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US Might Ban Laptops On All Flights Into And Out of the Country (reuters.com)
The United States might ban laptops from aircraft cabins on all flights into and out of the country as part of a ramped-up effort to protect against potential security threats, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said on Sunday. From a report:In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Kelly said the United States planned to "raise the bar" on airline security, including tightening screening of carry-on items. "That's the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it's a U.S. carrier, particularly if it's full of U.S. people." In March, the government imposed restrictions on large electronic devices in aircraft cabins on flights from 10 airports, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey. Kelly said the move would be part of a broader airline security effort to combat what he called "a real sophisticated threat." He said no decision had been made as to the timing of any ban. "We are still following the intelligence," he said, "and are in the process of defining this, but we're going to raise the bar generally speaking for aviation much higher than it is now."
That's about the only positive spin I can put on it. If they're worried about laptops with batteries, let me have one without; then I can just rent batteries when I travel, and the airline doesn't have to worry about it. It would be nice if the whole system could be more modular than laptops currently are.
Meanwhile terrorists are using trucks and going to concerts, not targeting planes. Naked flights coming soon.
So, I now bill my clients for "useless" travel time, no big.
Also, to avoid laptop damage, I use the free BestBuy/Target/Walmart laptop rental service. They do require a full deposit, but it's a free laptop rental for up to 14 days, usually covers it.
The trick to traveling to/from third world countries is to have nothing more than clothes or electronics worth more than say $40, otherwise some down on their look third worlder will steal it.
I have a compute stick, it's all I need, snagged it on ebay for $40. Perfect for thirld world countries. Or even raspi's. They work on third world televisions that have only composite in.
You mean laptops with REMOVABLE batteries? That's crazy, that would never work! That has never existed before.
Great, now how long do we have to wait till all electronics are banned? Maybe if it was actual security and not theater we wouldn't have this problem. Maybe if people were rational about the actual threat level and not scared like mice in daylight we wouldn't waste billions of dollars and hours of labor helping the terrorists win without them even attacking.
or else they'd ban "Small, potentially explosive devices"
eg smart phones.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Seriously, what the hell are you guys doing to your country?
Any type of clothing you wear.
Well, I think the whole idea is crazy. If people aren't allowed to carry them on, and they surely don't want to trust them to the baggage throwers, how are they supposed to bring a laptop with them on a business trip? Can people still bring their phones on the flight? How is a phone any different than a computer really? It's just a tiny computer. Can people bring phones, and bluetooth keyboards, and portable USB C monitors? You could basically bring all the components of a laptop on the plane without actually bringing any single item that actually qualifies as a laptop.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Does anyone remember why we are supposed to bring our batteries in the cabin? It is because of the risk of them catching fire, or exploding at low pressure, like found in a cargo hold. Especially when they are in devices like laptops.
I guess the TSA is just too incompetent though as every other place people have tried lining labors with explosives it has failed. Yes, I know the UK started this stupidity!
Oh well, I guess we'll just have to live with multiple ticking time bombs on every plane. I wonder when the first plane will crash from this idiotic policy?
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
When they banned bringing water through security, the sales of water bottles inside the security area. This will create a huge demand for rental businesses. You can already rent portable DVD players that you return at your destination airport. This could be expanded easily to laptops and iPads.
The real test about whether this is warranted is whether other countries will adopt similar bans. The ban on devices from Middle Eastern countries had a half-hearted and variable adoption in the UK and Canada. I also wonder if this is not a ploy of the terrorists. The IRA (Irish terrorist group not a US retirement account) used to phone up the police with fake bomb warnings for major London train stations to cause widespread disruption without actually having to do anything other than once every few years leaving a real but small explosive device just so the police could never ignore their warnings.
It seems that the current breed of terrorists might be playing the same game. Talking about a laptop device to bring down a plane when they think it is likely to be picked up simply to cause widespread disruption while sticking to bombing open venues, driving lorries through crowds or whatever similarly evil but security avoiding schemes their warped minds can come up with.
