
ABC News uses iCloud to track a stolen iPad to TSA officer's home - ashishgandhi
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/27/abc-news-uses-icloud-to-track-a-stolen-ipad-to-tsa-officers-home
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qwertzlcoatl
One of _ten_. That's it. They conducted just ten sting operations before a TSA
agent stole one of their target iPads.

~~~
NegativeK
Ten. That's their sample size.

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AngryParsley
The headline gave me a slightly incorrect impression. ABC news left valuables
at checkpoints as part of a sting operation. While it's still inexcusable,
taking a lost item isn't quite as bad as actively stealing. I think the legal
term is "theft by finding": <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding>.

I guess the TSA agent didn't know that iPhones, iPads, and many other tablets
and smartphones can be tracked and wiped remotely. There is a large risk to
stealing them and little reward. I bet theft rates will decrease as word of
these anti-theft features spreads.

~~~
cek
What an outrageous thing to say! This guy stole the iPad. Period.

You also seem to be implying that his "mistake" was taking something easy to
track. Wow.

~~~
AngryParsley
No. I'm saying not only was his action inexcusable, wrong, and illegal, it was
also stupid.

I'm not sure why people downvoted me and replied with such stern disagreement.
I used as many hedge-words as I could (" _slightly_ incorrect", "isn't _quite_
as bad", etc) and was describing my subjective impression. In no way did I
blame ABC for the loss of their iPad, and I called the TSA agent's action
inexcusable.

We're on the same side here.

~~~
scott_s
Don't worry, I assumed the same thing you did about his actions, and I think
it's important to make what he did clear.

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lostlogin
It does, but given that its quite hard to tell the TSA guys from police (well,
it was for me) as their uniforms and behavior certainly seem police-ish, it's
bad. They appear like police, behave like police, but when confronted with a
situation they can exploit, 10% of the time (in a crazy small sample) they
will exploit you. People in positions of authority receive harsher treatment
on New Zealand law if they abuse their positions. I hope it's the same in the
US.

~~~
DrJ
Not in the US, mostly they get a "administrative" leave and go on vacation
until things die down. Small pawns however are fired, but that's about it.

~~~
creativityland
Sadly this is true in most instances...

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thesis
Someone is going down... hard time! You can't take photos/movies of TSA
checkpoints!

At least I'm sure that's how the story will eventually be flipped.

~~~
culturestate
I know you're joking, but it's actually stated TSA policy[1] to allow
photography of checkpoints. Whether that policy is followed, however...

1\. [http://blog.tsa.gov/2009/03/can-i-take-photos-at-
checkpoint-...](http://blog.tsa.gov/2009/03/can-i-take-photos-at-checkpoint-
and.html)

~~~
pyre
I was in a 'lock-down' at Newark a while back and was told that I could use my
video camera, so long as I didn't point it at the 'secure area' (basically at
the checkpoint).

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imjared
This seems like a typical "gotcha" story. TSA has approximately 60,000
employees and to show that one stole something, or even one hundred have
stolen things, doesn't raise any real red flags to me. I wish it didn't happen
but I don't think this can really be used as an overarching critique of TSA.
If we want to argue against TSA, let's keep arguments framed around invasive
procedures, general incompetence, or the cost/benefit ratio that they seem to
provide.

~~~
DanBC
This is an employee that's supposed to be preventing crime. Showing that some
of them are involved in crime is a reasonable thing to do.

Unattended items have some[1] risk of being bombs. I want airport employees to
treat unattended items as if a customer has lost something (probably the case)
or as if they're bombs (so at least those continued loops telling me not to
leave anything unattended don't go to waste).

[1] Has any unattended item even been a bomb?

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ronaldj
As much as I hate the TSA, this sort of reads like entrapment.

~~~
13rules
Do you know how many things are left behind at checkpoints? On a flight I was
on once the lady next to me realized she had left her laptop at the
checkpoint. It happens _all_ the time.

If TSA agents can't overcome the desire to take what is not theirs, they have
no business doing that job.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
True. But TSA turnover must be huge, and screening for honest people is no
easier today that it has ever been.

I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

~~~
13rules
Totally. You're basically hiring people for a job that no one who is actually
qualified for wants. It's the security equivalent of an IT help desk.

