
TSA actually spent only $47,000 on the random assignment app - capote
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/tsa-spent-47000-on-an-app-that-just-randomly-picks-lanes-for-passengers/
======
eggy
I think all of the tech discussions misses the bigger picture of why a random
app to begin with. It is to ensure racial profiling or other profiling is not
the trigger to put people on one side of the line or the other. Frankly, I
find this a bit too PC, and from my experience in life, a bit of common sense,
and using your 'eyes' (judgement included) is needed here. You will have
idiots using their own eyes and judgement sure, but you will have idiots using
the TSA iPad app too without using their 'eyes'. I grew up in Sunset Park
Brooklyn, NY. I could get beat up 4 times a week if I didn't simply 'racially
profile', and cross the street when seeing a group of hispanic-looking guys
drinking beer out of brown paper bags after school (a hint they had nothing
better to do). Being white in a +90% Puerto Rican / Dominican neighborhood
with platinum blonde hair until age 14 made me stand out to say the least. If
I had used a random 'cross the street' | 'stay on this side', I could expect
to get beat up 50% of the time ;) I learned how to avoid the common prejudices
of some of the morons in my neighborhood, while maintaining some rational
level of discrimination and common sense. Yes, sometimes you will miss the
radicalized Nordic-looking or UK youth, but I bet the odds of the
discriminatory eye will beat a random search any day in a large population
sample.

~~~
true_religion
There is a difference between racial profiling on the individual level and
racial profiling on the government level.

On the individual level, a single person simply doesn't have that much power.

As a representative of the US border and custom institution, a TSA agent's
poorly thought out hunch can have far ranging effects.

Additionally, TSA agents are not subject to stringent educational requirements
nor tested for having good quality judgment. In reality, they have been shown
time and time again to have shockingly poor judgment.

For instance, in one case they believed that a man who showed up to the
airport without eating must have been doing so for Ramadan and, therefore,
required 'enhanced scrutiny' which made him miss his flight. This resulted in
a missed work opportunity, and over 2000 worth of costs in non-refundable
plane and hotel fees at his destination. In reality, he skipped breakfast to
catch his early flight for a tech conference, and had the poor luck of having
a darker than caucasian tan skin colour.

~~~
eggy
So a random left|right arrow performs better? I wasn't really calling for
'racial profiling'; I was trying to convey that the use of a random arrow app
totally removes human judgement no matter how flawed it may be. We need to
address the abuses of people in powers of authority, but not remove the
ability or tools to do the job they are hired for. There has to be some
allowance for judgement without prejudice in perception. Yes, it sometimes
results in ignorant and racist people making horrible decisions, and given too
much power. We have to allow for some human common sense here, otherwise,
bring on the robots and AI, and I hope they can achieve better (although, AI,
or computational intelligence, is not at a level of a human's ability to
synthesize untrained data into a 'hunch' or 'gut feeling' wired through
experience). Regardless, I feel the whole TSA thing is a political charade,
and this has been proven in the press countless times, and by the two times I
forgot to remove my multi-tool from my carry-on before boarding, and it was
not detected. I now live in East Java, Indonesia, and I am accused of having a
'darker than Caucasian tan skin colour.' who refer to foreigners (Westerners)
as 'buleh'. I also awake to call-to-prayers each day, and hear it another 4
times in the day. Let's say my birth and upbringing in a predominantly
Hispanic neighborhood, and now in a majority-Muslim region has even tempered
my tolerance more than most average people in the world. Having lived in SE
Asia, I can tell you that the level of prejudice reminds me of where we were
at in the U.S.A. in the early 70s (Chinese to other 'dark-skinned' SE Asians,
to white Westerners, etc...).

~~~
visarga
> bring on the robots and AI, and I hope they can achieve better

AI can also be biased, depending on the data it was trained on. The government
employees might be biased, but they are a few. AI on the other hand has the
potential to scale up discrimination to planetary levels, if we allow those
who control it to do so. A lot of our life influencing factors will be decided
by AIs in the future.

------
draw_down
This whole story is so silly.

~~~
capote
I can't get enough of it

~~~
draw_down
You and the rest of HN, apparently. First it was 400k then some millions then
this. I mean, honestly.

~~~
capote
That's what makes it fun!

------
ahallock
'Only'? There will be lots of rationalizing, of course, as to the final cost
but this is real money that could have helped the tax payers it was stolen
from. Instead, it's been redistributed to overpaid contractors.

~~~
nmrm2
The app was used at 100 airports. If you include the cost of the iPads then
it's like $7000 for the actual app. Still high for a couple hours of work, but
you figure most of that is overhead inherent in contract-style work. I never
charge less than 1k for a project because it's not even worth the time it
takes to place a bid and manage the paperwork, and I don't have to put up with
government BS.

The ironic thing is that the person who made the FOIA request is complaining
about lack of transparency when transparency is a perfect example of the sorts
of perverse incentives that cause government projects have insane amounts of
overhead. One of those spend a dollar to prevent a penny of fraud things. I
don't really have any solutions, but there's no free cake.

'course the elephant in the room is that TSA itself is a waste of money even
without expensive software contracts.

~~~
ahallock
> If you include the cost of the iPads then it's like $7000 for the actual
> app.

These articles imply it was for the app development. $7000 is high, but not
outrageous.

