Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Most Electronics Being Banned on Certain US-Bound Flights

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 488 posts

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

#101

Post by ars »

gibbitz wrote: post #99

I'm curious what threat an iPad poses that a cellphone doesn't and what a terrorist can't do with a chron job that they would otherwise do with a laptop. It's not like they use a teleporter when they check your bags. It's clear that if our regulations and bureaucrats are all we have to protect us from "evildoers" we're all doomed by their ignorance of the simplicity of working around this...

A cellphone is small, and doesn't have much room, that's all.

It's not the electronics per say, it's the difficulty of checking inside them. That's why only certain airports are included, those that check things properly are not.

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

#102

Post by ars »

BWStearns wrote: post #50
praneshp wrote: post #30

Which countries? From the article, I can glean Saudi and Jordan. Pretty poor journalism (or reading ability on my part)

Seems the source couldn't/wouldn't disclose the list. Given it's 8 countries in Middle East/North Africa,my bet is old travel ban countries plus one.

> Given it's 8 countries in Middle East/North Africa,my bet is old travel ban countries plus one.

That's impossible since neither Saudi nor Jordan were on the old list.

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

#103

Post by turndown »

goldenkey wrote: post #32
salesguy222 wrote: post #10

You look at this and say to yourself, "this doesn't make any sense! i don't get how allowing cell phones and 'medical devices' (nebulous term) into carry ons, but demanding that laptops go into checked baggage is keeping us safe!" And you're right! It isn't. But then you realize that the special interests that came up with this policy were paid LARGE SUMS OF MONEY to impress Trump and all of his supporters and career…

The TSA wasnt any better under Obama... Don't spin this into a Trump issue

The TSA was an Obama issue when Obama was President. The TSA was a Bush issue when Bush was President. The TSA is a Trump issue because Trump is President.

The idea that we can't criticize someone because of X, Y, and Z is ridiculous. Trump is now President. It is now his problem to solve.

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

#104

Post by itchyjunk »

MichaelGG wrote: post #15
sharkmerry wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

especially if it only applies to non-stop flights...

It wouldn't make any sense otherwise. Non-stop flight is another way of saying "flight to the US", right?

"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

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

#105

Post by couchand »

adventured wrote: post #65
harlanlewis wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong. I suppose I'd call my own statement a bit weak if this wasn't the third highly targeted policy in the past 2 months - in fact one of the few types of policies this administration has pushed all the way to action. It's possible my lens is broken, but it seems to me none of the policies considering the general populace of the middle east should be considered in isolation.

There's zero question it's intentionally narrowly targeting Islamic terrorism at best, and at worst is a staging ground for how much power of restriction they now have (or can get away with) when it comes to those sorts of things. The same way phone searches are a trial balloon that will inevitably spread to not just the general population at airports but the local / state law enforcement as well. My point is specifi…

> Interestingly, it might result in fewer laptop searches at the airports (whereas they might have asked someone to open / turn on / provide a password), among that targeted population.

I don't think that's right. Such demands are not generally made at airport security at the origin, but at the CBP checkpoint at the arrival airport. There, passengers have already retrieved checked bags.

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

#106

Post by sundaeofshock »

ars wrote: post #100
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.

> When I came to the US in 2000 it was a fairly optimistic and happy place. Now.... I've been thinking about that, and trying to put my finger on when things changed, and I realized it's not the US that changed, it's the internet! Every single complaint and little thing now has a wide wide audience. The good stuff does not however, since it's [relatively] boring. Talk to some people 40+ and ask them when they thought…

I'm 40+ and can tell you exactly when things started going down hill: September 11, 2001.

We were told the world had changed and that we had to fear the unknown. We have been a nation of frightened children ever since.

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

#107

Post by Const-me »

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?

They might think airport security personnel at Amsterdam or Paris do their job better than their colleagues from those 8 Middle Eastern and North African countries.

And/or they might think Netherlands and France is just as attractive for the terrorists as the US, i.e. the terrorists won’t bother taking that second flight.

BTW, I think Russia should be the 9-th country on that list, as they have long history of sponsoring terrorism.

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

#108

Post by [deleted] »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #83
robotresearcher wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multiple checks are not stupid at all. The screening is not 100% reliable and an independent repeat is a reasonable way to improve detections of weapons, which have been shown to get through sometimes in TSA and third-party experiments.

Vacuuming the living room rug with a broken vacuum twice isn't going to make it significantly cleaner.

[deleted]

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

#109

Post by bobwaycott »

sundaeofshock wrote: post #106
ars wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I came to the US in 2000 it was a fairly optimistic and happy place. Now.... I've been thinking about that, and trying to put my finger on when things changed, and I realized it's not the US that changed, it's the internet! Every single complaint and little thing now has a wide wide audience. The good stuff does not however, since it's [relatively] boring. Talk to some people 40+ and ask them when they thought…

I'm 40+ and can tell you exactly when things started going down hill: September 11, 2001. We were told the world had changed and that we had to fear the unknown. We have been a nation of frightened children ever since.

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

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

#110

Post by robotresearcher »

belorn wrote: post #61
robotresearcher wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multiple checks are not stupid at all. The screening is not 100% reliable and an independent repeat is a reasonable way to improve detections of weapons, which have been shown to get through sometimes in TSA and third-party experiments.

I recall reading that TSA has never actually stopped a real threat to a airplane. The screening is one of the least cost-effective security mechanism in use, so are we suggestion that doubling it and the costs is a reasonable way to improve detections? A reasonable way to detect threats would be to hire more investigators and bomb dogs patrols. Both has shown to be cost-effective and to produce results, in direct con…

I'm not a fan of security theatre. But the TSA does not have to catch anyone to be very effective. In fact it its intended deterrence effect was effective it would never catch anyone at all.
Post reply on HN