NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives

Scope of the “Ban”

• Many commenters stress it’s not a government-wide prohibition, just a prohibited-items list for a single public inauguration event.
• Umbrellas, beach balls, blankets, chairs, strollers, drones, and large bags are also banned, which some see as standard crowd-control measures.
• Some argue calling this “banned by the government” is misleading; others say “not allowed at an event by security” is effectively a government ban in that context.

Enforcement & Specificity

• Confusion over how security will distinguish Raspberry Pi vs clones (“orange pi”) or other dev boards; expectation is that any exposed PCB-looking gadget will be turned away.
• Some think naming brands (Raspberry Pi, Flipper Zero) is imprecise, invites arbitrary enforcement, and reflects pop-culture/LLM-driven threat modeling rather than technical understanding.
• Others counter that brand names reduce ambiguity for non-technical cops doing quick visual checks.

Security vs. Security Theater

• Critics see this as petty security theater, driven by CYA instincts and overreaction to “hacker-looking” gear, while more capable devices (phones, laptops, walkie-talkies, SDRs) remain allowed.
• Defenders say there’s no legitimate reason to bring SBCs or Flippers to a high-profile political event, and that common script-kiddie tools are reasonable to exclude.
• Debate over whether Raspberry Pis/Flippers pose any real RF or cyber risk beyond what smartphones and other electronics already enable.

Broader Policing & Civil Liberties Tangent

• Discussion drifts into NYC’s history: stop-and-frisk, broken windows policing, crime trends, and use of AI/ML surveillance vs physical stops.
• Strong disagreement on whether stop-and-frisk “worked” and whether lowered crime was causal or just correlated; civil-rights concerns are raised.
• Some note perceived hypocrisy: politicians who campaigned on “defund/dismantle police” still rely on heavy security.

Meta: Adafruit, Cloudflare, and Attention

• Some suspect Adafruit’s post is partly self-interested (they sell Pis) and “self-absorbed,” others argue it’s reasonable for a NYC-based maker business to push back on brand-specific rules.
• Multiple complaints about Adafruit’s use of Cloudflare (CAPTCHAs, Tor blocking, tracking), with a few saying they’ll avoid the site.
• A number of commenters predict the ban mainly raises Flipper Zero’s profile and will have little impact outside tech circles.