Your pen knife confiscated at the airport? Buy it back on eBay!
The state has started cashing in on the items confiscated by the security folks...by selling them on eBay under the handle, CaliforniaGold2000, according to this San Francisco Chronicle story:
So far, $16,281 has been made selling objects taken from passengers at Oakland and Sacramento airports -- the only ones in Northern California to participate in the state program.
...We're putting items that are reusable back in the hands of people," Deignan said. "On EBay, it's egalitarian. It opens the bidding to the world."