Here's the scoop: Somebody tried to kill people on Christmas Day, so everybody else has to get punished for it. That's the thinking behind the US Transport Security Administration in any case, for it is now considering a ban on all electronic devices brought aboard its planes.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested after failing to ignite an explosive device on Christmas Day, and naturally that good old fashioned American paranoia has been increased tenfold. Following the incident, international flight passengers weren't allowed any personal items on their laps an hour before flight, and full bag searches were instigated at boarding gates.
The ban on electronic devices is said to be a reaction to Abdulmutallab's ability to smuggle an explosive onto the plane. This would of course mean that the traditional gamer tactic of loading an RPG into a DS or PSP to survive lengthy flights could become a thing of the past. If that is true, we are all doomed.
My initial reaction to this is cynicism. I don't think the TSA would be able to get away with it, not without severe consequences. When I board a plane, I see electronic books, iPods, cell phones, gaming devices, and all manner of gadgetry surrounding me, many of which aren't even turned off by the ignorant passangers when requested by staff. If the TSA tries to take those away, they're in for a big fight.
Still, the very idea that it's being considered just because some moron thinks Allah tells him to blow people up makes me feel rather disgusted.
TSA To Save Print Media? No Electronics On International Flights? What A Joke. [TechCrunch, via Negative Gamer]
Contest:
8:12 AM on 12.27.2009
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...and now no electronic devices. I don't know 'bout most of you guys, but my laptop is fragile, and I doubt turbulence helps. If I have that in my hand, I know it's not getting smashed by some loose suitcase in a storm cloud. Also, no way I could survive a flight from Vienna to Japan without at least one game. This won't help the flight companies in the slightest, and it may make me reconsider which airline/airports I choose in the future.
Heard of lobbying groups? Fat donation checks? Anyone can be bought, including the federal government to a point.
If the airlines themselves wanted to ban them, I'd have less of a problem of it. I'd simply refuse to use their services and choose an airline not dumb enough to ban them. However, when government entities start telling these businesses, and therefore us, what to do for the illusion of protection, we have a problem on our hands.
I don't even remember hearing about an electronic device when I heard about this, I heard he smuggled in two chemicals and failed to make them detonate properly?
If they ban electronic devices from planes they should play better movies at least... :|
"...US Transport Security Administration..."
You must have missed this part.
With teleconferencing, skype, the internet, and various other ways of communication, it is possible, at least in the business world, to not use planes.
I want a teleporter.
@linuxguy
OOOHHH SNAPP!
The liquid ban isn't that bad, because you can not only buy them on the plane, but you're also allowed to buy them at any point PAST security, including any of the stores/stands in the terminal; and they sell just about any beverage on the market.
I first heard about this as some guy apparently lighting firecrackers on a plane. I thought "Oh wow, people just get stupider and stupider." And after learning it was some terrorist plot, I didn't change my tune.
So if I have to carry my electronics in a separate bag, will the airlines waive the 2nd bag fee? =P
Like you wouldn't believe. Look through the history of 19th- and 20th-century America and witness countless attempts to ban things like music, books, films...
Yeah, at jacked up prices.
:(
It's muslim terrorists that are doing this not the average person. That is what terror is all about. One or a few people affecting hundreds of millions of people in a negative way. It will stop when we shoot their asses dead and drop their bodies on the tarmac.
@Steve Cebu
Actually Homeland Security hasn't tested the majority of what they've considered dangerous. It's all based on theories and "Play it safe."
I'm surprised they never brought this up before. Anyways it won't happen. Lobbyist.
00.00000000000000001% of the world. Thats how you stop terrorism. Beef up security so people THINK they are safer.
Seriously though, haven't they learned enough. There is no way you can stop terrorist trying to bring shit onboard, unless everyone cant bring shit onboard. Because people want to bring shit onboard, terrorist can (and will attempt to) also. They go hand in hand. Personally, I am never paranoid getting on a plane and never will be. If you are that scared of flying, ride a bus.
Lol, you silly people who want to tempt fate. Man was not meant to fly!!! Aeroplanes are unnatural! Not to mention ever since the government blew up its own buildings so it could pass the Patriot Act and thus remove people's freedoms one by one, the "September 11 Security Fee" is the most retarded shit ever. I have family in other countries/states but I "Go Greyhound(tm)". I could fly, but it goes against my beliefs that I don't want to finance September 11 by paying said fee... 9/11(and subsequently 7/7) was an inside job!
I love this country as much as the next guy, but boy, sometimes you gotta wonder where we're headed when shit like this happens.
*takes off tinfoil hat*
I actually do like Greyhound, it might not get you there instantly but you do get to see some pretty cool sights and it's easy as fuck to get laid. There's always some cute chick(s) on there looking to fool around. THAT, is why I Go Greyhound. Well, that and I would rather be in a bus crash than fall from the sky and plummet to my immediate death because of some kind of 'act of nature' because MAN WAS NOT MEANT TO FLY!!! Oops, still had some foil left on my head.
