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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.
Seriously, what the hell are you guys doing to your country?
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.
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.
Size matters... I mean, that's what I've heard..
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
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.
Or surgically implant it. Last time I flew out of the US, they only used the backscatter body scanner, not a metal detector. It would have been easy to walk through with an implanted bomb.
Maybe if it was actual security and not theater we wouldn't have this problem.
What else are they supposed to do? Any effective effort is blocked by activists.
The monthly terror attacks in the Western world are being perpetrated by people from the same few countries. Yet any effort to more closely look at who we let into our countries or reducing the amount of people we let in unchecked is being brigaded by a hysterical media and liberals who throw around -isms all day.
Yes. Blame the judges who refused to let the government take effective action against the people who would make these kind of attacks.
If you want to let terrorists into your country, you can't really complain when the government starts treating everyone like a terrorist.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We (United States) should dial back our involvement (interference, imperialism) in the Middle East.
Subjugated people fight back. Funny how Middle Eastern terrorists aren't attacking China, Africa, and South America, isn't it? They are attacking the countries that subjugated them, and continue to be a lightening rod in that area of the world.
It's a cycle, and assholes on both sides keep feeding it - the bombings (jihad and airstrikes), fake news, lying politicians, dehumanization, religious extremist, etc.
Until we recognize our part in this we will continue to suffer
Ain't it obvious? What travellers should do is put everything up in Google Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox, and fly w/o their laptops.
Thats how google masters know which companies to buy and sell and the government does have to hack your system they force you to use theirs oops I mean Google Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox
Your'e all thinking it, I just said it for you
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
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.
You claim the Orlando nightclub shooting is an "angry Republican type" and get modded up? That was perpetrated - not surprisingly to anybody paying attention - by a Muslim, like almost all terrorist attacks are. We just had another smaller incident that the looneys are trying to pin on right wingers - turns out it was a Jill Stein supporter.
Sorry, narrative fail.
Do you have ESP?
Thats how google masters know which companies to buy and sell and the government does have to hack your system they force you to use theirs oops I mean Google Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox
Surely the implication is that the data was encrypted first. You can (and should!) encrypt your data before putting it up in the cloud.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
You'll never get that elephant on the plane.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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 ]
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.