DHS bans laptops in the cabins of flights from 10 airports

[Enkita]

@TripleE

Are you flying one of those brown people airlines that isn’t US based?

After the way Obama went on holiday with Richard Branson, I’m wondering how long before the discrimination starts against Virgin.

[anon76551318]

It is amusing, though, that the ban affects travellers from countries that have actually sent us terrorists (e.g. Saudi Arabia), unlike the Muslim Ban countries.

[gedward]

Remember when the Bush administration used to change the threat level from orange to red when they wanted to distract and change the conversation? Good times.

[ficuswhisperer]

@lamaranagram

I wonder if tourism income from overseas travelers is down yet.

Well, since you asked:

US tourism experiences a 'Trump slump'

[Blaze_Curry]

I think you hit the nail on the head: the trouble is, the people doing such shit ARE proud of this sort of thing.

[crenquis]

@nungesser

TSA, for the last few years: “Don’t put laptops in your checked baggage! A terrorist could use a laptop bomb in the luggage compartment and blow up an entire plane! Only put them in carry-ons.”

TSA, now: “If you’re a brown person we don’t trust you with a laptop in your carry-on. You should put it in checked baggage, no worries there.”

I am confuse

I was thinking that ICAO regs (IATA guidelines) banned Lithium ion batteries in checked baggage, but you can have them in checked baggage as long as they are installed in a device.
IATA - Passenger Corner

Dangerous Goods Guidance for Passengers

[anon6955837]

Unfettered access to your laptop after you’ve checked it?

[anon26304152]

Yes. Either by TSA or those fine, upstanding Baggage handlers.

Or Both.

[Akimbo_NOT]

Map: All the air routes the UK just banned electronic devices on

[anon63581570]

in b4 reminding them that the batteries themselves can be made to blow up so ALL electronics are theoretically bombs.

[cameronh1403]

@gracchus

The point right now is to try to make passengers miserable and reluctant to fly while the regime figures out its next attempt to implement its unConstitutional Muslim travel ban.

so this will hurt the airlines? Wonder if that would make them kick the TSA to curb at the airports then (hoping!)

@Modusoperandi

It’s nice to see that even after all these years, the TSA can still make travel less convenient without making it any safer.

That’s pretty much the whole point of the TSA. They haven’t done crap to keep the country safe.

@lamaranagram

I wonder if tourism income from overseas travelers is down yet. Wouldn’t shock me but … the strength of the dollar will drive things far more than the presidency. I just know that if I were a foreigner, even if the dollar were very weak, there’d be no way in hell I’d be visiting the US. Plenty of other nice places in the world to visit.

I have a friend who lives in Londonr. If she asked to visit the US, I would tell her not to bother. The way things are going, the Cheeto supporters would go after her because she’s not from the US.

@ficuswhisperer

Well, since you asked:

Yay?

@Blaze_Curry

I think you hit the nail on the head: the trouble is, the people doing such shit ARE proud of this sort of thing.

I’m pretty sure they would be proud of throwing their shit on the wall.

[anon26304152]

Oblig XKCD

Bag Check

[foog_inc]

Funny how this part was missing from the TSA explanation:

“When President Trump meets with the top CEOs in the US aviation industry on Thursday, one issue will surely be a divisive force in the room: what to do about Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways.”

(from a Feb 9th article: http://www.businessinsider.my/trump-airline-ceo-meeting-2017-2)

This is more than terror theatre (though it’s that too). It’s a deliberate boost for all the US airlines that are still able to allow passengers to keep using said devices.

[popobawa4u]

[newliminted]

Perhaps it’s easier for them to surreptitiously copy the hard drive if you let it out of your sight for a couple hours before or after the flight?

[cleveremi]

That was my first thought.

[anon6955837]

I hear they’re hiring baggage handlers

[Akimbo_NOT]

@foog_inc

This is more than terror theatre (though it’s that too). It’s a deliberate boost for all the US airlines that are still able to allow passengers to keep using said devices.

[anon91351441]

The argument is powerful, but:

1. it basically stops any US airline to ever expand to Arab countries. Yes, it might damage their Arab counterparts, but it doesn’t strengthen US airlines one bit. If this really is weaponization, it’s desperate rearguard action, not sustainable in the long run.

2. The UK following suit makes no sense from this perspective, since it affects plenty of British carriers, tour operators and the likes.

3. US airlines might make little business with the Arab world, but plenty of other US people do - especially in that “oil” thingie. A lot of People With Money will be pissed off, not all of them have a private Gulfstream.

I’m personally in the “easier to spy” camp. Intercepting bags behind the scene is so much easier and invisible than trying to do it at the security checkpoint. IMHO it feels like, after achieving tactical superiority on the internet, they are going after sneakernet.

[waetherman]

As little confidence as I have in the current administration I have to think this is related to a specific security threat. It’s also worth pointing out that the difference between having a laptop on a plane vs in the cargo hold is that a small amount of explosive that might be difficult to detect in the belly of a plane may have little chance of doing significant damage, but if several people carried small amounts in to a plane and then assembled a bomb there, that could do a lot of damage.

All this “it’s all security theater” talk is not productive. There are real threats out there and some measures must be taken to prevent attacks.