TSA to passengers: No need to take iPad out of bag
Ever since the iPad went on sale, frequent flyers have been asking themselves, "Hmmm — what are airport screeners going to think of this?" Well, the good news is that we now have an official policy from the Transportation Safety Administration: If it's smaller than a laptop, keep it in your bag, and that includes the iPad. The bad news: TSA screeners may ask to see your iPad anyway.
When it comes to e-readers such as the iPad, the Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and the Sony Reader, the general rule of thumb applies, according to "Blogger Bob" (a.k.a. Curtis "Bob" Smith) of the official TSA blog: "Electronic items smaller than the standard sized laptop should not need to be removed for your bag or their cases. It's that simple."
Of course, TSA screeners are also "trained to look for anomalies" and may still ask you to take your iPad out "if something needs a closer look," Blogger Bob warns.
Travelers are understandably leery when it comes to the iPad and TSA, especially given the stories from passengers who've been scolded for failing to take their Kindles and other e-readers out of their bags. And who could forget the story of the poor guy back in 2008 who got stopped because TSA screeners didn't know what to make of his then-novel, solid-state-drive-packing MacBook Air. The hapless traveler was eventually allowed too pass, but only after he'd missed his flight. (To their credit, TSA officials promptly sent out images of the Air to screeners to cut down on the confusion.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100407/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1503