Friday, December 05, 2014
Even talk of a carry-on electronics ban for flights highlights need for "infrastructure rental" services on the ground
There were news stories earlier this week to the
effect that Homeland Security (as well as corresponding agency in the UK) was
considering a ban on carry on luggage and electronics, at least through the
Christmas holiday, on all international flights and possibly all domestic
flights.
Jeh Johnson, DHS Secretary, said, no, that would not
happen now, to Eric Bradner and Jake Tapper of CNN, news story here. But he did not rule out that it could happen
in the future, if intelligence on terror threats from unconventional explosives
on planes gets more specific.
There had been other suggestions (which I posted in my
International blog Dec. 1), that passenger electronics be put in a “cargo hold”
area near checked baggage, where they would undergo closer scrutiny. No one
could say where the electronics would be likely to be damaged (what about air
temperatures in cargo areas at high altitude?) or stolen. For the longest trips between large cities,
some passengers might be able to ship their gear UPS-air (as some do with
checked baggage now).
All of this is very ironic, given that only a few
months ago we debated whether passengers should be allowed to use electronics
during take-off and landing (see network neutrality blog, Nov. 13, 2013). Also, a few months ago the TSA said that
uncharged electronics would not be allowed on some flights, which could cause a
passenger to miss a flight if some accident happened and the devices did not
boot up. (That requirement sometimes
existed before 9/11 but was dropped.)
Give the way I work, I typically have to stay
connected when I travel. I don’t have a
company doing this for me. I have to
manage my own infrastructure, so I am vulnerable to mishaps.
I’ve traveled four round trips by air, all domestic,
since the start of 2011, after my mother died (when I was already 67), from the
DC-Balt area to the Twin Cities, DFW, LA, and Atlanta. Each time I’ve carried a small notebook
(Toshiba, which got slow at home, and replaced with a Gateway), and an older
iPad as a hotspot. Yes, I could travel
lighter with a newer iPad, or use the iPhone now as hotspot. I might try that. I need a keyboard, although it might be that
some 3rd party addons to the iPad could make a PC less necessary.
Everything has worked so far on all four trips (had a close call in
Texas).
At the beginning of 2011, when I worked for Census, I
had to carry two computers, one for personal use as well as business, when I
went to Charlotte for training. So I
drove rather than flew.
Since airline reservations are often made weeks in
advance, even talk of a ban on carryon electronics could stop me from trying to
make them at all. This has to be very
bad for airlines. I’m not the only one
who feels this way.
So I think we need some real leadership – get tech
companies and airlines (and a lot of systems developers and programmers) together and see if there is a way to help passengers
travel. Once concept could be “infrastructure
rental”. This might be tried overseas
first (at least in the UK and other EU or western countries), where security
concerns are biggest, and where technical issues (like different conventions
for electricity transformers) already exist.
The idea is that you rent a PC (it could be Windows or Mac), with some
variable rates depending on add-ons (like Microsoft Office, Adobe). You also get the appropriate charger and
hotspot hardware. You take the responsibility
for having a cloud account to save data (and the Cloud companies, like Apple, Carbonite
or Webroot, would have to be prepared to accept rented computers). You rent the “infrastructure” the same way
you rent a car, and the arrangements are made through the airline or sites like
Priceline. When you turn in the
computer, the rental company (which might even be something like Best Buy or
Geek Squad) scrubs the computer and refreshes it with a rescue disk, meaning it
is clean for the next customer. There
have to be some legal details, like the agreement not to use it for illegal
purposes (like child pornography).
It is accepted practice to rent cell phones overseas,
and there are some sites that discuss it.
A few companies may rent iPads, but some say that they rent only to
other companies, not individuals. This
service would need to be usable for individuals for personal or “entrepreneurial”
(as long as lawful) use, not just corporate.
Companies would only be interested in investing in
such a model if it passed the Shark Tank:
there has to be demand. That is
only likely of airlines and governments actually have consistent and
predictable policies on electronics security, and don’t change policies after
the latest terror rumor. Of course,
flying would be even less fun, but when you got to your destination, you could
be sure you could get your work done, if you were on your own (not going to an
office).
Biggest hotels have business centers, but usually only
a few work stations with erratic response.
FedEx Kinkos might be OK, but there are questions about security in
using any public computer unless it is going to be scrubbed.
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