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NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

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191–200 of 236 posts

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#191
post #188

It's not like they're banning them across all of NYC... it's just security at the inauguration event. "Large bags" are banned too. > When a policy bans specific devices rather than behaviors or capabilities, it creates ambiguity for people on the ground. To the contrary, how the heck is someone working security at the entrance supposed to check for a device's "behaviors or capabilities"? This is a quick visual inspec…

Next it will be smart phones which can do many of the things these devices can do when rooted the right model. Not hard to make a walking stick that can do wireless shenanigans, that gets overlooked by all. Oh well, be mobile free zoning soon at this rate.

If your walking stick looks like it will be used as a weapon then you can safely assume you’ll have it removed upon entry.

Events like these will have disclaimers like “admittance is subject to the discretion of our security staff”.

The point of the list of prohibited items is to make it easier for attendees to know the kinds of items theyre allowed to bring. What it isn’t, is an exhaustive list of anything that could be used for bad intentions.

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#193
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Next it will be smart phones which can do many of the things these devices can do when rooted the right model. Not hard to make a walking stick that can do wireless shenanigans, that gets overlooked by all. Oh well, be mobile free zoning soon at this rate.

If your walking stick looks like it will be used as a weapon then you can safely assume you’ll have it removed upon entry. Events like these will have disclaimers like “admittance is subject to the discretion of our security staff”. The point of the list of prohibited items is to make it easier for attendees to know the kinds of items theyre allowed to bring. What it isn’t, is an exhaustive list of anything that coul…

Nobody going to take a walking stick of an old man or some disabled person using it to walk, not unless it looks like it can pull apart into a sword. But security today and discretion does leave much in the wind.

They should have just said any computers other than mobile phones, by drilling down they enable security to fail at their job as people could bring another SBC and go its not a raspberry Pi and that highlights the crux.

Concern is this sets a standard moving forward that does not single out one SBC from others unfairly, which is what they are doing here.

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#194
More than likely, this isn't the mayor's doing but his NYPD protection detail.

Actions will reveal if this mayor is honest or merely says a few populist things that sound "socialist"; whether he abolishes NYPD's civil-rights-violating SRG or not.

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#195
post #14
post #4

Lots of products come with integrated rPis since they're so easy to work with and have good vendor support. I guess all those products are banned too lol.

No, they won’t be. They’ll just stop anyone carrying a Raspberry Pi sized circuit board computer type thing.

"Circuit boards and wires = Terrorism! Eeeek!"

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A raspberry pi is a computer. It had HDMI ports on the back. You can put one in a box. Come on, man.

And? There’s a lot of things that people could theoretically do. The few seconds that someone is going through event security isn’t going to stop a competent attacker, nor is it reasonable to expect them to be able to do that. The point is to stop the most common attackers who are sloppy idiots.

No incompetent person could feasibly use a Raspberry Pi to do any harm, and I invite you to find any examples to the contrary. It is easier to abuse a phone.

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#197
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your walking stick looks like it will be used as a weapon then you can safely assume you’ll have it removed upon entry. Events like these will have disclaimers like “admittance is subject to the discretion of our security staff”. The point of the list of prohibited items is to make it easier for attendees to know the kinds of items theyre allowed to bring. What it isn’t, is an exhaustive list of anything that coul…

Nobody going to take a walking stick of an old man or some disabled person using it to walk, not unless it looks like it can pull apart into a sword. But security today and discretion does leave much in the wind. They should have just said any computers other than mobile phones, by drilling down they enable security to fail at their job as people could bring another SBC and go its not a raspberry Pi and that highligh…

> Nobody going to take a walking stick of an old man or some disabled person using it to walk, not unless it looks like it can pull apart into a sword.

Which is just a more verbose way of saying exactly what I said ;)

> They should have just said any computers other than mobile phones, by drilling down they enable security to fail at their job as people could bring another SBC and go its not a raspberry Pi and that highlights the crux.

That would cause problems for reporters bringing laptops.

What you’re missing is that this is a tech forum filled with a tech-literate people and a higher than average number of autistic and other neurological tendencies to be “technically correct”. Which isn’t who the target audience of the inauguration party will be.

Their messaging is fine for the people it’s targeted for. It wouldn’t be fine for a Defcon event, but this isn’t that.

> Concern is this sets a standard moving forward that does not single out one SBC from others unfairly, which is what they are doing here.

Different parties have different admittance codes. Some will list drugs, some will list attire (eg no trainers), some will say “no food or drink” while others might say “no disposable bbqs”. This isn’t any different to any other party or location which have their own rules for entry.

You might be right that this sets a precedence, but Occam’s Razor suggests you’re over reacting given the nature of the event and its target audience

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#198
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no legitimate purpose in bringing crayons and a coloring book, or a box of paperclips, either. Do you genuinely think that a parent with a small child does not have a legitimate reason to bring crayons and a coloring book to an event for adults or are you being hyperbolic? Cause this suggests either bad-faith or a profound lack of clarity about the issue and neither is good for your argument.

Good point. There's probably no legitimate reason for non-voting children to be present at such a political event, either. And by way of the process of excluding these children, the motivation for bringing other items without legitimate use like crayons, coloring books, and paperclips will be greatly diminished. It's win-win. Thank you for the excellent insight!

Voting adults can’t necessarily afford or arrange childcare which is a legitimate reason to bring their non-voting children. Effectively all non-voting children will one day be voting adults. Exposure to politics before participating in politics is valuable not only for them, but for everyone who will be eventually governed partially by their vote. Legitimate reason #2.

Regardless of the lack of vote, non-voting children are still governed by elected officials, giving them legitimate reason #3 to interact with politics, even if they can’t do so in the form of a vote yet.

You’ve picked a poorly thought out hill to die on.

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#199

It's not like they're banning them across all of NYC... it's just security at the inauguration event. "Large bags" are banned too. > When a policy bans specific devices rather than behaviors or capabilities, it creates ambiguity for people on the ground. To the contrary, how the heck is someone working security at the entrance supposed to check for a device's "behaviors or capabilities"? This is a quick visual inspec…

>There's no legitimate purpose in bringing any of those to a high-profile political event. I've carried a flipper zero with me to use as a copy of my key when I misplaced my original.

What key?

All modern automotive and smart apartment keys can't be cloned that way. You can't do simple replay attacks.

Are you talking about some cheap office RFID badge or something?

Because if you have any important keys for things you own that can be cloned with a Flipper, you should be upgrading them to prevent that.

Re: NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's no legitimate purpose in bringing any of those to a high-profile political event. I've carried a flipper zero with me to use as a copy of my key when I misplaced my original.

What key? All modern automotive and smart apartment keys can't be cloned that way. You can't do simple replay attacks. Are you talking about some cheap office RFID badge or something? Because if you have any important keys for things you own that can be cloned with a Flipper, you should be upgrading them to prevent that.

My modern apartment uses RFID keys to get in the front door. I use my flipper as a backup for when I misplace my keys
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