
It is now a federal crime to bring a Galaxy Note 7 onto an airplane - stevebmark
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/16/13298846/galaxy-note-7-federal-crime-federal-aviation-administration
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whack
Laws like this are exactly what's wrong with the legal system. First, they're
overly drastic - why ban the device outright instead of just mandating that
they remain powered off at all times. Second - the punishment doesn't fit the
crime. Not even close. $100k fine because someone brought a specific model of
tablet on a flight? The punishment is so severe, that it's almost guaranteed
to never be enforced in full. Just imagine the PR nightmare the prosecutor
would have if he tries to fine someone's grandma $100k because she didn't
realize that the tablet her son gave her is actually a "galaxy note 7." No
prosecutor in hell is going to take that chance. Instead, the vast vast
majority of people who break this law will get a slap on the wrist and then
walk away. Unless you happened to have an affair with the AG's wife 5 years
ago, in which case he might decide that rules are rules and he simply has to
prosecute you to the full extent of the law. And all of a sudden, you're
fucked.

Have laws that are as minimally restrictive as possible, and have punishments
that are fair enough that you don't mind enforcing them every single time
someone breaks the law. This is so simple, and yet, the people who draw up
these rules never seem to get it.

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shshhdhs
Apparently, a recent fire was caused by a powered off device.

And I wouldn't trust end-users. I was just in US customs today where they said
not to use your phone, 3 people within my reach were talking on their phone.

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NeutronBoy
There were reports from Melbourne (Aus) Airport this morning about queues 4x
or 5x times normal length (for a Monday morning). Security were checking every
mobile phone going through and not letting anyone carry Galaxy Note 7s on.

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Moshe_Silnorin
We are such a foolish species.

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git_rancher
What's wrong with our legal system? The penalties mentioned are really steep.
Up to 10 years in prison and/or a $180K fine for bringing a galaxy note 7 onto
a plane.

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colejohnson66
Imagine one blows up in the air and forces the plane to be grounded. Someone
has to pay for that emergency landing. $180k does seem excessive though.

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acranox
Maybe Samsung should pay that bill?

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scottmf
Why should they? If you take a Note 7 onto a plane that's on you.

Your idea would shift the disincentive not to fly with a Note 7 away from the
passenger.

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seanp2k2
It's reasonable to expect your phone to not act like thermite randomly. Until
they have 100% of sold devices accounts for, they should be accountable for
producing something which malfunctions so spectacularly with potentially
deadly consequences. I'm sure there are many people who still don't know about
the recall (or who don't understand the actual risks and thus don't care). I'm
sure that their notification system to urge owners to bring the device in for
recall is not without bugs and didn't reach every last owner. I'm sure there
are plenty of GN7s sitting in boxes.

It's not really the fault of a person to know that what they though was a
normal phone is now considered contraband because the manufacturer goofed
epically. Consider also all of the tech-illiterate who may have received one
as a gift or whatever, and they don't know / care what model it is. It's not
really fair IMO to fine them. I guess this is why they're checking all phones
now.

I'm not sure of the exact mechanisms employed by them, but they likely need to
work with every telco on which their phone can connect and go through all
active IMEIs and ESNs to identify any still-active GN7s, likely at great
expense to Samsung. They should also probably then blacklist those so the
devices become unable to connect to the carrier, so any people still using
them will actually bring them in for disposal.

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simplexion
This is still a massive over-reaction for a device with a manufacturing defect
that affects less than 0.01 percent.

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hocuspocus
Some people flew out with their Note 7, sometimes across continents. Now, how
can they go home and return the phone to get a refund?

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douche
I've really not been paying attention to this; I'm still working along on my
busted-ass, cracked Galaxy 4 and I've got a ways to go before I'm due for a
handset upgrade on my plan.

Did Samsung really screw the design, or did they blunder into a bad batch of
batteries? How many times has this catastrophic failure actually happened? Is
it anywhere near frequent enough to make something like this a proportionate
response to the risk?

