So the kid who embarassed the FAA and FBI is going to be prosecuted. What a joke.
Link
A college student who allegedly hid box cutters and other banned items on four airliners to expose weaknesses in U.S. security was charged with a federal crime Monday, and a prosecutor said he committed a ''very serious and foolish action.''
The banned items were not discovered on two of the planes until a month after Nathaniel Heatwole, 20, had alerted authorities about his scheme via e-mail. He was charged Monday with taking a dangerous weapon aboard an aircraft, then released without bail for a preliminary hearing Nov. 10.
So the kid warns officials in advance, plants box cutters on planes, using rudimentary methods to hide them - and when they finally find it weeks later, they blame him.
Sure the kid technically committed a crime. But he wrote about what he was going to do, and why, well in advance. No one took him seriously - he then did it - and proved a very valuable point.
Of course, the FAA should be embarassed beyond belief - since this further proves the point I've been making since Sept. 12, 2001 -- that airline security continues to be a joke. Instead of fixing the problem - they'll prosecute the kid.
This actually happened to me - sorta - in college. We had a bomb scare - actually during Gulf War I - on campus -- and as a student journalist, we made an end around the police security tape, going around it, and coming from the back of campus down a hill - just to see what was going on.
For this, we were "detained" - and after a lot of wrangling, got community service. ... But we were made an issue of because we embarassed the campus security people who didn't properly secure the area.
Anyone - this whole thing is ridiculous. We should be praising this kid.