Or maybe it's time to ban all flights in and out of the country? Better safe than sorry.
While we're at it, let's ban all carry-on luggage, handbags, phones, etc.
Size matters... I mean, that's what I've heard..
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
You mean laptops with REMOVABLE batteries? That's crazy, that would never work! That has never existed before.
No lie, when talking about batteries due to being stopped I asked if they removed pacemaker batteries, MP3 player batter--- she interrupted and said she unplugs the wires (headphones) from those. Pretty much shut me up on the spot as I had no idea what I was really dealing with before that.
No, i don't mean that. I mean laptops with external batteries. Removable batteries means that you can't have a standardized battery, so there's no rental market.
Small batteries don't have enough mass to pose a problem.
Let's ban all flights and be done with it.
That's why the external battery. You just don't bring a battery. Then you can carry it on, because there's no battery, so you don't have to worry about getting ripped off.
Phones are okay because the battery doesn't have enough mass to be replaced by an explosive that can damage the airframe.
It's what we are now.
If this was a serious concern, then there are means by which it is possible to require passengers to demonstrate the working functionality of their laptop/netbook equipment before the flight.
So, this is either an ill-thought-through remark that has either been mis-represented by the press [or will be withdrawn by the spokesperson]; or in the alternate, it is a legitimate statement of intent for which the underlying desire is to squeeze competing airlines out of the routes that fly to and/or from the United States.
One thing we can be pretty sure of: this has nothing to do with flight safety.
US Might Ban Laptops On All Flights Into And Out of the Country, this is considered a prelude to the Trump administrations next major move in aviation security which is to ban passengers and cargo on all flights in and out of the USA. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday" U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was quoted as saying: "We have determined that the largest two security risks in aviation are passengers and cargo. Passengers are basically a bunch of morons anyway and unquestionably a general nuisance and they are just far to vulnerable to terrorist attacks plus, an alarming number of them are actually evil foreigners. Furthermore, there are just way to many places to hide bombs in air cargo so after a lengthy 12 second consultation with president Trump during a commercial break on 'Fox and Friends' POTUS decided that we should just ban them. It's a pretty clever idea, It just simplifies everything when the aircraft are empty, security checks are shorter, there are no delays around boarding, no crowding in the airport terminal, no security lines, the turn-around rate at airports will also skyrocket. In fact we won't be needing airport terminals at all anymore since aircraft are only stopping to refuel before returning to what ever dystopian foreign hell hole they came from in the first place so we'll be re-purposing the airport terminals as presidential adulation centres. We'll also be laying off large numbers of redundant TSA staff who'll be re-hired at lower wages by subsidiaries of The Trump Organisation and sent into the deserts to build the US-Mexico border wall which POTUS assures us the Mexicans have now agreed to pay for."
https://i0.wp.com/thisishistor...
#DeleteFacebook
The ban apparently also includes cameras, and I will not (ever) put my camera in my (for all intents and purposes unlocked) hold luggage.
No matter visiting national parks or interesting cities, and no more doing business in that country.
Well, I suppose I could fly into Canada and cross the border by car. Or are laptops also forbidden on those borders?
The intelligence bar for the TSA is not very high. Best to avoid all conversation and try to get through the check without incident.
Phones are only allowed up to the following dimensions: 16cm x 9.3cm x 1.5cm. Nothing larger than that is allowed in the cabin on Etihad and Qatar Airways flights with destinations to the USA. Furthermore I have been told of people with wireless headphones who were forced to gate check them, so some gate agents are quite strict.
I doubt you'd have much luck getting a full sized wireless keyboard and a display on board, as both are electronic devices greater than the allowed size. When I've flown during previous times of strict security requirements they deployed secondary xrays at the gate, immediately before boarding, in case you obtained something after initial security.
