Israel Bans Imports of iPads Pending Certification of Wi-Fi Power Output

If most of Europe already allows the iPad to be jn their countries, abet through US people, why can't Israel? Don't they have the standards as Europe?

This is ridiculous. What about straight up MacBooks and laptops they broadcast I'm sure. What the hell??

is there a stronger word in the English language than "asinine" to describe Israel's actions against the iPad. "Wi-Fi Power Output" levels? Really???

What is Israel's vendetta against Apple products, by the way? First, they obliterate an MBP. Now, they're Gitmo'ing iPads???

Couldn't something like that be controlled by software and geo-location?

iPad detects it's in a European nation and turns down the power...

Couldn't something like that be controlled by software and geo-location?

iPad detects it's in a European nation and turns down the power...

According to the article:

American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power

So iPads may already be transmitting at lower power. However, I don't know the specifics, so I'm not sure what's going on. But excellent idea.

Can any communcations engineers here explain why that would be a problem?

This has nothing to do with the US Government and they won't care.

A product doesn't comply with Israel's Wi-Fi regulations, so they ban it. There's nothing the US Government can do.

The US government has started trade wars with plenty of European countries over similar things -- like the EU requiring labeling of GMO food products led to 300% tariffs on all sorts of European imports from designer bags to Roquefort cheese.

They have laws. People who enter the country should obey those laws. I don't see the big deal. Leave your iPad at home or bring it and risk having it confiscated.

It's their country, not ours. I'm tired of people saying "well it's ok in the US" as if we are the standard. It's their own freaking country, let them control it and we can control ours.

I mean how would we like it if people came here breaking our laws who weren't citizens and then expecting us to make exceptions? (Oh wait, forgot about our southern neighbor :D)

Wading past the pro/anti-Israel trolls, it's got to be said: I'm glad to see a nation with a telecoms regulator with teeth. Ofcom in the UK are pathetic, currently letting loose hundreds of thousands of "Ethernet over powerline" devices which ruin the shortwave spectrum for broadcast radio listeners and amateur users. They are in a quasi-agreement with BT to allow them to get away with pretty much any level of service at any price.

The radio spectrum is owned by the people, in the sense that it goes through every property in the nation (and abroad) so must be regulated at a national level. One exception is one too many.

However, confiscation seems OTT. Merely instruct the users not to turn on their devices during the trip. OTOH, as a ham radio licensee, I can get away with carrying around more kit through customs (I am not sure about Israel!) than other civilians because it's assumed I know the implications of using a transmitting device - in countries which believe in regulating potentially abusive or intrusive property in the hands of people who have not demonstrated a particular competence, I guess confiscation would be applied.

According to the article:



So iPads may already be transmitting at lower power. However, I don't know the specifics, so I'm not sure what's going on. But excellent idea.

I'll take 'Out of Context Quotes' for $100, Alex.

The actual quote is:

"As the Israeli regulations in the area of WiFi are similar to European standards, which are different from American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power, therefore the broadcast levels of the device prevent approving its use in Israel," said the officials.

It's about half of the article summary, but you only grabbed a misleading snippet. Israeli regulations are similar to European standards. American standards are different. European (and Israeli) standards only permit broadcasting at lower power levels. Therefore, the American versions of the iPad are *not* compliant with Israeli regulations.