From: ed.falk@Eng.Sun.COM (Ed Falk)
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 10:10:46 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Airport security [no such thing]
Message-ID: <199701151808.KAA29336@peregrine.eng.sun.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> As most readers probably know, laptops are often subject to manual
> scrutiny. From my non-representative sample, about four out of five tote
> bags clearly containing laptops will be manually searched. Typically, the
> attendant requires that the laptop is powered up. In none of the 20+ manual
> searches I witnessed did the security personnel wait past the RAM check
> before clearing the passenger. I could not help but contemplate how much of
> the insides of the laptop could be replaced while still obtaining an
> identical display.

Almost all of them.  I saw the keyboard of an IBM thinkpad flipped up
at a party the other day and was flabbergasted.  It's all empty space!
You can add & remove innards all you want.  Disk drives, batteries, etc.
are all removable.  The actual computer itself is so tiny I couldn't
believe it.  You could pull out the CD-rom, floppy disk, spare battery, etc.
and have a nearly empty box that still runs windows and unix.