I get the comfort of checking $4k+ worth of camera equipment in my bag coming back from Africa due to these restrictions.
This is about inconveniencing people so badly that they'll gladly say "Yes please" when the TSA demand the budget for newer equipment - equipment that would allow laptops back onto the planes. Some equipment manufacturers are about to make a lot of money off the government.
Isn't it more dangerous to check a laptop and put it in the baggage compartment?
I thought the most likely hazard of a laptop on a plane is the battery catching fire due to a defective design.
People have had their laptops catch fire in the passenger compartment. That seems safer, because they can see it on fire and put the fire out.
If the laptop catches fire in the baggage compartment, isn't it more likely to burn without anybody noticing it and lead to a bigger fire?
This below are comments from pilots and their spokespersons:
Some airline pilots and safety advocates have questioned putting more electronics into checked luggage. In rare circumstances, lithium-ion batteries spark fires, which could go undetected in the cargo hold.
After reports the U.S. would expand the laptop ban to Europe, the British Airline Pilots’ Association said May 15 that the risk would be greater with electronics in cargo than in the cabin.
“Given the risk of fire from these devices when they are damaged or they short-circuit, an incident in the cabin would be spotted earlier and this would enable the crew to react quickly before any fire becomes uncontainable,” said Steve Landells, a flight-safety specialist for British pilots. “If these devices are kept in the hold, the risk is that if a fire occurs the results can be catastrophic.”
Kelly told reporters Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration tracks safety issues while he oversees security, but he’s been told that batteries in electronics should be safe in checked luggage so long as they are turned off and not rattling around loose.
So now we're having to calculate if the risk of something really bad happening onboard due to an electronic device's battery kept in the cargo hold catching fire is higher than the risk of terrorists having explosives in their laptops.
...problems like these.
Why not just go "whole hog" and ban international flights??? That's the absolute way to prevent any bombing of airline flights!
Ban laptops (which removes another several hours of productivity for some folk), and attackers will use luggage. Ban luggage and they will use pants made of fibers with the requisite explosive materials that can be reformed in the lavatory on-board. Ban pants and they will insert them in their own body cavities, or have them surgically implanted.
At root, bureaucrats are scared of losing their jobs (and rightly so...they ARE inept), so they propose Draconian solutions that will garner them "good press," until (like TSA searches and x-ray'd baggage before them) are defeated. It is NOT IN THEIR SELF INTEREST to actually solve the problem; Bureaucracies have one goal: Perpetuate their own existence.
What is takes is a group of qualified citizens to address the issues, knowing that they will be disbanded after the solutions are proven to work. Focus on the outcome: Safe air travel!
America is great again.
I guess my one overseas international trip a year is going to require me to return via Toronto or Montreal... West coast-ers can use Vancouver. Even though it's just a chromebook I use the flying time to organize all the pictures I took while on vacation. Not cool TSA, not cool...
Yeah, because it is easy to get out a HD from a portable. Especially for those millions of people who have no idea it is even possible.
This is not about a few Hax0rs who can get around the system. This is about an assault on your personal life.
First they came for the business people ...
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Ain't it obvious? What travellers should do is put everything up in Google Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox, and fly w/o their laptops. When they get to their destinations, they should go to the office/conference they're headed to, log into any of the conference laptops there, and pick up work where they left off. Everything is on the cloud, so lugging around laptops is akin to days when trade happened by camels travelling hundreds of miles.
And in the event of an internet outage, back up everything temporarily on their phone, and back it up on the cloud again once the internet is back, and resume work
I would think that something this ridiculous couldn't be possible in a democracy, but then I remember the backward rednecks who voted in Trump, probably never get on planes anyway. Planes are just something that those who don't live in fly-over-country use to fly over them. So why not make them as annoying as possible to use?
This has to do with isis manufacturing laptops with an integrated shaped charge so as to easily pass security yet be effective enough to rupture the wall of an aircraft. This has nothing to do with laptop battery fires. Before trump blabbed this to the Russians he met with in the Oval Office right after firing Comey, I'd already guessed this when a similar ban was implemented from middle eastern and European flights.
