Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights • Hacker News Board

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#11

Post by delinka » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:02 PM UTC

splike wrote: post #3

I don't understand, what has the phone being charged got to do with anything?

Presumably, when security asks random passengers at random times to activate their mobile devices as proof that they're not some incendiary device, this rule eliminates the passenger's ability to claim it doesn't work because it's not fully charged. Plugging Yet Another Security Hole that terrorists could use!

How they plan to mitigate phones with bad batteries I have no idea- it's fully charged coming through security, but 30 minutes later, it's completely dead? Must be a terrerist [sic].

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#12

Post by iriche » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:02 PM UTC

mahyarm wrote: post #5

splike wrote: post #3

I don't understand, what has the phone being charged got to do with anything?

Uncharged phones could be hidden explosives. To prove it's a electronic device, you have to turn it on. But it's kind of moot if you just explode the battery directly right?

Charged phones ARE hidden explosives

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#13

Post by izacus » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:02 PM UTC

Well, good thing that after long days of traveling we never arrive at the airport with any of our electronic devices empty -_-

Also... does anyone know how many people were caught trying to smuggle explosives on a plain until now?

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#14

Post by jeangenie » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:03 PM UTC

splike wrote: post #3

I don't understand, what has the phone being charged got to do with anything?

Tin foil hat meme: they want the ability to surreptitiously power on and root devices. This only works if it's juiced.

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#15

Post by irons » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:04 PM UTC

Despite appearing the New Zealand Herald, the story comes with a byline from the Daily Mail, which, for a story related to terrorism, reduces its credibility to zero.

To pick an example from today: http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/daily-mail-journali...

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#16

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:06 PM UTC

ddebernardy wrote: post #10

crishoj wrote: post #7

Rationale being? – Validate the integrity of the device from looking at the screen? – Obtain an electronic record of the device entering the country?

Possibly: that lithium batteries can turn into wild explosive fires. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-22/lithium-power-seen-...

[deleted]

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#17

Post by stcredzero » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:07 PM UTC

How about taking out the guts of a 17" Dell XPS laptop and connecting its screen to the insides of a Sony Vaio ultrabook or a Macbook Air? That would give you over a quart of volume in which to pack contraband.

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#18

Post by fit2rule » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:07 PM UTC

If everyone on the plane has their working cell phone on, then thats more data that can be collected during the flight .. over international waters .. from all of the targets of most interest (those moving between countries).

Honestly I won't even be mad if this were the case.

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#19

Post by stcredzero » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:08 PM UTC

wging wrote: post #8

splike wrote: post #3

I don't understand, what has the phone being charged got to do with anything?

If your device is charged you can prove it actually works; if it's not, you can say "Well, it works, but it happens not to be charged--that's why it isn't doing anything." Presumably the idea is that techniques used to convert a laptop or phone into a bomb would render the device inoperable. It certainly seems like a harder task to make a bomb that is also a phone, rather than a bomb that used to be a phone.

It would be much easier with a laptop.

Re: Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights

#20

Post by icpmacdo » Sun, Jul 06, 2014, 9:09 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #17

How about taking out the guts of a 17" Dell XPS laptop and connecting its screen to the insides of a Sony Vaio ultrabook or a Macbook Air? That would give you over a quart of volume in which to pack contraband.

or a raspberry pi and a small battery.