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TSA Prohibits Taking Discharged Electronic Devices Onto Planes
Trachman writes The US Transport Security Administration revealed on Sunday that enhanced security procedures on flights coming to the US now include not allowing uncharged cell phones and other devices onto planes. “During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cell phones. Powerless devices will not be permitted on board the aircraft. The traveler may also undergo additional screening,” TSA said in a statement.
All those free phones, tablets, laptops, etc. - it is great to be working for TSA!
This was specifically for international flights into the US originating from certain countries, not a TSA-wide procedure.
If you can't power the things up there is no way to tell what they actually are.
I can see this sucking for people who kill their battery browsing Slashdot while waiting for their flight.
Short of 'eh, just buy a display model on ebay and pack it full of semtex, the TSA won't notice...' slacker-terrorist stuff, how useful is the 'turn it on' test?
With the relentless demand for miniaturization and battery life, most consumer electronics should be able to get enough power to boot-and-display-innocence out of a battery pack markedly smaller than their real one, even without further clever surgery. In the case of products that have substantial spec variations available in the same chassis (like most 'workstation' laptops) or very similar ones(most cellphone flavors that have a high-end and a cheap-seats variant that share a design language, and often a number of parts), the slightly more adept attacker has even more room, literally, to build a low-drain device and its teeny battery into the chassis designed to run a fairly firebreathing set of components for a couple of hours.
Does the TSA expect that most of their enemies are as dumb as they are, or is this a 'well, it isn't worth much; but it's easy to impose so it's probably worth what you pay...' measure?
Somehow I don't think the TSA will allow people to power up their device with the charging cable if the battery is dead.
http://xkcd.com/651/
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Yeah. That flag pretty much no longer flies over the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Last time I went into a court house, I was required to remove my belt. Somehow, the US made it through a foreign invasion, a Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Cold War, and absolutely massive social upheaval without requiring people to remove clothing to enter into courts of law. But a few jackasses drive airplanes into some buildings and it's goodbye liberty, hello 'safety'. This 100% safe nonsense is destroying the Republic. We are less safe than ever and we have done it to ourselves. Government is the problem with our security, not to the solution to it
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
As another poster stated, this is only on certain international flights originating from certain countries--and in addition to that, I'm sure you can power your phone off once you've powered it on for them.
While this could be for another form of 'tracking' with cell phone tracking technologies (which exist), I feel it would be impossible to know just from cell phone identification what a person intends to do.
So I suspect it's nothing more than "Ensure that the phone is not a bomb in disguise".
In theory if you can't get through the security check you are allowed to leave with your property. In practice people have been prevented from doing so.
If someone does arrive at the security checkpoint with a $600 dollar tablet that happens to have a dead battery, for their $130 flight is the TSA going to let them just leave?
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
My first ever trip to the US (back in 2010), I was asked to power on my laptop going through security. In fact, while researching the trip IIRC the airline website even called this out as a specific to precaution to make sure your devices were charged in case you were asked to prove they worked. I wasn't asked on my second and third trips, so it must have only been sporadic ("additional screening" type thing). I would definitely be a bit time consuming to check all devices for all passengers, if that is the intent.
I do wonder how this is going to stop someone from smuggling an explosive on board. It is vastly easier to conceal some nasty payload inside of a bulky laptop than inside of a battery. And it could still even work as a laptop - a brick of a plastic explosive the size of a disk drive or a secondary battery would be enough to cause a huge problem on board, without preventing the laptop from booting up and working.
And that is still assuming someone would actually want to bother with this - the guy with explosive underpants certainly didn't need a working battery ...
Mind boggling stupidity.
If you have a vibrator in your luggage you'll have a better-than-average chance of being asked to turn that on, too. If you pack the biggest one you can find in your carry-on right next to your cell phone, they might not even notice your cell phone.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I'm starting to think that the TSA's real motivation is to slowly put all of the airlines out of business.
If so, they're going to be one of the most successful covert operations in history.
Be happy you are *still* allowed to keep your trousers on.
... bring all the thermite, magnesium tape, and calcium carbide you want to on in carry-on luggage.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Which, considering the underpants bomber, is strange.
Watch this Heartland Institute video
"Now, a successful terrorist must spend an extra $100 on parts and 100 hours on hardware modifications, while still spending the time and money to jump through every other hurdle in the way."
"... the point is to raise the difficulty high enough that the attack isn't worth the hassle."
If you stop and think about these statements you will see how stupid they are. Such statements make sense when the motive is financial and the prospect of fines or incarceration is a deterrent. Or when such people are not extremely well financed. None of these things apply here. If you are an extremest who plans to kill yourself while blowing up an airplane, there is no point at which you stop and say "awww screw this, it's not worth the hassle". And most of these guys are backed by people will millions in the bank.
Why dance around the issues with the security facade? If the U.S. would just flat out block all incoming traffic it would be a win-win for everyone involved, as the rest of us can plan accordingly and get on with our lives.
I know a couple of people who work for the TSA too, and sadly, they view all of this stuff as amusing ways to irritate the general public, who they regard as generally stupid and annoying in the first place.
If you corner them on any of the security policies, they'll readily admit they don't necessarily enhance security or serve a useful purpose. They just feel like all of that is unimportant, vs. the expectation that travelers just "follow the orders and instructions". If you don't cooperate, you're one of those "stupid and annoying people who can't follow directions" - so they ridicule you and enjoy your suffering as they put you through extra screening, detain you, or what-not.
