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Senators reportedly wore Apple Watches to the impeachment trial, seemingly violating the electronics ban
businessinsider.com ^ | 1/21/20 | Mary Meisenzahl

Posted on 01/22/2020 5:45:42 AM PST by a little elbow grease

Electronics are banned from Trump's impeachment hearing.

Some senators reportedly flouted this rule, and wore (Apple) smart watches to the proceedings.

According to decorum guidelines given to senators before the trial began, electronics are not allowed in the room at all. The rules read "No use of phones or electronic devices will be allowed in the Chamber. All electronics should be left in the Cloakroom in the storage provided." The rules prohibit tools that senators would typically use to connect with the outside world and share information on social media, although it seems likely that Trump himself will be on Twitter.

Sen. John Cornyn, one of the senators who reportedly wore an Apple Watch during the trial, told The Hill last week "We will not have our electronic devices. I just saw a piece of cabinetry in the cloakroom where we will be required to turn over our iPads and our iPhones."

Along with Cornyn, Roll Call reported that Sens. Mike Lee, John Thune, Jerry Moran, John Barrasso, Tim Scott, Michael Bennet, and Patty Murray were reportedly spotted with smart watches.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: apple; businessstuff; electronics; impeachment; impeachmentrules; maccult
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To: TomServo

Did they have aides banging on garbage cans to tip them to what the next question was going to be?


41 posted on 01/22/2020 8:39:32 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: MayflowerMadam
“They’re not Dick Tracy watches “

Can’t you access email, send messages, etc.? (Asking, ‘cause I don’t know.)

Yes, you can. . . and receive news articles from various Internet news sources of your choice. You can also initiate and receive calls and texts, or listen to music or audio books.

42 posted on 01/22/2020 8:40:07 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: samtheman; LS; JonPreston; enumerated; Swordmaker; a fool in paradise; thinden; nopardons; onyx
It is a silly rule.

____________

Yep.

Speaking of silly rules .... from a while back at Auguta:

NO BACKWARD HATS

-- "While giving an interview in the media center Ricky Fowler was kindly asked by a Masters official to turn his baseball cap forward to the proper alignment.

So rude!"

******

43 posted on 01/22/2020 8:50:52 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
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To: plangent
They are blue-tooth connected with limited range to the smart phone. Mine drops out after 40 feet.

Newer Apple Watches series 5 can be cellular and independent of being tethered to an iPhone and have their own connection to a carrier.


AppleWatch Series 5: Lets you go without your phone.
With cellular you can call from the trail, text from the surf, or stream music from the slopes. All with just your watch. —Apple.com


44 posted on 01/22/2020 8:52:35 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: Vermont Lt
If the Internet is turned off, the Apple watch is really just a watch. It can track your heartbeat. But otherwise, it’s pretty useless. At least mine is.

Not if you’ve got one of the newer ones with a cellular connectivity.

45 posted on 01/22/2020 8:54:05 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: a little elbow grease

Patty Murray knows how to operate an Apple Watch?

You go girl...


46 posted on 01/22/2020 8:55:46 AM PST by Kickass Conservative (Kill a Commie for your Mommy.)
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To: Rashputin
I’m told an Apple watch can record. If so, it’s an easy way to get around the rules and provide news outlets with select bits of what went on just as if someone carried a recorder into the session with them.

Absolutely true.

47 posted on 01/22/2020 8:57:28 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: jughandle
Unless apple watches have made strides mine didn’t have a keypad to send email or text messages, it had a few preset “canned” reply words but that was it.

You can dictate what you want to text. . . and the voice to text is superb. You can also record your reply and send that.

48 posted on 01/22/2020 9:01:29 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: CurlyDave
I don't know about that -- mine blows his out of the water. Built in phone, texting, etc. Poor Dick only had 2 way voice.

After Dick Tracy jumped the shark and had personal flying devices and other stuff from science fiction, the wrist radio had two-way video which the Apple Watch doesn’t have. It got ridiculous and unreadable as a comic strip.

49 posted on 01/22/2020 9:07:37 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: Swordmaker

Just to clarify for the uninitiated...

The newest Apple Watches CAN have independent cellular capability. That is an option. You can purchase them with or without cellular capability.

It is pretty obvious when you are interacting with your Apple Watch. Yes, you can send and receive texts, but that would require either tapping on your watch, writing with your finger on the face of your watch, or speaking to your watch - all of which would be noticed.

As for listening to your watch, that pretty much requires Bluetooth headphones or earbuds. Again, it would be noticed.

While I understand and agree with the banning of electrical devices, including Apple Watches, doing something distracting with them would be obvious. I do think that someone wearing an Apple Watch (or other smart watch) could receive text messages, which would be against the rules and possibly harmful to the proceedings. They should make sure NO Senator has ANY electronic devices.


50 posted on 01/22/2020 9:07:50 AM PST by Crusher138 ("Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just")
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To: Rashputin
Basically you're saying an Apple watch is an electronic recording device but that no Apple watch owner would sink so low as to abuse it.

Why of course we wouldn’t. Speak your reply to me clearly and please point your voice toward my left wrist. . .

51 posted on 01/22/2020 9:09:39 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: a little elbow grease

As an aside, did only 7 Senators wear Apple Watches, and five just happened to be Republicans, or was this a case of selective reporting?


52 posted on 01/22/2020 9:10:52 AM PST by Crusher138 ("Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just")
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To: COUNTrecount
Or those watches could be hacked to see the information on them.Just sayin”....

Uh, no, they can’t. The data on an Apple Watch is encrypted to 256bit AES standard, just like that on an Apple iPhone. Unless you have the Watch’s passcode which is used to link it to the iPhone, or unlock it, you ain’t getting the data.

53 posted on 01/22/2020 9:15:05 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: samtheman
It is a silly rule.

Not really. It’s about distraction from the trial. It grew out of a rule that was established back in the 1800s from earlier impeachment trials where Senators were not permitted to bring other papers or reading materials during hearings or the trial in chief. The Senators were required to pay attention to every detail. Electronic devices were deemed to provide too much temptation to distract from the content of what is being said.

54 posted on 01/22/2020 9:23:34 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: a little elbow grease

Isn’t the Apple watch basically useless without the iPhone though?


55 posted on 01/22/2020 9:29:41 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Crusher138
Just to clarify for the uninitiated...

Very good explanation, Crush. . . And I agree completely. If you are going to have such a rule, enforce it. I wear an Apple Watch, but I also have a purely mechanical watch for special occasions. There’s no reason that Senators cannot do the same, exchange their smart watches for a merely prosaic timepiece. There is also the purely technical solution of cellular suppressors which could be deployed for the entire chamber, but that would be crippling to staff.

56 posted on 01/22/2020 9:34:07 AM PST by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
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To: a little elbow grease

War games: McCain caught playing poker on iPhone during Syria debate

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/04/john-mccain-poker-iphone-syria-debate


57 posted on 01/22/2020 9:43:00 AM PST by McGruff
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To: VanDeKoik

Not true. You can text and email and make phone calls. An Apple Watch is a serious computer.


58 posted on 01/22/2020 9:45:25 AM PST by BlueHorseShoe
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To: a little elbow grease

Sandy Berger would have wanted one of those.


59 posted on 01/22/2020 9:57:33 AM PST by Karl Spooner
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To: Swordmaker

Thanks for that info, now I may get one.


60 posted on 01/22/2020 10:01:12 AM PST by COUNTrecount ("I've always won, and I'm going to continue to win. And that's the way it is." -- Donald Trump)
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