The way government run airline security is going, this is what the future holds:
Pre-takeoff announcement, around 2030: "Please remain in your seats and place your hands and feet into the shackles. We will take off after the cabin crew has secured all passengers. Please use the blowtube in front of your face if you need to use the facilities. Please note that there is a $150 fee for each bathroom trip and you will be accompanied at all times. Cabin crew of an incompatible gender and sexual orientation is available upon request."
Pre-takeoff announcement, around 2050: "Please remain in your seat, attach the electrode cap to your head, stay calm, and breathe deeply; this ensures a quicker transition into unconsciousness and allows us to meet our tight takeoff window. When EEG monitors show that all passengers have lost consciousness, we will be taking off. If you have a medical condition that is incompatible with common anesthetics, please let the cabin crew know now. You will be held responsible for any delays due to problems related to anesthetization, and civil and criminal penalties may apply. Please note that if you soil your seat while unconscious, you will be charged a cleaning fee of $1500."
Meanwhile, of course, politicians and CEOs will be whisked around the globe in semi-private jets, free from all the government regulations, union rules, and crony capitalism that they impose on the rest of us.
Speaking of which, why don't the terrorists simply stock up on the Samsung Note 7s?
from Eurasia: http://www.independent.co.uk/n...
No security checks, beautiful nature, arriving into a city center, no baggage limit, free WiFi, etc.
That's easy. Use a Chromebook and pick up a new one when you land. That way, all of your data is available on Google's servers for the US government to look at and decide whether they whether they want to let you into the country, before you even board the plane.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
B'cos our courts won't let us. The first travel ban was shot down by a court in WA, then the revised ban was shot down by courts in HI, CA and now MD. When we can't cleanly ban people from 6 countries where it's impossible to vet their terrorist backgrounds, it's worth pulling all stops everywhere else so that people have to jump thru hoops to come. If one wanna blame it on Trump, go ahead. But we're not gonna risk having more Manchesters: the risks are bad as they are since we can't deport all the Muslims already here
The thing is that it does not solve the real issue. The problem is NOT the PCs. The thing is the security theater and people being ok with it.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Not when its an SSD soldered to the motherboard (Apple).
Assuming Canada doesn't follow suit immediately like they've done every other time? I'm not exactly holding my breath.
If this ban goes into place, Apple will immediately find itself losing a huge chunk of sales in the business market. Many companies require that corporate laptops remain in the control of the employee at all time. You can't check the laptop, even if you trusted that a $2K to $4K computer wouldn't immediately be pilfered by baggage handlers.
But it's not the laptop that necessarily needs to be secure, it's the storage. If you could remove the SSD and the RAM, you could put them in your carry-on luggage, and check the rest of the computer. For that matter, you could rent a "shell" computer at your destination, install the SSD and RAM, and be ready to go .... except that (oops!) in a MacBook everything is soldered to the motherboard.
So here's the silver lining: if this ban goes into place, Apple will need to offer a "business model" MacBook with removable storage, and possibly a removable battery, for people who routinely travel overseas. This may be anathema for a company that prides itself on "professional" models that are thin enough to shave with, but it would be a breath of fresh air to everyone who wants a laptop computer that is actually upgradeable and repairable.
Special check-in baggage fee for laptops-only?
the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it's a U.S. carrier, particularly if it's full of U.S. people
So what is it about already being in the US, that would make it impossible for a baddie to put a bomb in a laptop and board an internal flight ... on a US carrier ... full of US people?
Once the individual has gained entry to the country (or done so by being born there), is there any special difficulty with sourcing the materials needed. Or is it just that internal flights from every little two-bit airport has so much better security than ANY of the major hubs in any country you care to mention?
