by crazygringo
3 subcomments
- It's not like they're banning them across all of NYC... it's just security at the inauguration event. "Large bags" are banned too.
> When a policy bans specific devices rather than behaviors or capabilities, it creates ambiguity for people on the ground.
To the contrary, how the heck is someone working security at the entrance supposed to check for a device's "behaviors or capabilities"? This is a quick visual inspection, this reduces ambiguity.
Presumably, the cops are aware of previous disruption with these specific devices, or threats thereof. And it's not like they're going to say exactly what, nor should they, lest it give people ideas...
> Today it’s Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero. Tomorrow it’s BeagleBone Blacks, Arduino Qs, ESP32 dev boards, Teensy boards, Pine64s, Orange Pis...
Which is totally fine. There's no legitimate purpose in bringing any of those to a high-profile political event. Drones, laser pens, and beach balls are prohibited too.
by geerlingguy
2 subcomments
- Guess I'll have to bring my Arduino then... lol, what a weird thing to add to the list.
It's like someone watched Mr. Robot and determined their list of additional hacking tools from asking ChatGPT what tools Elliot would use.
by some_random
2 subcomments
- >New York City usually gets this right. It has decades of muscle memory for doing hard things in public, under pressure, without panicking.
Not something I would say about Stop-And-Frisk city but whatever.
- What's also hacker-unfriendly is giving all your hacker-friendly article's traffic to Cloudflare, and then letting Cloudflare block Tor exit nodes from reading your article.
- The cops made this list. The idea that a smartphone can do everything a Raspberry Pi can do, and more, is a concept so far beyond their level of understanding that the discussion is pointless.
- The language is unfortunately imprecise (or rather too precise) but I’d imagine this is simply allowing security staff discretion to refuse suspicious circuit board looking devices. They’re not going to be checking for brand names.
by GolfPopper
0 subcomment
- The reeks of someone new being in charge (at whatever level approves this list), and feeling compelled to "prove" themselves via a show of power - in this case, adding items to a prohibited list. As such behaviors go, this one is petty.
Adafruit's point on the banning of specific devices stands out as being particularly foolish. I doubt security would react well to any obvious cyberpunk cyberdeck build, regardless of the hardware inside.
- Lots of products come with integrated rPis since they're so easy to work with and have good vendor support. I guess all those products are banned too lol.
- I am always worried when I bring development boards on airplanes. I assume most people are reasonable, but I worry for a few that might not be.
- Somebody obviously raised the question in a meeting somewhere, and there's no incentive to be the guy who says, "Nah, that's perfectly safe" - and every incentive to CYA.
- How are they going to enforce this? "No officer see this is an orange pi"
- This makes me want to buy a flipper
- I noticed that they didn't ban "walkie talkies" or "radio transceivers", and I wonder...
Some of the more niche/hobby transceivers could be used by a group of bad actors at an event, for comms that are less-monitorable than smartphones and mainstream COTS handheld transceivers.
And such hobby transceivers/transmitters might not operate on the list of RF bands that would be jammed by authorities when there's a suspected terrorist situation.
Many of these devices have exposed PCBs (either general-purpose SBCs, or specialized). So, saying "no Raspberry Pi" could be an attempt to ban all exposed PCB devices. And "no Flipper Zero" is the non-exposed-PCB problematic device that everyone has also heard of.
Kudos to the people keeping the event safe, especially given all the recently emboldened bad actors right now, who might be attracted to the event.
For hobbyists, there are numerous opportunities to advocate for your right to, e.g., carry electronics hobbyist gadgets, or to wear an artistic blinking LED jewelry piece strapped to your chest. Some of those opportunities need help, while some other opportunities could be counterproductive to your cause.
by kstrauser
1 subcomments
- I carried an RPi running a Meshtastic BBS around Def Con this year. I can kinda see why these combinations would make authorities nervous ("you have a computer-controlled radio what now?"), but the idea of getting arrested for toting around a souped up walkie talkie amuses me.
- I feel like this isn’t the kind of thing that just shows up on normal people’s radars out of nowhere. There must be some precedent, maybe a bunch of kids recently showed up to a similar event with these items
- Dang, I'm going to have to leave my Korg OpSix synth at home.
I guess they don't want anyone to jam the GPIO headers into someone's eye.
by mrbluecoat
0 subcomment
- > Today it’s Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero. Tomorrow it’s ... a TI-83 held sideways
Laughed so hard. That sarcasm is so sharp it might show up on next year's banned list.
- Will they ban cell phones?
by websiteapi
1 subcomments
- isn't "weapon" already general enough by definition? also why not disallow laptop then?
