The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists made a pretty big factual gaffe in their statement on airport security measures today:
What followed at U.S. airports is bound to have the public wondering. Security officials canceled some flights and forced airline passengers to discard or repack in checked baggage all liquids and gels, including toothpaste, bottled water, shampoo and the like. Electronic devices, from laptop computers to phones and iPods, were forbidden. The heightened hand luggage checks caused long delays.
Electronic devices have not been forbidden in the cabin on flights originating in the U.S. Yesterday, KTRK-13’s consumer blog pointed us to the definitive statement from the TSA:
Media have also reported that laptops, cell phones and electronic items are no longer allowed. Is that true.
No. TSA continues to allow laptop computers, cell phones and other electronic items.
Local media that have erroneously reported that electronic devices are forbidden should issue a correction ASAP.
As substance goes, the Editorial LiveJournalists seem to be ridiculing the current ban on liquids from carry-ons:
Real security requires hunting down terrorists, not looking for bottles of shampoo.
We have begun to see reports of how the UK terrorists planned on concealing their explosives:
The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera.
ABC News has learned exclusively that the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive. The terrorists planned to dye the explosive mixture red to match the sports drink sealed in the top half of the container.
This, they thought, would ensure that they would be able to pass through security — even if they were asked to unseal and drink the beverage.
In light of the specific threats that were thwarted by UK authorities, the current ban on carrying liquids into the cabin seems prudent enough, and hardly the sort of measure a major American newspaper — or even the Chronicle — ought to be ridiculing.
UPDATE (08-16-2006): The Chronicle finally corrected the mistake today:
An editorial on Page B8 Friday failed to clarify that laptop computers and other electronic equipment were banned from carry-on luggage only on flights originating in Great ritain.
The editorial got the facts wrong. The correction is not entirely forthright.
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