Uncharged Phones And Laptops Banned From US Flights

Couldnt find it posted here yet.

In news that will affect millions, the Homeland Security Department has announced it will not allow uncharged mobile phones and laptops onto planes headed to the United States .

In an official statement the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) agency, part of the US Department of Homeland announced:

“As the traveling public knows, all electronic devices are screened by security officers. During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cell phones. Powerless devices will not be permitted onboard the aircraft. The traveler may also undergo additional screening.”

The reason for the changes has been put down to concerns that terrorists are looking at ways to create bombs within dummy electronic devices .

www.forbes.com...
TSA statement: www.tsa.gov...

Considering the battery life of current smart phones, I guess won´t any playing with the phone, while waiting for flight. Personally I usually don´t get by with my battery more than a day or two, especially when the data transmissions are enabled.

I can not get it though, whether it is temporary or not. If the threat is real and imminent, I see it justified as temporary solution, but if this is a rule to stay, I really hope sooner or later some other more comfortable solution is found.

Just stupid, think about it, if someone is smart enough to make a bomb out of a laptop, they could just as easily keep the part that powers up the screen and make it appear as a working unit and still contain an explosive. Just another way to look like something is being done to prevent something that will happen if someone is determined enough to do it

What I don't get is how this makes anything safer. I have an infrared little robot toy that uses my phone for a controller. What stops bad-doers from using charged up phones for their dirty work in ways like this.

Pfffth .. more like they want to snoop through peoples porn and pirated mp3 collections ..

Wouldn't the xray scans show if it is a legit device?

Seems much more efficient than a line of people charging up devices. I would be SOL as mine dies every 5 hours.

I guess it was time to come up with something else they could use to show their authority? People need to be pushed again to remind them of their place. We were all growing too accustomed to the groping and general dehumanizing.

This in my opinion is simply another made up threat by TPTB to reinforce the war on terror and that everyone should be terrified.
If there are no real threats to speak of just make some up.

originally posted by: sayzaar
This in my opinion is simply another made up threat by TPTB to reinforce the war on terror and that everyone should be terrified.
If there are no real threats to speak of just make some up.

Hardly.

The "threat" successfully took out MH370 and TPTB are doing everything in their power to conceal that fact.

Suggesting that "there are no real threats" is something I'd expect from the department of PsyOps.

These latest measures are a response to the methods used by Al Qaeda to take control of the Malaysian airliner.

Oh, IMHO.

Perhaps they are secretly implementing devices that suck data from phones in proximity, remotely. This way everyone must have their data exposed electronically, and it can be sucked.

Your Thread title is misleading...

It should read: "Uncharged Phones And Laptops Banned From Flights INTO the US "

This really pisses me off to put it bluntly. Why? Because once again this policy will do more to limit freedoms while doing very little to quell terrorism or save lives. Does anyone have any idea how many people will go through US airports in a day? A lot. The chance of a terrorist putting a bomb in such a device is probably astronomically low. So what we have is limiting freedoms to stop something that probably will not happen to start with. Rather than having those who investigate terrorism to do their jobs more effectively. 9/11 would not have occurred had they done their jobs more effectively, if you believe the official story of course. So we are asked to give up freedoms because they suck at what they do.

originally posted by: ecapsretuo
Perhaps they are secretly implementing devices that suck data from phones in proximity, remotely. This way everyone must have their data exposed electronically, and it can be sucked.

Your theory sucks.

originally posted by: ecapsretuo
Perhaps they are secretly implementing devices that suck data from phones in proximity, remotely. This way everyone must have their data exposed electronically, and it can be sucked.

Good point. It would only take seconds to snarf lists of contacts, telephones numbers, names, and call histories as well as the IMEA and telephone number of the phone. But it would take ages to download all the Gigabytes of videos and photos that some people have.

Though, you could always have a spare SIM card and memory card for that purpose.

Well yi know the ol joke at the NSA "an uncharged phone is an untapped phone"

originally posted by: GreyGoo
Well yi know the ol joke at the NSA "an uncharged phone is an untapped phone"

Hence another reason why batteries can't be removed from apple devices...

The other is that they are greedy bastards.

Surveillance equipment will become standard in phones soon, all this for our protection!
It has nothing to do with psychopaths wanting more control, no worries!

''Just not have cellphones'' isn't the solution, we need to defend human rights.

a reply to: stormcell

They already have everything on your computer and phone!

If your device is powered up it can be scanned, identified and connected with all the data they ALREADY have for the user of that device.

A dead battery keeps the Phone or Computer from being identified.

Everyone has a number which is correlated to every device we use and every digital communication we have been part of.

originally posted by: GreyGoo
Well yi know the ol joke at the NSA "an uncharged phone is an untapped phone"

Zackly.

I'm just going to say a few things.

Lockerbie, Scotland
Pan Am Flight 103
The bomb was in the radio.

originally posted by: JIMC5499
I'm just going to say a few things.

Lockerbie, Scotland
Pan Am Flight 103
The bomb was in the radio.

And were the batteries charged?

another stupid thing from the TSA. seriously i would have expected a rule about all devices must be discharged, after all hard to make something go boom without a source of ignition. and the most widely used is electricity. think about it, if you were going to build a bomb, and make it look like an electronic device, wouldn't you ensure it could function just as a real device? likely even using a real device and modify it to suit your purposes? so yet another pointless restriction that will only impact normal, honest travelers, yet will have no effect on those that might wish to cause harm.

does this mean they will force all aircraft to have electrical outlets and usb charging ports? my travels tend to take me over 24 hours. i have drained my multiple electronic devices in that time easily. i have even completely drained some on the flights before the flight that would bring me into the US, thus making them prohibited? it's not like airports have electrical outlets free and plentiful enough for every single traveler to be able to charge their devices there, and just imagine the liability issues having thousands of charging cords crossing the floors. seriously it's hazardous enough with the few limited outlets you might be lucky enough to find in an airport, with cords stretching across the floors. on another note are they intending to check each and every device? if so they will have to change the time you need to be at the airport from 3 hours to at least 6 hours before a flight. not to mention will screw up connection times, since as it is 2 hours is barely enough time as is between actually being able to exit the plane, going through security checks as you exit the aircraft, (which still drives me nuts, like did i pick up a weapon somehow while i was ON the airplane?), traveling across airports to your next flight etc. heck sometimes you even have to pick up you checked luggage and the recheck it, possibly having to take IT through an inspection. turning on and even just checking a couple basic functions on each device will be EXTREMELY time consuming. i personally will carry upwards of TEN electronic devices when i fly. things like a couple laptops, a couple phones, a phone simcard extender(lets me use an extra simcard for my phone), cameras, a pad, a reader, hand held video games, multiple mice and game controllers, external hard drives etc. from experience if you ever want to screw with airport security around the world, bring an ordinary computer joystick with you. EVERY airport you go through will want to look at it, it seems to confuse them. i suspect since many are basically a solid metal bar with lots of wires under the plastic it looks like a bomb lol.