New York Metropolis’s 2026 mayoral inauguration of Zohran Mamdani has printed an inventory of banned gadgets for the occasion, particularly prohibiting the Flipper Zero and Raspberry Pi units.
As first reported by Adafruit, the ban record seems within the inauguration occasion’s official FAQ, which lists gadgets which will or will not be delivered to the occasion.
The record of prohibited gadgets additionally contains giant luggage, backpacks and duffle luggage, weapons, fireworks or explosives, drones and different remote-controlled aerial units, strollers, coolers, chairs, blankets, umbrellas, bicycles or scooters, alcoholic drinks, unlawful substances, pets aside from service animals, laser pens, and bats or batons.
The Flipper Zero is a handheld system for studying and testing wi-fi communication protocols, together with RFID, NFC, infrared, Bluetooth, and radio indicators. It’s generally utilized by safety researchers, builders, and hobbyists for protocol evaluation and penetration testing.
A Raspberry Pi is a low-cost, general-purpose single-board laptop able to working customary Linux distributions and a variety of software program. Accessible in a number of configurations, the units will be expanded utilizing add-on modules and peripherals, enabling them to carry out most of the identical duties as a desktop or laptop computer laptop.
In contrast to most different gadgets on the prohibited record, that are grouped into normal classes, each units are particularly named, reasonably than being restricted beneath a normal computing or wi-fi system class.
Gadgets such because the Flipper Zero have beforehand drawn scrutiny from governments, which have raised issues about their potential use in automobile theft, community breaches, and different types of cybercrime. In some instances, this has led to proposals to limit or ban the units, as properly as seizures, although deliberate prohibitions have been rolled again.
On-line retailers have additionally banned the system previously, with Amazon prohibiting Flipper Zero listings out of issues it may very well be used for card skimming.
Nevertheless, the ban of those units from the occasion has brought about confusion, as laptops and cell phones are usually not listed among the many prohibited gadgets, regardless of having equal or larger technical performance.
“On the record of prohibited gadgets printed prematurely, along with basic sources of hazard comparable to firearms, drones, and glass bottles, two units from the IT world are explicitly named: the Raspberry Pi and the Flipper Zero,” safety skilled Stefan Klatt posted on X.
“How do you say that you haven’t any concept with out saying it?”
Trendy laptops can run penetration-testing Linux distributions comparable to Kali Linux, and smartphones can run superior safety toolsets like Kali NetHunter.
Occasion organizers haven’t offered any particulars explaining why the Flipper Zero and Raspberry Pi have been singled out.
BleepingComputer has contacted the Mamdani marketing campaign’s press workplace for remark and can replace the story if a response is acquired.
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