U.S. device ban illogical, experts say

Experts around the globe have described the U.S. ban on devices larger than mobile phones on flights as illogical and at odds with basic computer science.

The ban by the United States government on laptops, iPads and other electronics “larger than a cellphone” on flights from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa continues to generate criticism from business executives and technology experts all over the world.

“It’s weird, because it doesn’t match a conventional threat model,” said Nicholas Weaver, researcher at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. “If you assume the attacker is interested in turning a laptop into a bomb, it would work just as well in the cargo hold.”

Bruce Schneier, a security technologist, called the new rules an “onerous travel restriction”.

“From a technological perspective, nothing has changed between the last dozen years and today. That is, there are no new technological breakthroughs that make this threat any more serious today,” he said in an email. “And there is certainly nothing technological that would limit this newfound threat to a handful of Middle Eastern airlines.”

Efforts to more broadly restrict laptops on planes would likely face widespread resistance, said Chris Hoofnagle, professor of law at the University of California. “It’s a massive inconvenience to have to check a laptop, and you can imagine that such a demand is met with resistance by air carriers, who are powerful lobbies.”

A former US aviation official also added that the rule constituted an “unnecessary overreach” and appeared to target a group rather than address specific security concerns.

The United States on Monday March 20, 2017 barred passengers on flights originating in nine Muslim-majority countries from carrying any electronic device bigger than a mobile phone. Nine (9) airlines from countries in the Middle East and North Africa were given 96 hours, beginning at 7:00 GMT on Tuesday, to ban the devices from the cabin.

Hours after the distribution of this “confidential” edict from the US Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), senior Trump administration officials informed a hastily convened press briefing on Monday night the ban had been brought in after “evaluated intelligence” emerged that terrorists favored “smuggling explosive devices in various consumer items”.

The DHS claim the ban is necessary as “terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation and are aggressively pursuing innovative methods to undertake their attacks, to include smuggling explosive devices in various consumer items.

“Based on this information, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Transportation Security Administration Acting Administrator Huban Gowadia have determined it is necessary to enhance security procedures for passengers at certain last point of departure airports to the United States,” the statement said.

The ban will apply to nonstop flights to the US from 10 international airports serving the cities of Cairo in Egypt; Amman in Jordan; Kuwait City in Kuwait; Casablanca in Morocco; Doha in Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Istanbul in Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, until the threat changes.