Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/11/something-must-be-done-there-i.html
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Because according to Trumpian science laptops do not explode while traveling West to East. Duh.
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Stolen? You mean like the ‘election’?
I am thinking impeachment within the year or a reichstag fire to get all the dummies howling for the blood of the unbelievers. ‘Rational’ republicans think all this chaff isn’t as important as tax cuts and a tax holiday/repatriation/jubilee. They’ll just blame The Others when they realize they aren’t all getting unicorns/ponies.
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Too bad I don’t have any trips to Europe coming up for work.
I’d love to explain why I flew from Chicago to Frankfurt, but flew back via Australia.
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just curious. Let’s say for the sake of argument…they just banned any and all electronics from being taken aboard a flight. so no traveler regardless of any flight path (both departure and arrival location) were told "nope…it has to be stored in the luggage compartment. (Essentially the rule would become no carry-ons that are not for medical/hygiene purposes? thinking dietary, prescriptions, feminine hygiene products, etc)
In that world, would it be terrible? Is it a violation or restriction of personal liberties, yes I don’t think anyone could argue otherwise. Would it be damn inconvenient, again…yes…I do not think anyone can argue it wouldn’t be. And is it a necessity? absolutely not…again, I don’t think one can argue banning all personal affects from a flight is logical.
I’m just imaging that world. Wherein I couldn’t bring a book. A phone, a tablet, a laptop. I couldn’t bring my sketch pad and pens/pencils (which as an aside…a pencil can be as lethal as knife, I am awaiting being told I cannot bring them on board in all honesty). It would be a terribly boring flight. sitting silently, or worse case scenario having to speak to the person next to me…UGH! I can’t see it being any worse than that, though. Again…I am not for this, not a proponent. Just trying to envision what that world would be like and is it so terrible that I would care.
“on the bright side, it’s hard to imagine a measure more effective at spurring the adoption of full-disk encryption”
Well: no. If your disk is encrypted, you will be asked for the password by customs.
Maybe that is the actual plan, actually: have access to all data carried by travelers.
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That’s not the threat model here – its laptops being stolen out of the hold by the thousand, by crooks who can’t compel disclosure of your passphrase. The customs inspection threat model has other countermeasures (carrying limited datasets, etc)
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But if I want to avoid the customs compelled disclosure threat, I will need to carry a laptop with an empty hard disk (and have my data encrypted on some non-us server). If the hard disk is empty, I don’t need to encrypt it. If it is stolen, it is still empty.
I think oceanic ship travel would get a major boost in that case. It has been essentially eliminated by the advent of air travel, but now it could become much more attractive. Sure, it takes a few days to cross the Atlantic, but you are able to work en route and travel in relative luxury, certainly compared to the planes. And large companies will invest in private air travel.
The major losers will be airlines where many will go belly up and the poor schmoos who need to travel but cannot afford to pay for a private flight or don’t have a week of vacation to spend on a boat going either way.
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I agree I think that the industry would suffer most. I also think people would only fly if it were relatively short flights at that point.
Interesting that there’s no mention of electronics bans for travel from Russian territories. You know, like where the Tsarnaevs were from and their own home-grown insurgents are active. Maybe TASS could tell us if that was a subject of discussion during yesterday’s meeting.
What? Reciprocal rules from Europe? That would be a first.
Take the visa situation: Americans can travel to Europe visa-free; Europeans have to at least get that ESTA thing, which most other countries would refer to as “online visa application”. But it’s not called a visa, so that’s reciprocity.
That is, unless the Eurpean in question has visited an “evil” country like Iran. Then a visa is required. Again, no reciprocity, not even a protest from our dear governments.
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If implemented, this ban will be extended to domestic flights by the end of the year. That’s the point where the pricey trusted traveller programme will be implemented, with the airlines getting a cut of the action.
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I’m reasonably sure that a small to moderate explosive could do vastly more damage if jammed up tight against an emergency exit than in a shipping container. Bags generally go into somewhat hardened containers, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_load_device and that would contain the blast to a degree.
Even if one can get twenty rigged laptops onto the plane, plastic explosive would not detonate if caught in a neighboring explosion, so hard to get them all to go in synch.
I’ll still be pissed off if I’m not allowed a kindle though.
You probably won’t be. Being someone who reads makes you an object of suspicion with this regime by default.
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I may sound frustrated here. I appreciate that the folks in this comment thread are trying to find a logical answer to this - it doesn’t actually address the threat, or it won’t be so bad, or it will boost ocean travel(?). Many of you are so rational and calm but…
This is bullshit. This is bullshit enacted by people who will never suffer the consequences of their rules, who will never answer for the ineffectiveness of their policies, for the lost financial impact of this ban. It’s getting hard to be moderate and non-paranoid these days with the constant flow of ridiculousness (even dangerous ridiculousness) from my government. ( I know this is a Trump admin thing right now, but on security and inconvenience, freedom removing theater, it’s both and all sides)
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It could kill a large part of the business market which is heavily advertised as allowing you to work during the flight. Business travel is where the money is made by airlines and any decline in that market means fewer airlines, fewer flights and even higher prices.
I really hope that Europe grows a spine and retaliates against a ban, the howls from the US might just persuade the security theatre production team that they have miscalculated.
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Sorry to break it to you - Kindles are covered in the existing ban on Middle Eastern flights. Has anyone checked to see if Hudson Books has been lobbying the White House of late?
It’s worth remembering that Pan Am 103 was brought down by 0.5kg of plastic explosive going off in the hold. So I’m not sure how much more dangerous a device in the cabin would be than down below.
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Agreed this is 100% Grade-A bullshit. This will absolutely kill the travel and tourism industry and will be 0% effective against preventing terrorism. But there will be more than a few sheep who shrug and say “if it increases security then I’m ok with it.”
Remember that all it took was one guy with some plastic explosives in his heel to make everyone do the shoe-shuffle at security for 16 years and still going!
And a vague, not-really-possible-but-hypothetically-maybe chance of some liquid explosive concoction to make us give up our water bottles and 4oz toothpaste tubes for over 10 years now.
I’m really surprised the guy with a bomb in his underwear hasn’t forced us to fly naked but I’m sure it was considered at one point.
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