If you are traveling to the US- Charge up your electronic devices first

[n2doc]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Passengers at some overseas airports that offer U.S.-bound flights will be required to power on their electronic devices in order to board their flights, the Transportation Security Administration said Sunday.

The TSA said it is requiring some overseas airports to have passengers turn on devices such as cellphones before boarding. It says devices that won't power up won't be allowed on planes, and those travelers may have to undergo additional screening.

"As the traveling public knows, all electronic devices are screened by security officers," the TSA said in the release announcing the new steps.

American intelligence officials have been concerned about new al-Qaida efforts to produce a bomb that would go undetected through airport security. There is no indication that such a bomb has been created or that there's a specific threat to the U.S.

more

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/tsa-some-us-bound-airports-must-turn-phones

The idiocy continues....

[Jenoch]

1. I have had to power up my laptop at TSA but they have never

asked about my cellular telephone or other PDAs.

[MineralMan]

2. Way back in the 1980s, I remember

having to turn on my primitive portable PC during security screening. It was a Zenith lunchbox PC of the XT variety, with two 5-1/4" floppy drives and an LCD screen in a unit that actually was about the size of a lunch box. Trouble is, it didn't use batteries, but required being plugged into AC power. Few people were traveling with computers at the time, really, although there were some laptops available at the time.

The first time I carried it, the screeners weren't sure what to do. I had the cord, so the screener walked me to an outlet, and I fired it up with an MS-DOS 2.0 disc in the A: drive. Once it started up, I was good to go. A couple of years later, when I had an actual battery-powered laptop, they still required that you start up any computer you had.

Security screening didn't start after 9/11. It started long before that, to prevent hijackings. Electronic equipment was suspect, even then.

[MADem]

3. There's clearly a credible threat that they're not talking about.

This isn't just a "Let's have some fun" exercise.

They've targeted two phones--Galaxy and iPhone. Shoes, too.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/03/us-usa-security-airports-idUSKBN0F724820140703