Canada shouldn’t be too quick to sign on to the ’laptop ban’,
Canadian officials are over in Brussels, we are told, trying to figure out whether this country should join the so-called “laptop ban” imposed by the Trump administration on a number of Muslim-majority nations. Transport Minister Marc Garneau says they are “carefully assessing information of concern.”
They should indeed be careful, but they should also be very skeptical about this latest measure. Security experts are still scratching their heads about the logic of forcing passengers to pack laptops and other electronic devices larger than a cellphone in their checked baggage.
The ban was announced early last week by U.S. officials, who said passengers travelling on direct flights from eight Middle Eastern and North African countries would have to check their devices. The reasons were murky, but the New York Times reported that new intelligence showed that Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) was developing a bomb hidden in portable electronics.
If true, this might well be quite a threat. But only Britain joined in the ban right away, with other countries (including Canada and the rest of Europe) waiting on the sidelines.
This alone puts a big question mark over the effectiveness of the new rule. Security experts have pointed out the obvious: What prevents a would-be terrorist from simply flying from, say, Cairo, which is on the U.S. banned list, to Paris or Frankfurt and changing planes for New York?
It also raises the question of why the vast army of airport security screeners isn’t able to distinguish between a harmless laptop or tablet and one with a bomb built in? Isn’t that what they’re for?
And the result of forcing travellers to check their devices means that potential bombs could be secreted in luggage compartments, ready to be detonated by remote-control. Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International magazine, summed it up to the Guardian: “I think it’s a very ill-thought-out proposal.”
It’s also a measure of the Trump administration’s low level of trust and credibility that another, less straightforward motive for the laptop ban is being floated.
Three of the most affected airlines — Emirates of Dubai, Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi, and Qatar Airways — have long been accused by their American competitors of receiving massive subsidies from their governments. The theory is that the ban amounts to retaliation by the protectionists now in control of the White House.
All of which means Canada and other countries should take a long hard look at the evidence for this ban before signing on. If there’s persuasive proof it could save lives, then it may be worth the added inconvenience. But given the Trump administration’s highly questionable track record so far, there should be no rush to fall in line.
Security experts are confused about the logic of forcing passengers to pack laptops in their checked baggage