*dusts it off*
Although I guess that would be picked up on a scan though.
...ewww...Greyhound whores.
Exactly what kind of a freedom do we have on board of an airplane? You are enclosed in a tube with other people and can not leave at will, you are at the mercy of a pilot and wack jobs that want to kill you. Once you get off that is a different story but on board does not concern me very much. I want to get to my destination safely and if that mean I can not use my cell phone, PSP or laptop, oh well, I can wait.
It's not quite the same as them owning your life like in China.
security.
i guess being able to play your ds or iphone is more important than life itself
but hey if u start a petition now u might just get a few hundred sigs maybe even a thousand then we can all bury our heads in the sand and pretend
personally i'll take a guy with a gun at the gate vs a guy with a gun on my plane
this article shows how jim sterling and his childlike mind is way to underdeveloped (did mommy drop u ??)
to be asking for less security in favor of electronic devices
i mean what are you six grow up, read a book and educate your self
security is essential for peace of mind its the same as virus protection or bars on your windows. shit locking your door at night
i got an idea stop using the security devices listed above and see how safe u feel
Most of what you said is irrelevant, however this:
"I want to get to my destination safely and if that mean I can not use my cell phone, PSP or laptop, oh well, I can wait."
Is horse shit. Banning laptops and PSPs won't make your flight "safer." It's a fucking illusion. If somebody is mad and driven enough to commit a mass murder, they'll bring a weapon and either succeed or fuck up due to their own lunacy. Banning some average American's PSP isn't going to make you safer. It's a placebo. It will make paranoid morons feel better and safer and do very little than that.
Most airport security is a fucking joke. It just exists to make us "feel" safer without doing much to protect us. If you think that stopping somebody playing a DS will make airplane rides safer, you are very naive. You also ignore the amount of stress that a bunch of people enclosed in a tube with nothing to do could do for your "safety."
Of course...I just bought The World Ends With You. At least for the first couple hours it wasn't much of a game. I may as well be reading a book with that much text.
Maybe they should focus on doing their job better then banning stupid crap
Security is an illusion. Terrorists will find new ways to bring weapons on board planes. Banning electronic devices simply means that they will come up with something new. Then they will ban that. Then the terrorists will come up with yet another way to smuggle weapons on a plane. And we will ban that.
And then the only way to fly will be naked with absolutely nothing as a carry on. Then some idiot will stuff a bomb up his ass or swallow something that will explode at a later time.
Then what will we ban?
As Jim pointed out, it's all a fucking illusion to pacify stupid Americans who think taking off your shoes or not bringing a bottle of water onto the plane will deter someone who really wants to blow it up.
The only people with their heads buried in the sand are the ones who think these banning measure will actually make a difference. And evidenced by the fact that all these current bans failed to stop this guy sums it up quite nicely.
And speaking of stupid things done by the airport...
http://www.cracked.com/article_16849_7-dumbest-things-ever-done-by-airport-security.html
http://www.cracked.com/article_17575_7-true-stories-that-prove-airlines-hate-you.html
Fine, enjoy your illusion of security. When you're stuck on an international flight and you realize descending into your destination that your jetlagged ass starts getting the runs from all that mexican tap water you drank how fantastic the theatrics of modern airline security are.
The illusion of safety is all well and good for the masses, but there's a good number of us who are not fooled by having a finger up our bum and someone telling us to disable our phone when we sit down on our flights. The TSA is a poorly regulated and poorly run organization that takes so very little consideration into real security and logic and assumes that blanket policy is "enough" to appease the masses rather than actually try to create a real solution.
I, like other people, will simply choose to travel less via plane. If the TSA and the FAA think that this will work out well for them, great. The airlines will have their say when their incomes drop quarter after quarter when people are finally fed up enough will all this invasive and stupid protocols.
I don't think the airlines will put up with it for long. They've spent the last decade folding and merging, gas prices rising, and imminent threats of terrorism on domestic and international flights. If they continue on in this way, people will be just as content to stay home, which will have far greater consequences for them than just losing a passenger opting to stay home.
Here we are- so spoiled by an industry that has made careening at hundreds of miles an hour tens of thousands of feet in the air in a pressurized steel cabin so safe we consider it our right as citizens to have it- that as soon as one flight out of the last few million goes awry, we're ready to throw away whatever privilege we can think of to make us that miniscule fraction of a percent safer. Take our electronics, they can be theoretically used to detonate a bomb. Take our liquids, there's an outside chance we can use them to ignite something. Screw it, let's have them take our pens and pencils, we could slash open a pilot's throat with one of those things. Take, take, take, take, take.
It's a plane, not a swingset. There's an inherent danger in careening at hundreds of miles an hour, tens of thousands of feet in the air. There's a limit to how safe we can make these things, and we've been banging our heads against it for decades. Judging by the sheer number of people who've arrived at some tarmac or another completely unexploded- and there's a good chance you probably know a few- our global society has already pulled off a miracle in technology and social politics. Let's dispense with the nitpickery already. If you're still scared, go drive yourself. After all, cars are so much safer.