Canada Looking Into Gadget Ban On Flights

Study on the restriction on computers larger in size than smartphones on some flights to the U.K. and U.S. is being looked into by Canada. The country’s security experts have not yet disclosed whether they will follow suit with the United Kingdom and the United States and also ban more electronic devices on some specific international flights.

U.S was the first to lead with the ban, followed by Britain, other countries so far have decided not to follow in that direction. The Minister of Transport for Canada, Marc Garneau said the government was weighing intelligence provided by the United States. The Canadian government has not decided on whether they will be implementing the ban as well on Canada-bound flights.

A professor at the University of Ottawa who is on a visit, Wesley Wark said; “It makes you kind of scratch your head. Generally, in these kinds of cases, because of the very complex and interconnected nature of global air travel, if one or more countries believes there’s some new serious threat, they would try to ensure that there is a fairly coordinated implementation of security measures. Otherwise, the scheme doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

“Evaluated intelligence” was cited by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for its bar, mentioning that terrorist groups have been bent on looking for ways to have their explosives hidden in various consumer gadgets which can be used for cover up. Wark is happy Canada has not gone ahead with the ban without proper reasoning, however, he said that the government is still pondering over the option.