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
....Trump wants to implement massive funding cuts for airport security. This ban will do little more than ruin the US economy and make Canadian and European airlines rich, especially when they bundle a car rental or other transit options for US & Canada. Flying to Montreal and driving south instead of NYC might be an inconvenience, but folks can at least bring their laptops. Maybe Amtrak should jump on the opportunity and put more trains on the Empire corridor.
I did that when I flew to Europe in '15, bought a Chromebook for the trip. But the purpose was weight saving and leaving my MacBook Air at home so I wouldn't risk it being damaged or stolen. All I needed was something for email and transferring photos from SD cards to USB sticks. And I'm quite happy with the Chromebook, I just wish mine had a keyboard light.
Now, if I ever fly out of the country again, it's going to be to Mexico or Canada, then to my destination. I can read a paperback until I get my devices back.
When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
This could just be an epic effort to taint the intel. Just by threatening this kind of attack, they are causing fear, economic damage, civil unrest. Actually blowing up a plane is just a bonus. In the meantime, while all eyes are on the most difficult and best protected targets, they can move more easily on soft targets like concerts...
"That's the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it's a U.S. carrier, particularly if it's full of U.S. people."
Oh, bullshit! If any non-brain-dead terrorist had been intending to take down airliners it would have already happened! TSA is a terribly-bad joke and has failed miserably every time it's effectiveness has been tested. This is more about getting people used to having their personal devices being banned/restricted and taken from their possession and control under certain circumstances, particularly when entering or leaving the country, without any other legal probable cause. It's also about attacking civil rights including privacy.
The reasons given for this proposal don't hold up to logic. It is security theater of the worst kind; Intended to reduce the security of the general population rather than increase it. We see the same behavior with the NSA withholding information about the existence of massive and dangerous computer security vulnerabilities in vital US infrastructure. *Your* security is their very *last* concern!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
It's allowed in checked baggage.
Apparently the amount of explosive they're worried about laptops containing would only be enough to break the fuselage if held against it. Such a laptop bomb exploding within the cargo section would only damage luggage.
I'm a dreamer, the world is my playpen. But hey, I'm a serious person, I can't dream all the time.
In the last 18 months there's been this external USB-C battery renaissance. As long as the seats have ~40w USB-C outlets you should be able to power most-all laptops
moox. for a new generation.
Removable batteries means that you can't have a standardized battery, so there's no rental market.
Yeah, my flashlights with removable batteries have to use non-standard batteries, and it's really awkward.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Actually Dell used to sell upgrade GPU's for their D6x0 Latitude line. Was a little harder to replace than RAM or a hard drive but it was possible.
Here are some reference pages on various types of death in the US:
So, your chance of dying of various things in the US is:
The TSA failure to find weapons and explosives rate is 95%. IE, they only find 1 out of 20: https://www.theguardian.com/co...
It looks like you could show a decrease in deaths by shutting down the TSA and spending the money on all kinds of other things. For example, you would probably save thousands of people every year, if you took the TSA's budget and used that money to give a daily carrot to everybody in America.
Of course, the future of the KID (Karrot Issuance Daily) agency is not all shiny orange. The yearly number of carroticides might even exceed the number of US people killed by terrorists. But, even factoring in the increase of death by carrot, there still would be tremendous net positive benefit.
What they haven't thought about, is what happens when a regular, non-terrorist laptop gets damaged and its lithium battery ignites (which can be some time after the baggage handler tossed it into the hold). I read a report that these fires are so fierce that the cargo compartment fire suppressant system cannot handle them.
Ironic, really. Instead of having to smuggle bombs into the planes themselves, the terrorists can just sit back and wait for the first planes to burn up due to lithium battery fires. IS can claim each one.