It's funny how you can take practically anyone, dress them up in a uniform and a badge, and give them some sort of arbitrary control or power over others, and they suddenly feel superior.
Employees: We demand a raise, we have to face rude passengers and put our hands at weird places.
TSA Manager: Well, there is no budget for a raise, here is what we are going to do instead.....
Truthfully though, the airlines themselves are also doing a good job of it.
The last couple of times my pre-teen daughter had to get on a plane to fly to visit relatives/family, I had her fly as an unaccompanied minor. What a friggin' hassle! First off, you're typically charged an extra $150 or so for the "service", but even more inconveniently? Airline web sites are poorly designed to handle this extra detail, so the process often screws you out of frequent flyer miles you should really have earned for purchasing your kid's flight (name on the boarding pass doesn't match name of the ticket purchaser), and you often have to re-enter some information twice on the web site to place the ticket order properly.
Then they have all of the hoops you have to jump through as part of the boarding process. You have to accompany your kid to the gate, so you've got to go through the security checkpoint yourself, even though you're not the one getting on the plane. You've got to wait behind after your kid is on the plane until the plane actually leaves the runway, too. And it seems like every time, people working at the ticket counter manage to screw up the whole check-in process. (Someone always fails to understand the procedure and neglects to issue you your pass saying you're accompanying someone else but not boarding the plane, or they don't have ANY of the information you provided in detail when buying your kid's ticket, such as names and numbers of who will be picking them up at their destination.)
Except for Southwest, it seems like pretty much all of the airlines are charging you at least $25 per bag for each piece of luggage you bring along, too. And at the same time? They just reduced the max. allowable dimensions of carry-on luggage by 1 lousy inch ... just enough to make a bunch of expensive luggage obsolete.
"Hahahaha, Nazis? Unless you're taking a direct flight to a concentration camp, gtfo."
The iconic image of the Nazis I was raised on was the Gestapo agent demanding papers. The US is supposed to be better than that. No internal passports, a free man (or woman) has the right to go about their business in peace, does anyone still remember those days?
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But a few jackasses drive airplanes into some buildings and it's goodbye liberty, hello 'safety'.
All that after the CIA was repeatedly told to go to hell by Bush and his Cabinet when they tried to raise all hell about the intel they had from multiple sources that an attack using airplanes within the US targeting the WTC was imminent.
It's almost like our own Government wanted it to happen so they could use an excuse to trot out the "PATRIOT" Act and step up their War on Civil Liberties when Bush Sr's plan to suspend the Constitution for the War on Drugs didn't gain much support. But that would **never** happen and anyone that thinks so is an Alex Jones loving crackpot looney.
I've wondered why they haven't done that before. Forget about taking a plane down, or flying into a building.
Have 20 individuals at 20 airports all approach the processing line, timed to arrive at the metal detector/x-ray chute at noon. Scream the usual "aloha cracker" (or whatever those crazy fucks say), pull out the bomb from their carry on, and detonate it before anyone can stop them.
Instantly, every airport is notified about this threat, and now everyone gets screened before they even get to the airport.
If they want to fuck with the west, that is how they could do it.
The fact that this has not happened (nor have we heard of a such a plot being defused) makes it pretty clear that the real threat is the TSA itself, and "terrists" are simply an Emmanuel Goldstein type boogeyman used to keep everyone in line and their mouths shut.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
I live in the Southern Hemisphere. Im not a terrorist, im a tourist looking for a holiday this year. Id love to come to the USA for a holiday, to go and see the sights and generally enjoy a holiday in a country full of history and things to see and do. ( love to see NY, the Grand Canyon, the science museums etc)
But this TSA absurdity is so fucked up, so scary and frightening, you couldnt pay me to holiday there.
There is no way in hell im going to subject myself to the indignity, radiation exposure, nude body scanning, device seizure and random harassment of Security Theatre in the US.
Fuck that shit.
Ill go be a tourist and spend my money in another country.
Some day when I have enough time and money I plan on taking an airplane trip with no luggage. I'd show up at the check in counter with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why? Just so I could see what they'd do.
Think about how odd that would look. No cell phone, no key ring, not even a tooth brush. I wouldn't wear anything out of the ordinary, no "Potential Terrorist" t-shirt. I'd just wear what I normally do, running shoes, slacks, polo shirt. I normally keep a knife on my belt but I'd leave that at home, maybe even leave the belt too.
As much as people will claim otherwise you are not required to have identifying documents to board a plane when traveling domestically. International travel you do but not within the USA. I'm thinking I might leave my ID at home too.
What would this prove? I'm not sure but it would be an interesting experiment. I am just curious how the TSA would respond to someone that acts so far out of the ordinary but also fits no norm of a threatening person.
If anyone should ask me about my plans I'd probably just say I'm going shopping. I need some new clothes so I didn't see the need to pack any. I'm thinking that to make it additionally frustrating for them I'd leave not only my ID at home but any credit cards or anything else that might have my name on it besides my boarding pass. I would not lie about who I am and would not refuse to give my name or any other detail. I'm just a guy that wants to go on a shopping trip and I like to pay in cash.
I think that they would not let me on the plane.
One problem with my experiment is that I'd like to document the experiment but I'd have nothing to record with. I'd have to go by memory, or write everything down. No doubt that if I did do this that someone would say, "Photos or it didn't happen!"
The thing is that if the TSA keeps up with their security theater, and the airlines charge for every piece of luggage a person brings, then what I propose as an experiment may become the preferred way to vacation. It would remove a lot of hassle that way.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.