TSA: don't bring uncharged devices from oversea

The TSA and other US airport security process has gotten to the point where it&#x27;s unnecessarily onerous. I avoid even stopovers in the US when flying (unless the US is my final destination) because it&#x27;s such a wildcard&#x2F;inconvenience both with security as well as immigration - it&#x27;s easier to just pay more and fly direct or pick flights that are less convenient but don&#x27;t transit through the US.<p>If they start confiscating un-poweruperable devices at any scale (ie if it were an enforced policy), that&#x27;d make transiting or traveling to the US far more prohibitive (realistically, i&#x27;d never transit with my primary laptop; and I&#x27;d imagine that a lot of organisations would start allowing their staff to only travel through the US with their China laptops)... ie it sounds like a terrible set of rules to have; and an even worse set to consider enforcing.<p>edit: I&#x27;m Canada-based and travel internationally several times each year -- avoiding the US on these trips is a real inconvenience.

It&#x27;s been proven these arbitrary restrictions don&#x27;t actually enhance security. We need to see the TSA move to behavioral analysis for them to actually make a difference.

The scary thing about this is that the US people have no control over this initiative. We didn&#x27;t ask for this, we have no control over their decision to do that. What are we going to do.. go to our congress person? They&#x27;re not going to do anything over that.

Soo.. I also can&#x27;t bring anything might be on the fritz or broken, or items that require a specific input or external device to do more than show a green LED? Or does a power indicator pass muster? This really seems impractical if enforced to the letter.

Ah yes. More senseless rules that do nothing but make life more complicated for everyone.

I&#x27;d be much less annoyed by these restrictions if the TSA did a better job explaining the reasons for them. Unfortunately, a statement such as, &quot;Our scanners can&#x27;t reliably tell the difference between batteries and specially-crafted explosives.&quot; is not something they want to publish. I have no idea if that&#x27;s actually true, but it seems plausible.<p>Also, the implementation of this policy seems rather inconsistent. Are broken&#x2F;powerless devices allowed in checked luggage? Can they be shipped via air freight? If I bring spare batteries, do I have to put them in a device and power it up? Etc.<p>Edit: It looks like this is a reaction to rumors of a plot to build bombs that look like laptops.[1]<p>1. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/terrorists-team-syria-build-generation-bombs/story?id=24274983" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;abcnews.go.com&#x2F;International&#x2F;terrorists-team-syria-bu...</a>

I did a fair amount of international traveling back in the 1990&#x27;s, and I recall several people saving that last bit of power in their laptops to power them on at security.<p>Guess it&#x27;s just coming back into fashion.

What&#x27;s the science behind this? Is it not a bomb if it &quot;powers on&quot;? Is it a bomb maybe if it doesn&#x27;t? Do unpowered devices pose more of a threat than powered devices?

I travel a lot, at least 6 international trips a year, and do you know what? The rest of the world appears to be a reasonably safe place to fly, and you don&#x27;t need to take your shoes off or have a reach around to visit those countries.<p>Smell that freedom folks - you&#x27;ve created a security &#x27;organization&#x27; whose only policy is to create more inane forms of security theatre.

Many of the first release of Apple Macbooks had a &quot;random shutdown syndrome&quot; problem with their heatsinks. The laptop would randomly hard-shutdown and then be unable to turn back on for some time. This is widely documented.<p>I was experiencing this problem shortly before heading through US airport security. I was terrified they would ask me to turn on the laptop. They took me aside, but it was to ask me questions about the remote-control that came with these early macbooks (it was an apple product they didn&#x27;t recognize, so they were suspicious).<p>My point is, there&#x27;s no way to know that your product -- any product -- won&#x27;t fail when you&#x27;re going through security. The assumption that all devices going through security will be operational, is bogus.

Slightly different situation, but while I was away in Israel for a conference, the battery on my laptop stopped holding a charge. Thus, I could only power on my machine if it was plugged in.<p>Of course in the airport I was asked to turn it on. I explained the situation and that I had no adapter, so they offered to take into a back room to check. I agreed and they came back around 15 minutes later to say it was charged and I should turn it on now.<p>Obviously something was lost in translation, but they ended up getting me to talk to the head of security. Finally I had to surrender my battery and charger for additional screening and pick them up at the airport a few days after my arrival.

Previous discussion here: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7995512" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=7995512</a>

Is this just getting us used to powering on our laptops so the next step will be logging in and seeing whats on the computer?

This is a huge pain in the ass. When I travel, I often don&#x27;t use my phone for many days at a time, and usually return without a charged device.

I wonder if iOS&#x2F;OSX &quot;no charge&quot; screen will be enough of a proof.

How the shit does this relate to aviation security?

Pointless. Plenty of airports that allow transit from domestic flights without another security check. The terrorists will just board there.

The problem isn&#x27;t the TSA, the problem is terrorism and the geopolitical policies that foment them.