S&P'22: When I almost got fined for having a presenter in my backpack.

As the son of a policeman, what happened for this trip was particularly disturbing.

I was very excited for this trip: it was the first time I could get to attend a similar event since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Moreover, it was also one of the first times I took a flight from the Zurich’s airport (ZRH): in this case, it was a direct flight to San Francisco (SFO). To be precise, this was my second time at the ZRH airport: the previous was just a few weeks before, since I took a flight to Amsterdam for a seminar talk I gave at TU Delft.

I arrived in ZRH 3 hours before the scheduled departure of my flight. I had all necessary documentation with me: ESTA, vaccination certificate, negative COVID test, passport. Again, this was my second time (in 2 weeks!) at the ZRH airport, so I knew the drill. I queue to the security, put my bag on the container, and then go past the security control, and start waiting for the controls to my belongings to be over. Unfortunately, the container with my backpack was put in the “to be further inspected” line.

I take the rest of my belongings and go to the counter. A security operator of the ZRH airport begins inspecting the contents of my backpack. I was certain this was a “false positive”: I knew that I had nothing problematic in my backpack, since I am very meticulous in my packing. After a while, the operator takes out my presenter—those typical objects that allow one to remotely control the presentations on a computing device, and which also integrate a laser pointer. She takes out this object, looks at it, and then says “This is a laser pointer”. I reply: “Yes, that’s true. So?”. She says “This is illegal. Wait here”. What?

So, I wait. After 5minutes another security operator arrives and starts questioning me. “Where are you from?” “Where are you going”… then, he says “You know, these devices are illegal in Switzerland”. “I did not know that. I use it for my job, and I’ll need it to present my work at the event I’m going to attend at my destination tomorrow”. He then mumbles something at a radio, and tells me to “keep waiting”. I was very stressed: first, because of that situation, which was very awkward and almost unreal; second, because my flight was supposed to depart in ~2h (and I had no prior experience of international flights at ZRH), so I was starting to worry that I may not make it if this would go on for longer.

After another 5m of waiting, the security operator says “We need to go to the police station”. What? I answer “Alright… is it close by? My flight is in 2 hours…” “Yes, it is right around the corner”. I was glad of this response, but still was upset about this whole affair. What did I do wrong?

I was brought to the “police station”. It was just a small room with a table and white walls, with three doors—two of which leading to areas I could not see. I was told again to “Wait there”. And so I waited. Five minute. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. During the wait, I start looking for “laser pointer illegal switzerland” on Google. Finds out that they were indeed illegal: only some specific ones are allowed—and mine definitely was not among these. After waiting around 20 minutes, a policeman comes out. He explains to me that laser pointers are illegal in Switzerland. Then, he said that they would take my device (which was something that I could appeal to, but it was quite obvious that I should not have done so…), which I agreed. Then, they released me,[a]Of course, I am glad of this resolution. They told me that many travelers get “caught” unaware of that—and I can totally believe that. AFAIK, now there are clear signs of “no laser pointers” at Zurich’s airport. ensuring that I got the message across (i.e., no laser pointers in Switzerland, unless they are class-1).

Thankfully, I was able to get my flight without issues. However, I lost my presenter and could not use it for my talk at S&P DLS. Since then, I am keen in keeping an eye on everyone I meet that carries a presenter/laser pointer with them, warning them to “never carry that device with you if you go in Switzerland”. Very few people knew of this law (which was approved in 2019 but came into force only later), and many thanked me for making them aware of this.

If you want to know more about this law, you can take a look at it here and also here, Also, the only “accepted” presenter in Switzerland, according to this law, is this one (which I now own. However, just to be on the safe side, I do not carry around my presenter anymore)