How does it matter if an explosive laptop is in the cabin or in the cargo bay? When it explodes, the plane goes down. In both cases, the person who brought the thing on board, dies too. So, how does it matter?
no, I don't have a sig
Let the laptops fly, ban all incoming passengers
Because we have yet to see any supporting evidence and this idea is being pushed by US intelligence agency's also in charge of data collection, we should wonder if this is really about creating an environment where data is forced to flow over the network and can be intercepted, (perhaps a first step) if we ban laptops surely other devices must follow. Where does this rabbit hole end?
In the latest Macbook/Macbook Pro Retinas with the Touch Bar Apple SOLDERS the SSD to the board to prevent
the user from upgrading it ---- this also means you cannot remove it, Or if your laptop becomes damaged then you're screwed, no way to move your data, and Apple stores won't help you extract data, not for a million bucks.
We all know that it is the demon saxophone that has lured our young women into whoring, drug addiction and promiscuity. And now they try to blame all the woes of society upon laptops. It is just the devil trying to get you to ignore the evil saxophones. That siren voice just compels listeners into the satanic realms. Maybe these people are using laptops to spread the evil influence of saxophones. I must run now i have some witches that must be burned.
If they are considering banning laptops on flights out of the US... can someone/anyone please explain how a domestic outbound flight is different from an international one. This argument doesn't even make sense.
Lest we forget, it bears remembering that the hijacked flights that took down the Twin Towers were domestic ones... why would a terrorist only take his explosives on to an international flight? If they enact this ban, it would have to be on every flight, domestic or international.
Then why have a laptop at all?
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
That's the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it's a U.S. carrier, particularly if it's full of U.S. people.
So this restriction will apply to domestic flights?
Watch this Heartland Institute video
The thing is that it does not solve the real issue. The problem is NOT the PCs. The thing is the security theater and people being ok with it.
No, the REAL problem is the US and the UK going to other countries and killing the people who live there in an effort to
control the resources of those countries.
In the end it would be more cost-effective to pay for those resources in cash than to engender hate among millions of people.
If you don't agree with this, consider how YOU would feel if some other country attacked your neighborhood with drones and killed your family. I'm not a Muslim nor am I a supporter of any form of terrorism, but the notion that the US and UK are innocent victims is something only an idiot or a very young child would believe.
It's why I still can't take my water bottle on any flight despite there having never in the history of aviation ever been a credible threat related to liquids.
There *IS* a credible threat related to liquids...
...a threat to the profits of the businesses selling liquids at a steep price on the other side of the security checks.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I doubt you'd have much luck being able to even use a full sized keyboard, seeing how cramped seats are now. I gave up after only a few minutes trying to use my laptop on my last flight; too little space to use comfortably. Heck, there was barely enough space to open up a magazine for reading. Maybe trans-oceanic flights are roomier but trying to use a laptop on domestic flights was a waste of time.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
That way if the laptop gets damaged, your data is safe and the airline has to buy you a new laptop.
Which airline? They all seem to say "You assume the risk of us breaking your stuff if you put it into checked baggage."
Additionally, most seem to say "Don't check your laptop because we can't be sure it won't get broken." Except now you have to. wah-wah.
I can't be bothered with this.
Which places are lowering the bar to encourage business and won't respond to the terrorists no matter what?
A blog I run for the wealth
The Airlines are against it.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I understand the necessity of stopping terrorists - I doubt anyone would disagree - but it is only firefighting, I think. As we see more and more, they just find other ways - they recruit disenfranchised Americans, they find ways into American infrastructure via the internet etc; both of which are easy targets, I'm sad to say, particularly in America.
And I think it is naive and simplistic to think that terrorism is merely about "killing Americans because they hate freedom". True, some terrorists are religious fanatics, who want to bring about the end of the world and the final judgement, but I think most of the high-ranking ones are simply crime-bosses who have found it to be a lucrative business, and a large proportion of their cannon-fodder are disenfranchised, young people, whose journey into radicalisation should be understood as a form of self-destructive behaviour similar to self-harming, suicide and drug-addiction. The only way to stop the terrorism problem from getting more out of hand is by fixing the problems in our society, that produce vulnerable, young people: the inequality, the lack of real hope, the absense of opportunities if you are born into the wrong place. When you grow up knowing from your earliest years, that you are worthless - born a loser - no matter how hard you try, it is very, very hard to break out, and it is very hard not to come to hate those well-fed bastards, with their smug opions, whose life looks so easy by comparison - especially when you are told all the time that you are lose because you are lazy and stupid. I know - I made that journey.
