Remote Controls and Airplanes

I was reading an article about remote control toys being searched at airports, and something near the end stuck out a bit. Specifically, the new scrutiny will not extend to devices that automatically open car doors or to television remote controls.

My first thought was wondering why someone would bring a television remote control in carry-on luggage? My second thought was these. Does this mean the TSA now encourages pranks in airports?

Security and foam darts

I noticed this on the welcome center window while driving into work this morning. I wonder if someone decided that shooting at security may help get them past the checkpoint. It does leave the question of whether whoever was in there didn't notice or didn't care (given that it has been stuck there all day today).

Crying Wolf

One of the "Reprints" in the latest Cryto-Gram is Crying Wolf from July 2003. It starts by talking about the problems with FUD and computer security, and then brings in how that's paralleled the government. Not only did people start ignoring the threat level colors, they started openly mocking it. It seems things haven't gotten any better, so I think it's a good article to bring up again.