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Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

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Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#181

Post by Terr_ »

jerf wrote: post #157
kobeya wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's going to put laptops in the baggage where they can be pulled out and their data dumped for dragnet surveillance.

As much as I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, there's just not enough time for that, with the timing as tight as it is. A particular target with a focused scan, sure. Mass surveillance dragnet? No way. Not unless the NSACIAFBI have a way of dumping a hard drive without turning on the machine at speeds faster than a disk can even dump itself. (Try pouring out your​ biggest spinning rust drive out over any port that can…

On the other hand, installing simple "retro-reflector" bugs for future use is a possibility.

[0] https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/06/building_retr...

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#182

Post by jedberg »

greglindahl wrote: post #177
lostlogin wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if you care about your radiation dose (some of us do) you will opt for a molestation rather than a zap.

Uh, no. Many physicists don't like the now-discontinued X-ray backscatter machines, but the mm wave devices are not ionizing radiation. Some guy explained why non-ionizing radiation isn't a problem in 1905; won the Nobel Prize for it, too.

> but the mm wave devices are not ionizing radiation

The science is still out on whether it's harmful or not. I got TSA pre so I can just avoid it, but before that I always opted out.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#183

Post by walrus01 »

jamoes wrote: post #142
ryukafalz wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the plus side, it's harder to compel you to decrypt your disk if you're nowhere near it at the time.

On the minus side, they can install malware on your machine without your knowledge (even if your disk is encrypted).

Or a hardware based keystroke logger.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#184

Post by gervase »

jacquesm wrote: post #169
jedberg wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millimeter scans only happen in US airports -- they're banned in ~Europe~ the EU and not really used anywhere else. Also you're very wrong. You can defeat a millimeter scan just by placing the contraband between your palms while your hands are clasped above your head.

> Millimeter scans only happen in US airports -- they're banned in Europe and not really used anywhere else. were . https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/04/19/bodyscanners-zo-gaat-he...

I can say that I was required to use one to get back into the U.S. while transiting through Schiphol back in October 2013. No opt out, just the scanner and "I'm not forcing you to fly today - you can stay here." Pretty rude, too.

Since then, I always transit through Heathrow. It's a logistical nightmare with all those buses, but they've never coerced me to go through a scanner. Those biometric checkpoints, on the other hand...

[Note: This was with Dutch staff for British Airways; not sure if that's relevant.]

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#185

Post by lucaspiller »

ergothus wrote: post #59
maxxxxx wrote: post #25

When I came to the US in 2000 it was a fairly optimistic and happy place. Now when I read stuff like this I always get reminded how this country went from pretty open to being scared, irrational and mean in the last 15 or so years.

My personal pet peeve is when people say things like "we live in a dangerous world now". No, we don't. At least, not more dangerous than before (which is the implication). We might be breathlessly focused on some dangers, but those dangers are LESS than before, not more. I don't want anyone to suffer, and definitely don't want anyone to die. I'm not calling for turning our backs on every idea to improve safety. Just…

If you look at terrorism in the UK and Ireland, Islamic extremists are quite safe compared to the IRA. There were estimated to be over 10,000 terrorist bomb attacks due to the Northern Ireland conflicts.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#186

Post by X-Istence »

jerf wrote: post #157
kobeya wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's going to put laptops in the baggage where they can be pulled out and their data dumped for dragnet surveillance.

As much as I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, there's just not enough time for that, with the timing as tight as it is. A particular target with a focused scan, sure. Mass surveillance dragnet? No way. Not unless the NSACIAFBI have a way of dumping a hard drive without turning on the machine at speeds faster than a disk can even dump itself. (Try pouring out your​ biggest spinning rust drive out over any port that can…

Keep you busy at CBP, keep the bag from the belt when you first land... plenty of opportunities to physically attack the device when the person can't keep it on them and keep an eye on it.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#187

Post by kingofpandora »

bogomipz wrote: post #173
jpatokal wrote: post #133

The Big 4 Middle East/Gulf airlines (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Turkish) have been giving legacy US carriers a lot of grief lately, since they're both cheaper and better on essentially all counts, so I can't help but wonder if they have their finger in the pie here. Few businessmen will opt to fly long-haul if they can't use their laptops, and they're specifically targeting 9 airlines here, not just airports or countri…

>"It's also beyond bizarre that the US trusts Abu Dhabi's security enough to locate its only Middle Eastern Customs/Immigration preclearance facility" This is not correct Quatar has one as well. I'm also unsure why you would find this "bizarre" as all of the Emirates are incredibly wealthy.

That's not what he said. He wrote:

> It's also beyond bizarre that the US trusts Abu Dhabi's security enough to locate its only Middle Eastern Customs/Immigration preclearance facility, but not enough to let passengers who have gone through security bring tablets...

It's a good question.

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#188

Post by ghshephard »

bogomipz wrote: post #173
jpatokal wrote: post #133

The Big 4 Middle East/Gulf airlines (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Turkish) have been giving legacy US carriers a lot of grief lately, since they're both cheaper and better on essentially all counts, so I can't help but wonder if they have their finger in the pie here. Few businessmen will opt to fly long-haul if they can't use their laptops, and they're specifically targeting 9 airlines here, not just airports or countri…

>"It's also beyond bizarre that the US trusts Abu Dhabi's security enough to locate its only Middle Eastern Customs/Immigration preclearance facility" This is not correct Quatar has one as well. I'm also unsure why you would find this "bizarre" as all of the Emirates are incredibly wealthy.

You left out the important part of that sentence: "...but not enough to let passengers who have gone through security bring tablets..."

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#189

Post by mozumder »

jacquesm wrote: post #20

So, assuming this is because of some credible threat: does that mean DHS thinks that terrorists can't afford a couple of weeks lay-over in Amsterdam or Paris before traveling to the United States?

It could mean the Middle eastern airlines are now safer for you to fly than any other airline? =^D

Re: Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

#190

Post by itchyjunk »

ctphipps wrote: post #117
itchyjunk wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"flights to US could include" multi-stop flights. There is a non-stop flight from Singapore to USA i think, leaves airport there and lands here. Multi-stop flights have a stop in EU if they are coming from Asia to USA or they might stop at Japan or something. Eg: Nepal -> HongKong -> Japan -> USA

In which case the ban would apply to the final sector, but for all intents and purposes, passengers boarding at earlier airports would also be prohibited to bring electronics onboard as checking luggage during a flight connection is pretty much unheard of (unless of course it's an overnight stopover).

Your luggage is not with you from the beginning. And the carry on is definitely checked in connecting flights depending on the airport. HK and New Delhi used to have it up to two years ago. Unless they recently changed it.
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