The bigger the package, the bigger the bomb that can be hidden in it. And as we all know, the bigger the bomb, the bigger the boom.
And many company policies prohibit checking laptops due to risk of damage or theft. Based on my experience flying, it's a more than reasonable concern.
What's to prevent the same laptop with explosives, banned from the cabin, from blowing up in the cargo hold on a timer?
And the same laptop in luggage can't be remotely triggered from the cabin with a cell? Or on a timer? Sleep until gps reads 31000ft for 30 minutes. Boom.
If you think that checking laptops is about aircraft security, then I'm sorry but you are new.
It doesn't matter what actual reasoning they give for the proposed rule. Taking the batteries out of your laptop will not help. It's not about batteries. It's not about bombs. It's about US authorities having unfettered access to your laptop for the X amount of hours between when you check it and when you collect it. I'd highly recommend people start putting security tape on their laptops when they fly anywhere, not just the US. The kind that can't be removed and put back on without being visually obvious. Whole-disk-encryption is also a great idea, but can only help by denying them access to your data, it can't prevent them from installing malware.
Things you can do to mitigate an adversary having physical access to your computer:
- Separate your hard drive from your laptop and take the hard drive as carry on. This will be easier if it's an SSD drive.
- Use whole-disk-encryption like VeraCrypt. When you get your laptop back, DO NOT boot from the hard drive. Instead boot from a VeraCrypt rescue disk that was previously burned and preferable carried with you in carry on. When you do, ensure you replace the bootloader with one that is from the previously burned disc.
- If you use Linux and whole-disk-encryption, then make sure you have an image of the unencrypted boot partitions and/or boot loaders. Again, this must be taken with you in carry on.
- If you cannot do any of the above, at the VERY least take the time to boot into a live CD version of Linux and take a hash of your hard drive. Make sure that none of the filesystems on your drive are mounted when you do this. This will take some time, and you cannot boot your computer normally between the time you take the hash and the time you verify the hash. However, this will tell you if anything has been changed on your hard drive between when you checked it and collected it. It won't tell you what has changed, but it will at least give you a heads up that you can't trust your laptop any more.
This makes no one safer just makes flying more inconvenient. Now I only fly when I absolutely have to. It might take an extra day to drive but I rather do that at this point than deal with the airport. This just gives me one more reason to avoid it.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin
WTF?
Sorry, but you have to take that out before you are allowed to board the plane. If you refuse we remove it by force before we kick you out of the airport.
If people aren't allowed to carry them on, and they surely don't want to trust them to the baggage throwers, how are they supposed to bring a laptop with them on a business trip?
Pack your laptop with your firearm.
Carry 2 flash drives. One has all the data you need for the meeting, the other is a Linux distro you boot the borrowed PC off of.
This is /. and on the tech section. How can no one think of people adding in keyloggers in software and/or hardware to the rented laptop to get more money?
In the end it would be more cost-effective to pay for those resources in cash than to engender hate among millions of people
You are not considering the economic benefits of creating unrest around the world for countries selling the more powerful weapons in the world.
And the long term benefit of dominating a country and controlling its trade once it has submitted to your will.
Or... just run linux on a USB stick or SD card and then pop it into any Intel based PC/laptop/tablet once you arrive and save yourself the purchase cost.
Also, encrypt your stick and include a Windows partition with random data on it, so the border guards won't intrude on your business.
I like your ideas, but I don't think you go far enough.
