Potential new laptop and electronics ban.....

[gimmethesimplelife]

I just read that the Trump administration is about to make an announcement regarding banning laptops, tablets, cameras - any electronic device bigger than a smartphone - from the cabins of all flights from Europe to the US! This personally is not going to effect me - I just wonder what business people are going to do - will this decrease transatlantic business travel going forward? Maybe more Skpe-ing of business meetings, fewer conferences and in person negotiations and such? Less demand for business hotels? Fewer business banquets (this last one here could indeed impact me). My take is that this government is going too far and not thinking consequences through.....But honestly, I could have stated that before Trump was even in office, so I'm not surprised. Just amazed (not in a good way) and disgusted. Glad I went to Europe in 2015 before this was implemented! Rob

[sweetana3]

Too many thefts of electronic equipment. Seen stories over and over of baggage handlers and others in the line touching baggage stealing equipment. Dont they tell us to not leave anything valuable in a suitcase that is checked? Business will be affected since data on computers cannot be let out of sight. How many government workers will not be able to travel with their computers?

Such a stupid idea. Unless there is really concrete info on danger.

[IshbelRobertson]

The UK implemented similar restrictions from certain predominantly Muslim countries. I've heard of long-haul travellers circumventing this by ensuring that, even if they travel with a carrier from those countries, they just ensure that any changeover is at an airport not on the list.

[bae]

I have been amazed for years that we were allowed to bring laptops onto airplanes in the first place. With my Black Hat on, they seemed an obvious method for causing serious trouble to an aircraft, and the security-theater we engaged in of "turn it on to show me it boots and is a real computer" was laughable.

[LDAHL]

I've often thought it odd that they would pay so much attention to my shoes and give my laptop such a cursory scan.

[gimmethesimplelife]

The UK implemented similar restrictions from certain predominantly Muslim countries. I've heard of long-haul travellers circumventing this by ensuring that, even if they travel with a carrier from those countries, they just ensure that any changeover is at an airport not on the list.I read about the ban the UK implemented right around the time the US ban was implemented on electronics larger than a smartphone in cabins on direct flights to the US from several airports in the Middle East including Anaturk International in Istanbul and also the airport in Casablanca, Morocco.

This however, is an entirely new ban and supposedly, the US government is to make an announcement regarding this new ban tomorrow - a similar electronics ban for all flights from Europe to the US. This one should be interesting as there will be pushback, protests, and lawsuits....and from quarters than can afford high priced attorneys. I wonder if we lose some high end people that have had their fill of America after this ban is implemented? Canada and similar nations would be wise to aggressively position themselves as alternatives and perhaps give some tax breaks/credits to get some of this wealth into their borders.....Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

I've often thought it odd that they would pay so much attention to my shoes and give my laptop such a cursory scan.Businesspeople in the front of the plane have some power, that's way. They need access to their laptops to continue working throughout a flight so as to be on 24/7/365 to maximize corporate profit. Certainly you understand that, given your pro-American posts in the past? Rob

[bae]

This one should be interesting as there will be pushback, protests, and lawsuits....and from quarters than can afford high priced attorneys.

I'm curious. I don't find any "right to carry a laptop on board an aircraft" listed anywhere as a civil liberty. Nor a "right to fly a 975,000 pound aircraft unimpeded over other peoples' cities and homes".

So, what exactly are these "high priced attorneys" going to be on about?

[bae]

Businesspeople in the front of the plane have some power, that's way. They need access to their laptops to continue working throughout a flight so as to be on 24/7/365 to maximize corporate profit.


Foolishness. Do you travel First/Business class a lot, Rob, on business? I have, and I don't see Those With The Power slaving away on their laptops doing work. People who need focused time to work in the air fly in Gulfstreams.



Certainly you understand that, given your pro-American posts in the past? Rob

...

[bae]

I've often thought it odd that they would pay so much attention to my shoes and give my laptop such a cursory scan.

Indeed, it's all about the theater. If they had been really concerned about security, they would have done something about laptops decades ago.

[LDAHL]

Indeed, it's all about the theater. If they had been really concerned about security, they would have done something about laptops decades ago.

It would seem to me that you could conceal more death and destruction in a laptop than a pair of wingtips.

I've heard of certain Samsung products spontaneously combusting with no malice aforethought.

[LDAHL]

Businesspeople in the front of the plane have some power, that's way. They need access to their laptops to continue working throughout a flight so as to be on 24/7/365 to maximize corporate profit. Certainly you understand that, given your pro-American posts in the past? Rob

Well, I do certainly approve of corporate profits. Especially corporations I own some tiny sliver of. They will pay my daughter's college tuition someday if God and the markets are kind. And I am quite pleased to be an American. Sometimes I'm even a little smug about it.

I haven't made a formal study of it, but I have to say that most of the device use I've seen on planes hasn't been corporate drudges serving late stage capitalism: it's been more along the lines of Facebook, Candy Crush and YouTube.

[sweetana3]

There is more to it than doing work on the plane. (We play games, read, watch movies, etc.)

But even more than that small item is that most corporate/government/notforprofit computers can contain very valuable proprietary information that should not fall into the wrong hands. There have been numerous instances of lost hard drives containing private info or that allowed access to other files. Sure, in a perfect world, nothing would be less than perfectly secure but it is not and the hackers are out there waiting for the opportunity. The airlines have constantly shown they cannot protect these items.

[bae]

There is more to it than doing work on the plane. (We play games, read, watch movies, etc.)

But even more than that small item is that most corporate/government/notforprofit computers can contain very valuable proprietary information that should not fall into the wrong hands. There have been numerous instances of lost hard drives containing private info or that allowed access to other files. Sure, in a perfect world, nothing would be less than perfectly secure but it is not and the hackers are out there waiting for the opportunity. The airlines have constantly shown they cannot protect these items.

If you are travelling with business-sensitive/privileged data on your laptop, and do not have your storage properly-encrypted/protected, your business needs some remedial data security education.

"Hackers will steal my data from my laptop in my checked bags" is a red herring.

BTW - there's a legitimate way to check in baggage with real locks on the bags. Non-TSA locks. That you must keep in your possession at all time. And the TSA folks aren't allowed to touch the contents without you being present. I actually heard the approach advocated at a hackers' convention.

[ToomuchStuff]

Indeed, it's all about the theater. If they had been really concerned about security, they would have done something about laptops decades ago.

Although the cell phones now, have more power then the laptops of decades ago. Heck there are several things (Raspberry PI, etc) that are smaller then a cell phone, and have direct wire access (and one can carry scissors on a plane).

[bae]

Although the cell phones now, have more power then the laptops of decades ago. Heck there are several things (Raspberry PI, etc) that are smaller then a cell phone, and have direct wire access (and one can carry scissors on a plane).

It's not about the computing power. It's about the interior volume of components that could hold substances that could cause problems on planes, while being difficult to scan/evaluate....

[ToomuchStuff]

It's not about the computing power. It's about the interior volume of components that could hold substances that could cause problems on planes, while being difficult to scan/evaluate....

I wasn't even thinking of that, because in my mind, there are other ways that seem easily accessible to destroy a plane.

[jp1]

It's not about the computing power. It's about the interior volume of components that could hold substances that could cause problems on planes, while being difficult to scan/evaluate....

In that case wouldn't a better plan than just getting it a little bit away from the passengers be to have x-ray images of all the main brand laptops that have been produced over the past 4-5 years on file and as a laptop goes through the machine at security a computer compares it to the database of images. If it matches one it's clear, if not it's subject to a manual inspection.