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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

#361

Post by brogrammernot »

joshgel wrote: post #340
PietdeVries wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

interestingly, you see airlines moving away from in-flight entertainment screens in the seat in front of you, in favor of BYOD. A logical move: let the clients bring their equipment (they bring it anyway) so you don't have to (install, maintain, spend fuel on, etc.). Now with airlines actually removing in flight entertainment, flying from the Middle East to New York can be quite a long trip: no laptop to watch a movi…

Maybe people will have to read books?!

Yes. I love to read books on a 17 hour flight instead of being able to watch TV shows, work on programming problems offline or the countless other productive things that a laptop can provide.

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

#362

Post by wildmusings »

ocschwar wrote: post #131

What utter bullshit. If they allow phones at all, then the threat cannot be an issue of a passenger sending a command out of one of these. The threat has to be the device itself. Now, a standard issue iPad is no threat, so we're talking about a customized device made to look like on. Except, if terrorists are going to the trouble to do this, they can just as easily put whatever bad thing they want to put into the cas…

That's some strong criticism, especially since you're not even considering that someone already successfully detonated a laptop bomb on a plane.

From the CNN article on this new policy: >The official said the move is partly based on intelligence that they believe indicates Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is close to being able to hide explosives with little or no metal content in electronic devices in order to target commercial aircraft. It's a particular concern at these airports because of screening issues and the possibility of terrorists infiltrating authorized airport personnel, the official said. Flight and cabin crews are not covered by these new restrictions. In February 2016, a bomb hidden inside a laptop detonated aboard a Daallo Airlines flight out of Mogadishu, Somalia. The bomber was killed and a hole was blown in the side of the fuselage. The aircraft landed safely.

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

#363

Post by [deleted] »

wildmusings wrote: post #359
untog wrote: post #159

This is how they implement the Muslim ban. Piece by piece, bit by bit, they make it utterly infuriating for any Muslim person to travel to the US. Next they'll ban absolutely all liquids, or something.

Given that someone already tried to bring down a plane with a laptop bomb, and was nearly successful, maybe a little less cynicism is justified. Here's the relevant excerpt from the CNN article on this: > The official said the move is partly based on intelligence that they believe indicates Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is close to being able to hide explosives with little or no metal content in electronic device…

[deleted]

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

#364

Post by untog »

wildmusings wrote: post #359
untog wrote: post #159

This is how they implement the Muslim ban. Piece by piece, bit by bit, they make it utterly infuriating for any Muslim person to travel to the US. Next they'll ban absolutely all liquids, or something.

Given that someone already tried to bring down a plane with a laptop bomb, and was nearly successful, maybe a little less cynicism is justified. Here's the relevant excerpt from the CNN article on this: > The official said the move is partly based on intelligence that they believe indicates Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is close to being able to hide explosives with little or no metal content in electronic device…

Then why limit it to non-US carriers? Are United planes bomb-proof?

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

#365

Post by throwaway7767 »

ploggingdev wrote: post #200
jamoes wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Source? How is it possible to install malware when the disk is encrypted?

You modify the bootloader to grab the password on next decryption. The bootloader is in cleartext on the disk, otherwise the machine couldn't boot.

More advanced versions would involve modifying the BIOS to add a SMM-mode hook. That way the malware runs completely outside the view of the OS. Alternatively, any device with DMA access could have its firmware altered to read sensitive information from memory.

Physical security is an unsolved problem.

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

#366

Post by mgbmtl »

emanreus wrote: post #350
akie wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is already happening. I'm in Europe and I've heard quite a few friends (mostly academics) state that they're actively avoiding traveling to the US.

I have to admit some border crossing incidents[1] are what I would imagine entering North Korea would be like, not the US. [1][10min audio] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDYMw1p8s9M

As someone from Canada, that guy was being a total dick, very aggressive, mansplaining the agent, which isn't surprising that it would trigger the customs agent. He would have had the same response from an agent at the border in Canada.

Ex: "what shops are you planning to go to". It's fine to answer "I don't know yet". They're just testing behaviour. If you start being defensive or aggressive, pretend to know their jobs better than they, etc, it's suspicious. Although yes, in general, the US agents are really bad at doing behaviour testing.

Anecdotal: Last year, I crossed the border a few times by car, visiting a friend I met on Tinder. I completely got away with it, giving honest answers at the border. Recently met someone else (a girl) who was stopped and accused of prostitution for doing the exact same thing. :/

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

#367

Post by crispyambulance »

KirinDave wrote: post #199

I see many people here trying to puzzle out why electronics are under a partial ban from cabins but not from checked baggage . It's a good question, since if there is a fire or explosion hazard on a plane the last place you want it is wrapped in a wad of flammable cloth and synthetics, even if it is oxygen starved. The only motivation I can imagine is: They want these devices in checked luggage because checked luggag…

> I'm going to start putting a USB nuke stick in my luggage

I don't see how that will be fun since the only way you would find out if "it worked" would be by getting pulled from your flight and detained.

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

#368

Post by TillE »

wildmusings wrote: post #355

There's lots of snarky and unjustified cynicism here, given that concealing explosives in laptops is not a theoretical risk; it was recently done. Here's an excerpt from the CNN article: > The official said the move is partly based on intelligence that they believe indicates Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is close to being able to hide explosives with little or no metal content in electronic devices in order to ta…

1) We already have screening processes for that.

2) So the bomb is now in the hold. That's not really much of an improvement.

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

#369

Post by dboreham »

lb1lf wrote: post #264
Cyph0n wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware that using a phone on a plane does no harm, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't actually mean it.

Sure it does. To the cellphone networks. (Unless the aircraft carries its own picocell). The big problem with cellphones on planes is that they overwhelm the signalling networks on the ground - when the carrier tries to determine which cell is best suited to handle your call, it basically polls the neighbouring cells for the received signal strength from that particular phone. When you're on a plane, your phone is se…

Except...the cell sites typically use antennas that have a high gain in the veritcal axis, meaning very low gain in the direction of high flying aircraft and a low probably that transmissions from phones inside a faraday cage at said high altitude will rise above its receiver noise threshold.

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

#370

Post by titraprutr »

foldr wrote: post #331
DrJokepu wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bad advice I'm afraid. If you're an alien seeking admission to the United States it's your responsibility to prove that you don't have immigrant intent, not the CBP's responsibility that you do. By showing up at the border with a wiped device you will make it a lot easier for the CBP to build a case against you and put you on the next plane heading back.

Not sure why this is being downvoted. Entering with a wiped device would be viewed as suspicious, rightly or wrongly.

Until it becomes a norm among travellers.
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