[maouida]

OMG. I am Tunisian and was planing to buy an sdr dongle next month for research purposes. I guess if I had done it I would be in big trouble by now. It is well known here that customs are very suspicious about any device they do not recognize. Back in the early 2000s they were questioning people about their USB sticks!

[sytelus]

It’s not about just carrying device.

they explain that he was using the RTL-SDR as part of his investigation for monitoring air traffic to Libya in an attempt to link flights against violations of the arms embargo.

So the person in question supposedly wanted to prove that Tunisia is potentially violating UN embargo by possibly monitoring air traffic communications without permission.

[dingaling]

Tunisia and Algeria are well-known in enthusiast circles as countries where you do not try to monitor ATC or Mode-S transmissions.

He had a noble cause but what he was doing would have to be done in a hands-off, anonymous way with relay to an outside recipient. Perhaps remote solar-charged SoC units with satellite uplink, but that's getting into serious money.

[Bombthecat]

That would explain the arrest and silence from all parties. They don't want to wake up the hornet nest.

[ambicapter]

What embargoes related to flight is Tunisia under?

[Cyph0n]

Another Tunisian here. Our country is backwards when it comes to tech. Heck, you can get arrested for bringing a drone into the country without proper security authorization...

[tozeur]

I was gonna bring one in to take some super cool Roman ruin aerial shots but was thankfully dissuaded by a friend.

[themodelplumber]

Damn. That would have been awesome. :-/ But it's not worth your safety.

[ryadivv]

Putting aside the arrest which is legal, I wouldn't say Tunisia is backwards when it comes to technology and innovation but I guess with security reasons Tunisia find it self impellent to make such decisions, I mean the last years haven't been easy when it comes to terrorism and now you're between the civil war in Libya and maybe a revolution in Algeria.

[steve19]

Buy yourself a USB TV tuner ... then use it as a RTL-SDR.

[maouida]

Thanks. I'll do some research on that.

[TeMPOraL]

RTL-SDR from rtl-sdr.com is essentially a particular USB TV tuner, just repackaged into a form that makes it more suitable for SDR use (higher-quality soldering, metal cover, etc.). You can look for that TV tuner sold as a TV tuner, and get roughly the same capabilities.

[etrautmann]

It seems like this was politically motivated and if one were off the radar it may not be an issue. If you're concerned about someone looking for an excuse to arrest you, that might be an unfortunate cause for concern.

[maouida]

Having a beard is very enough to raise their suspicion as they will link you to terrorism without thinking twice. In 2015 I bought a metal detector online and they thought I will use it to search for monuments. They returned it and I was lucky it ended there.

[etrautmann]

That makes me appreciate what I currently take for granted here in the US

[necovek]

Like having your phones and laptops searched (with you unlocking them) on entry?

Or do you mean "here in the US if I am a citizen"? :)

[sjfnsdug]

>I bought a metal detector online

A fellow Tunisian here,

I tried several times to buy stuff online (listed with foreign currencies) using a regular credit card. But the transaction always fails.

Since we don't have paypal either, I'm interested, how do you purchase stuff online using a foreign currency?

[pier25]

Oh wow. I spent my teenage years in La Marsa. I would have never expected to find Tunisians on HN!

[necovek]

Why is that? (I seriously wonder)

From a purely statistical viewpoint, there are 11M Tunisians out of 7.5 billion people, which would put them at 1.5 out of any 1000 people are Tunisian :) Even if we take technological and language exposure (which is what I am guessing you are hinting at), I'd say at least 1 person in 5000 on here is Tunisian :) And I suspect there are more than 5000 people on HN.

If this was more of a small-talk "hey I've lived there and so nice to be reminded of it", pardon my intrusion with data :)

[pier25]

Hey no worries. :)

Yeah statistically speaking you are probably right. It's probably because the vast majority of people around here are from the US. I'm from Spain and I rarely find Spaniards either.