

The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Watches have been used for detonators (Score:0)

by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 06, @01:52PM (#634)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bojinka
They:
1. board plan with watch + boom
2. setup both
3. land, leave,wait
4. boom

So it's not that far fetched to watch for these, um, watches.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]

Re:Watches have been used for detonators by Anonymous Coward Thursday January 06, @04:44PM
Re:Watches have been used for detonators by Anonymous Coward Friday January 07, @08:59AM
Re:Watches have been used for detonators by Anonymous Coward Saturday January 08, @04:57PM
- Re:Watches have been used for detonators by computer spook (Score:1) Sunday January 09, @06:16PM

GPS in flight. (Score:0)

by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25, @01:09PM (#658)

Hell, I use my GPS during flights to tell where the hell I am, ETA, and altitude.

I've only had a flight attendant question its use one time because she thought it was a cell phone.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]

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