The new policy affects people flying to the United States from airports in Amman, Jordan; Cairo; Istanbul; Jidda
and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia; Kuwait City; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
What Travelers Should Know About New Restrictions on Devices -
By BRIAN X. CHENMARCH 21, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO — The United States Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday enacted a new flight restriction.
A computer or a tablet is larger than a smartphone, which would theoretically provide more room for terrorists to cram in components like
bomb parts or weapons, said Bill Marczak, a senior fellow at the Citizen Lab, a research group that follows technology and policy.
Under the rule, passengers traveling on foreign airlines from eight majority-Muslim countries
to the United States are barred from bringing devices larger than cellphones onto the plane.
There is also a risk that a terrorist could use a smartphone to remotely detonate a bomb
that is hidden inside a computer checked in as cargo, said Nick Feamster, a computer science professor at Princeton University.
You could also consider traveling with an inexpensive computer that lacks any of your sensitive data, Professor Feamster added.
The United Kingdom also announced a similar ban on devices larger than smartphones on certain airlines.
