
U.S. To Ban Laptops in All Cabins of Flights from Europe - runesoerensen
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/10/u-s-to-ban-laptops-in-all-cabins-of-flights-from-europe
======
dang
This is a non-story, at least so far, but you have to read well into the text
to find that out.

Title: "U.S. to Ban Laptops"

Subtitle: "Homeland Security has decided"

Body: "No final decisions have been made"

~~~
roywiggins
There's unnamed sources inside DHS that told the Daily Beast that the official
decision is going to be made Thursday.

The official statement is short enough that they wouldn't technically be lying
if they then came out Thursday with a laptop ban.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

~~~
dang
One of the clearest litmus tests for HN-offtopicness is "is this an
announcement of an announcement". The present case is like that, only weaker.

We can turn that around and put it positively: patience till a thing actually
happens is good for story quality.

------
nul_byte
Well that is me completely putting a blacklist on any travel to the US for
work or pleasure. This is just going to far.

Its a shame, I really love going to America for tech events, but there is no
way I am going check my laptop into luggage.

------
richardthered
This is absolutely going to decrease travel to the US.

\- More people will need to buy hard-shell cases. Would you want to trust your
over-the-should bag to the ravages of the bag-handling machines? I certainly
wouldn't...

\- Would you want to risk having your laptop stolen/lost/damaged by checking
it?

This would be a complete _nightmare_ for business travelers.

~~~
netsharc
Business travellers with stateside offices will probably be told to leave
their data on the intranet and their laptop at home, they'll get a loaner in
the US. There's a market here for someone to start a rental laptop business
(just like rental cars at airports), but any intelligent business would never
allow their employees to touch such a laptop..

~~~
okwme
I've actually been interested in affordable laptop rentals for a while but
haven't found anything worthwhile, mostly lease to own. Has anyone encountered
this done well yet?

------
heisenbit
> And Patrick Ky, a European safety regulator, told Reuters that his agency
> wants airlines to avoid placing all the electronic devices in checked
> baggage being in the same container in the cargo hold.

How on earth are they are going to handle the logistics of that?

------
benmarks
The express train of irrationality that is this administration has finally &
thoroughly plowed indiscriminately through partisans of all stripes.

~~~
xelxebar
"Finally" seems a bit optimistic. This kind of wolf-crying and security
theatre has been the norm for a while in the states.

------
differentView
So many things that don't make sense. Why not flights leaving the U.S. to
Europe? Why not flights to and from Asia, South America, etc...?

Maybe they're saving those other bans for when they need to distract us from
other news stories again.

------
MrJagil
Honestly, I wonder when we'll start seriously considering and investing in
alternative ways of travel. Blimps, boats, whatever. At some point the amount
of regulation will be too much.

------
bostand
Hey, maybe this can save the dying tablet market?

------
CrankyBear
Not just no, but hell no.

------
valuearb
33 incidents in what, 5-10 million flights?

~~~
roywiggins
incidents of accidental fire, which can be put out if it happens in the cabin,
but can't if they're in the cargo hold

I guess the theory is that a laptop bomb in the cargo hold is less likely to
be near a structurally important part of the plane, whereas if you have a
laptop bomb in the cabin with you, you can shove it right up against a
window...

~~~
valuearb
if twenty people use laptops to get 3 hours of work done on a flight, at
$100/hour that's $6B in lost work every million flights.

Sounds like a lot to pay to slightly reduce the risk of a plane being blown
up. And increase the chance of a cargo hold fire much more significantly.

------
milquetoastaf
Aren't many/most IEDs utilizing cell phones? Where's the rationale in banning
a laptop if you can make one out of something even smaller and more
ubiquitous? Hell, I bet you could stuff plenty of explosive material into one
of the more expensive Otterbox cases.

