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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

#411

Post by freeone3000 »

ihsw2 wrote: post #400
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…

That would be great if airlines provided standard power outlets and/or USB ports.

Canada Air does! It's great.

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

#412

Post by giarc »

JBerlinsky wrote: post #393

I have a feeling that sales of glitter nail polish are going to go up a bit[1]. This is a good time to make sure that you have full-disk encryption enabled, and to brush up on what few rights remain yours at a US border. 1: http://lifehacker.com/use-glitter-nail-polish-to-make-your-l...

I've used destructible labels before, not for my computer, but for barcoding equipment. They work quite well, only issue might be wear and tear over time will start to naturally destroy the label.

http://images.tamperevidentlabels.com/companies/tampereviden...

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

#413

Post by emanreus »

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…

It's a bit sad that such behavior is normalized to the point that such a trivial thing is escalated to someone being locked up. Maybe it's some kind of strange taste for masochism that I don't understand. I'm not trying to be offensive or anything, I really don't understand why is such a hostile, aggressive and demeaning behavior accepted as a norm.

Contrast that to this (6min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV-wgZBGfCo

None of those stories are that important in and of themselves, it's the whole normalized atmosphere of fear, guilt and almost agony that I don't understand.

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

#414

Post by Cyph0n »

dragonwriter wrote: post #259
Cyph0n wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be new to the internet. I hope you're aware that people sometimes spout nonsense they genuinely believe in. I know it's HN, but I like to keep my guard up ;) Let's say you saw a similar comment on HN describing why the Earth is flat. Would you have reacted the same way?

It's plausible that someone could genuinely (if unjustifiably) believe that the Earth is flat. It is far less plausible that they could genuinely believe they have witnesses, first-hand, several instances of a passenger using a cellphone on a commercial flight and causing it to crash, plus instances of navigation and other failures caused by personal electronics.

Yeah, I'm going to need some stats on that.

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

#415

Post by snovv_crash »

zkms wrote: post #171
jacquesm wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bollocks. That's one thing the millimeter scan will pick up just fine.

No. Millimetre wave (and backscatter x-ray) imagery won't penetrate skin and certainly won't reveal the presence of contraband inside a human. There's commercially available penetrating X-ray human body security scanners, but afaict those just have been used in prisons, not in airports (yet!).

They are also used in diamond mines. In fact, that's what the LODOX (low dosage x-ray) system was first invented for.

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

#416

Post by addicted »

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…

This seems like the most likely explanation to me.

Abu Dhabi security was far more stringent than anything I have been through in Europe, (and ironically Brussels, when I was in the Brussels airport in transit when it was attacked).

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

#417

Post by saganus »

foldr wrote: post #407
saganus wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would the border agents know it's a wiped device? Because it's missing everything and seems like a new phone? What if I actually bought a new cheap phone because I'm afraid of getting robbed abroad, and even tell the agent? I ask because I would think that being afraid of losing your expensive phone on a leisure trip is common enough and harmless enough (and totally real reason) that it wouldn't provoke or trigge…

>Because it's missing everything and seems like a new phone? Yes. Remember, they don't need proof of anything. You're not on trial. It's largely up to the judgment of the individual officer whether or not someone can enter the US as a visitor. If they ask you why there's nothing on your phone, you'd better be able to convince them that it's for some other reason than "I don't want you to see it". Can you do that? Wel…

Well, shit.

I mean, I've been buying burner phones when crossing to the US since several years ago, just because I do am afraid of getting mugged and losing everything while traveling, and since every trip to the US has been for vacation, I really didn't need anything on my phone other than emergency contacts (insurance, etc) and my reservation numbers for whatever I was going to visit.

So hopefully if I ever travel to the US again, and they want to check my phone, I hope they really believe me when I Tell them the truth... but like you said, it will depend on the judgment of the agent so I guess I'm screwed anyways if they want me to be so.

This is just... wow.

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

#418

Post by DrJokepu »

saganus wrote: post #402
foldr wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

How would the border agents know it's a wiped device? Because it's missing everything and seems like a new phone? What if I actually bought a new cheap phone because I'm afraid of getting robbed abroad, and even tell the agent? I ask because I would think that being afraid of losing your expensive phone on a leisure trip is common enough and harmless enough (and totally real reason) that it wouldn't provoke or trigge…

If they're searching your phone, it's likely that you're already in secondary inspection. At that point if you're an alien they're already suspecting that you're inadmissible and they are trying to build a case. They will ask a lot of questions in secondary inspection. If they search your phone and find that it's wiped, they will ask about it and they will expect a convincing explanation.

CBP officers working in secondary inspection to this all day, every day, they know what they're looking for, they will lie to you if necessary and chances are that they have heard the same explanations many times already. Secondary inspection is not a pleasant experience at all and you don't want to make it worse by trying to outsmart people who do this for a living.

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

#419

Post by addicted »

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…

Do the physical properties of explosives change when they happen to travel outside these specific airports?

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

#420

Post by KirinDave »

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…

Yes, well...

You may not understand quite how much most Americans hate CBP. I use "hate" here deliberately. It represents the worst part of our government and a codification of our racist laws and culture even at the best of times.

They find a way to weaponize ignorance and shame people who are different at every turn. They have tackled people and held them at gunpoint for LED shirts, they've publicly shamed women for having vibrators in their luggage, they've delayed flights because people speak Tolkien's elvish leaving comicon.

And their definition of sincere risk? Brown people or people who are different. They can detain Americans and non-Americans alike without due process and stories report they do just to make a point.

And the worst part? They are bad at their jobs. The FBI is a problematic institution as well, but at least they can point to data that suggests they're doing things here and there to actually foil people who genuinely want to cause domestic problems.

Even conservative Americans hate the TSA and CBP face to face. We're all scared of them, because we know they're stupid and bad at their jobs but terribly powerful.

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