Don't even have any unencrypted partitions on your Linux with whole-disk-encryption. Instead have the boot drive on a micro SD card. Then put the SD card in a smooth oval container. Lather the container in jelly and stick it up your butt. But sure to go before you do this so that you don't flush your boot loader into the Rockies mid-flight.
If you're really serious about security, having any significant time in which someone else has access to your laptop not in your presence destroys the usefulness of the laptop to you, so you may as well give it away or sell it and buy a new one.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
That'll be business/ first class only then. Certainly not in cattle class seats.
Just how much would you be prepared to pay for this. Or, more precisely, how much additional do you think the beancounters in the Transport Office of your employer will be prepared to reimburse you? I bet it'll be approximately a big fat zero.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
That would be ... ummm .... China, Russia ... Sweden ... and of course the peace-loving Swiss.
Well we know which one of those has a pawn residing in the White House.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
If only there were a simple alliterative mantra espousing the benfits of regularly backing up your data on a schedule so that any losses from hardware failure are easily remedied. Something like "backup early ; backup often ; back up soon."
Or something like that.
I mean, we've been touting the necessity of a backup schedule for home computers for what is it - 40 years now?
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Sounds to me like you need to investigate the comparative cost of posting your goods as fully insured packages. And, of course, a suitable flight case.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Technical fail : do you realise that GPS decoders need to be able to receive radio signals from at least four satellites to work. And those signals don't penetrate through metal sheet very well. Try using your GPS inside a warehouse one day.
IF your phone has a barometer, then that might be a workable trigger.
Oh, I get it. You actually don't know how mobile phone technology works. Or you're still thinking of some bizarre early 1990s pre-GSM analogue concoction you power from a couple of motorcycle batteries.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Errr, this point needs elaboration. Just how would it be significantly easier changing an SSD in (say) 2.5in SATA form factor than it would be changing a RR (rotating rust) drive in 2.5in SATA form factor. OK - I'll admit that I've never seen an SSD drive, but all the adverts specify that they're a drop-in replacement for a RR drive. So there should be no difference in their installation or maintenance.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
If only there were a simple alliterative mantra espousing.....
This is Not a valid justification for making your primary storage Or your backup less portable/flexible, less durable and more likely to fail.
I would say if your junk is soldered to the board, then having a single backup is not adequate --- You now need 1 more backup set to be kept maintained than you should have needed otherwise, because you've eliminated a whole class of recovery solutions that have very high success rates for the vast majority of real-world incidents.
...or, we could read the articles and find that the bans and proposed expanded bans are only from specific airports from terrorist laden locations. It's a good thing to have the extra security from these locations while still managing to avoid inconveniencing everyone else. Let's face it, when you travel to and from these locations you are taking on extra risk. When the governments of these other countries root out and deal with their security problems, I'm sure these measures will no longer be necessary.
All is as it should be, basically.
I'm confused. Is it really only the fear of explosives that airlines are worried about or the fact that on several occasions, it has been proven that someone with a laptop can hack into the airplane's network from their seat on the plane?
Trans-oceanic flights aren't any roomier. It's cattle class all the way. I'm so glad I don't travel for work anymore.
some karma... and kinda lukewarm about it.
> - Separate your hard drive from your laptop and take the hard drive as carry on. This will be easier if it's an SSD drive.
Why is it easier if the drive is an SSD?
some karma... and kinda lukewarm about it.
Dear AC:
I promised I'd never do that again.
Don't worry though, I still have asteroids to work with.
Sincerely, God.
some karma... and kinda lukewarm about it.
Single storage device soldered to a board? The only person who could possibly have come up with that idea is a marketing arsehole who calculated that the number of tech-savvy users they'd lose would be less than the profit from tech-non-savvy users who brought multiple devices. Now ... where does that sound like? Smells like Apple to me. AmIrite? (I honestly don't know, because I've not considered getting an Apple device since I got rid of my Mac after several years - didn't like the user interface.)
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"