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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

#381

Post by tonyarkles »

mgbmtl wrote: post #366
emanreus wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 j…

No doubt! My general strategy for crossing borders is to expect to be hassled a little bit, and to accordingly make sure that I have a good amount of patience stored up ahead of time. It took him about 3 seconds to get irritated.

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

#382

Post by mikeash »

yodon wrote: post #113
bobwaycott wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly 36 here, and I concur. Everyone's been clothed in fear ever since.

Those of us who are 50+ remember The threat of nuclear war, and 60+ remember the reality of the Cuban Missile Crisis. When you've lived through "100 Million people could die in the next 24 hours" (like was a real possibility during the Cuban Missile Crisis), the current threat level just makes people look like panicked children.

I would put that first number at 35+ or so. I'm 36 and the threat of nuclear war was a vivid part of my childhood.

It's really hard to understand how we went from tolerating MAD to freaking out about a handful of people with box cutters in only a decade. I guess people have really short memories.

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

#383

Post by bzbarsky »

GuiA wrote: post #207
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…

This. And also people not having devices on their person means they can't quickly text friends/family if they get detained/mistreated/etc. It seems like we're getting closer and closer to being in a situation where people who can should avoid going to the US at all, and make their reasoning known. Ie, refuse to give talks, attend conferences, etc. in the US.

Cell phones are excluded from the ban, according to this article. That makes it highly unlikely that prevention of ability to text is the goal. I know very few people who text on their tablet, laptop, or camera.

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

#384

Post by mikeash »

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…

These things are always presented as a legitimate security measure, whether or not they actually are.

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

#385

Post by ccrush »

Is it really that hard to see that laptops and tablets could be disassembled, sharpened, and re-assembled pre-flight, and then come apart to make a set of very dangerous knives? How is this not expected to be a problem? Maybe, if ass holes didnt hijack airplanes, we wouldn't have these ridiculous restrictions. In the meantime, "I'm gonna need to look inside yo' ass hole, sir."

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

#386

Post by joezydeco »

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…

Hmm. A charge/discharge circuit with a voltage booster and very large capacitor in line?

Doesn't take a large stretch of the imagination for a CBP official to declare that a "detonation device". Now you're really screwed.

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

#387

Post by tirant »

ju-st wrote: post #330
andygambles wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wipe devices before packing. Arrive in country then restore backup remotely.

My plan is to leave my devices back home. In the US electronics is usually cheaper so I would buy a MacBook and download my personal data from the cloud. After returning home I would sell the MacBook for a nice profit.

Or simply return the Macbook back to the shop.

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

#388

Post by hysan »

GuiA wrote: post #207
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…

This. And also people not having devices on their person means they can't quickly text friends/family if they get detained/mistreated/etc. It seems like we're getting closer and closer to being in a situation where people who can should avoid going to the US at all, and make their reasoning known. Ie, refuse to give talks, attend conferences, etc. in the US.

Closer and closer? How about it's already happened.

I just visited some of my friends in Japan, many of whom wanted to visit me in the US once their children got a bit older, and they all said they are straight up frightened of simply trying to enter the US. These are some of the most upstanding people you can meet with jobs like being teachers, government employees, etc. They are the last people who should be afraid of being found as suspicious persons, yet the reality is that based on what they see in the news, I can't blame them.

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

#389

Post by kylehotchkiss »

The reason people are most upset is because of how widespread theft from baggage is. In many of the destinations you need a gulf carrier to connect you do, you don't want to put a $1000+ device in a checked bag.

I guess you could do the crazy plastic bag warp thing. But that doesn't answer the question of your things being stolen in the USA, which seems even more likely due to the people on the line knowing the value of the things in your pack.

Maybe it's time for a kickstarter for an accelerometer/wifi network logger/audio recorder/camera that all activate when the bag is open so you can receive audio and video of the person stealing your things.

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

#390

Post by rebootthesystem »

ohazi wrote: post #273
rebootthesystem wrote: post #233

Reminds me of something from about fifteen years ago. I was training getting into R/C helicopters. No, not the toys they sell at the mall but the more sophisticated models flown by R/C pilots. Needless to say, they are not easy to fly. Even with twenty years experience flying R/C airplanes of all kinds I had to start from scratch. R/C heli's can be very expensive to crash. A set of carbon fiber rotors and related mec…

RealFlight? I had a similar control box that used a game port (D-sub) before USB was common.

I have both RealFlight and PhoenixRC. For heli training Phoenix feels better to me. Also, you can use your real RC transmitter to run the simulator, in my case I run JR transmitters. The down side is that you can't (shouldn't) run a real transmitter while flying in an airliner. Yes, when plugged into Phoenix the TX circuitry turns off, but I wouldn't want to answer those questions so I use RealFlight and their dummy transmitter for that purpose.

There's something uniquely geeky about flying in a flight simulator while flying on a real plane. Like I said, good conversation starter.

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