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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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.