- Oh also, to the writer of this "news" article, maybe mask your emotion a little when writing...the news...
Though I don't read Adafruit, so maybe this is a normal way of writing for them.
- It seems like an Android phone could easily be modified for nefarious activities. Plus, it has the added benefit of having cellular connectivity.
- Who cares about the Pi Zero? There's no umbrellas and no strollers/pushchairs/prams/etc. - and to add insult to injury you're not allowed booze as well.
by rincebrain
0 subcomment
- It's going to be more interesting, I think, to see what the campaign says if asked about this, than the actual policy itself.
by WaitWaitWha
0 subcomment
- For those who suggest the police came up with this list, why do you think so?
Asking because I believe the Block Party organizers likely just handed a list to the NYPD instead of asking them for input.
Also, what is the expected training to NYPD street cops what is a RasPi or Flipper? Both come in all kinds of shapes, colors, and general appearance.
Far stretch, but this could be a subtle ploy to do get technologist (i.e., here) talk about this make it go viral.
- I assume that police compile such lists, right? If so, this once again says a lot about their competence.
by dinkleberg
0 subcomment
- They ban drones and remote-controlled aerial devices, but nothing about RC ground-based devices or robots.
- Not seeing why this is a strange.
Also, not seeing why someone would care - why are you bringing your Raspberry Pi to an inauguration? Or worse, your blatantly suspicious "Flipper Zero", which, quote:
> The Flipper Zero is a portable multi-functional Security device developed for interaction with access control systems. The device is able to read, copy, and emulate RFID and NFC tags, radio remotes, iButtons, and digital access keys. It also has a GPIO interface.
by observationist
0 subcomment
- Ohnoes, circuit boards are so scary. Please protect us from the evil hackers mister Mamdani.
- People should bring raspberry pies in protest, see what happens.
by OGEnthusiast
1 subcomments
- This seems very amateur hour and likely to have the opposite of the intended effect, i.e. I expect there will be tons of Flipper Zeros that people bring as "jokes".
- Can anyone explain logic for beach balls and blankets?
by Waterluvian
0 subcomment
- Honestly that’s a relief. For a moment I was worried they would ban my ESP32-powered animated LED Mooninite.
by johann8384
1 subcomments
- Oh good. My OrangePi is safe.
- why not just list "exposed circuit boards" in the ban?
- You’ve really made it to big time when you are causelessly banned by the gov. Congrats to flipper and Pi!
- Implanted ESP32 powered by some body mod with connects to some innocuous looking piercing?
(I agree this is all ridiculous from all sides. Might as well join the circus with a cheap comment.)
Inspired by:
https://youtu.be/3EFKJ9KaWGY
- what about a smart lamp?
- I bet if you bring this up directly with Mamdani he would take the raspberry pi off the list. This is the result of several layers of abstraction.
by annoyingnoob
0 subcomment
- Raspberry Pi clones are not on the list. Orange Pi anyone?
- they banned flipper zero? what about the thousands of rf mcu devboards still available!! think of the children!!
what idiots
- To whom it may concern;
Congratulations on your hiring for head of digital security for the inauguration of the mayor of New York City.
The mayor elect has drawn scrutiny from right wing agitators and there are creditable threats that some of the "angry twenty something tech bros" are going to attempt to disrupt the event or otherwise prank it.
As this event makes significant use of projectors and large digital displays, please advise the security (regular law enforcement officers that may not be familiar with the latest digital devices) for any objects that may be things that are likely inconspicuous but could be used to disrupt the event. Items that would be conspicuous in their use or have other legitimate use that the general public or credentialed reporters would be using should not be considered (e.g. laptops, cellphones).
These items will be added to the standard list of items prohibited at political events.
----
This is a bit of creative writing, but you could imagine it being fairly close to what the person who is hired to preform this role is faced with.
- [flagged]
by croisillon
0 subcomment
- [flagged]
- All of the comments so far have been about
> le heckin' security theater targeting tinkerbros
and none addressing the elephant in the room of why Mamdani needs all of this security, or frankly, any security at all? Just a few years prior, he tweeted out #DefundThePolice, and of the NYPD specifically, suggested "Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence." And even though he's walked some of that back, he still supports dismantling the NYPD's Strategic Response Group (whose duties including counter terrorism response). You can be sure however free of a rein the city's population of crazy transients are given to assault, slash, or push others in front of oncoming subway trains, he and his family will remain safe.
- It’s quite amusing. Hopefully, you all can do without your Pi or Flipper for a day. You can leave home without it.
by observationist
0 subcomment
- Interesting. Adafruit is now on the list of sites I will no longer visit, given their locking down and harvesting visitor data, and explicitly preventing archive sites.