OMFG, the Department of Homeland Stupidity strikes again!
I just got word that, unless this is the Onion (and it is stupid enough to be them or Andy Borowitz) and I missed it, DHS plans to ban laptops in the passenger cabin on flights from Europe to the USA.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/10/u-s-to-ban-laptops-in-all-cabins-of-flights-from-europe
DOES THE NAME "LOCKERBIE" MEAN NOTHING TO THESE IDIOTS???? No? How about "Lithium Batteries?"
How many transatlantic airliners will have to go up in flames over Iceland before this is rescinded?
I think I'll have to look into my frequent flyer miles being transferred over to frequent sailor miles. Southampton, here I come. Ain't NO way I'm flying on airliners with 300 charged up laptops in the hold.
= new reply since forum marked as read
There are a couple of ways to address the genuine risk of lithium ion batteries and disguised bombs, but I agree that putting them in the cargo hold is not it.
First off, you'd be crazy to check your laptop/pad/phone in checked baggage because you are simply asking for it to be stolen. That baggage goes through a lot of hands getting on and off the plane, and no one entity is accountable.
Secondly, if there were some container in the hold with a fire suppression system, then *maybe* there would be some way to secure electronic items, but again, that would work better as a "gate check" arrangement, than randomly distributed throughout the luggage.
Since there is a finite number of smartphones, laptops, etc. which are all manufactured to close specifications, then it also seems to be fairly straightforward to image them and have automatic pattern recognition detect anomalies in the x-ray or other spectrum images of the devices that would result from disassembly and re-assembly with materials which differ from the accumulated image patterns of thousands of "that device". That wouldn't address the inherent problems of Li-ion batteries, but going after bombs that way - instead of relying on human eyeballs - is something I'm surprised is not already done.
This seems to be more of a plan to encourage travelers to use cloud storage and transfer data to and from such storage. This is relatively simple to do - you upload the image of your device before departure and then clone an identical device obtained at your destination. Of course, then, various sets of eyeballs get to see that data when it is transmitted internationally, as opposed to being held locally.
The best solution would seem to be to get a battery-less data storage device, dump your data into that device, transport the data storage device, and then clone your system at your destination. That way, your data is not transmitted across the internet, and remains in your physical possession. Of course that does not avoid whatever legal mechanisms may exist at either end of your trip under which your data storage device may be searched. If that is a concern, then you need to stock up on large-capacity micro SD cards or similar, and conceal them in other items you might be carrying.
A rectally-inserted 512 GB micro SD card, for example, will not set off any metal detector or body scanner:
But since you only have to get it past security/customs checkpoints, you could easily carry it in your mouth between your cheek and gum with no noticeable bulge or loss of speaking ability through those checkpoints.
So the process is: backup your device to SD card; transport SD card to destination; obtain duplicate device at destination; restore device from backup copy on SD card.
