Originally Posted by
saizai
If a GN7 is WEI that can't be made safe/controlled (unlike e.g. a compressed oxygen tank), then it's a good thing for TSA to screen for it.
Doesn't have to be terrorism-y at all. If you have something that randomly catches fire and maybe explodes, there's no mens rea needed.
If anything, it's more dangerous than dynamite. Dynamite only goes off if you detonate it, and can otherwise be stored & transported quite safely.
I agree, and I think it's clear from the multiple incidents of GN7's catching fire in public, including at least one on an airplane which prompted the FAA ban, that this model of phone does constitute an incendiary device that cannot be rendered safe, however accidentally.
Samsung is globally recalling all GN7s worldwide and replacing them with another completely different model (of the user's choice), but that will probably take some time. In the interim, there will almost certainly be some folks who will try smuggling their GN7s aboard aircraft, using the excuse, "Well, I've had this phone for six months and I've never had a problem."