Indeed. If what I'm doing is so sensitive I need a dead-man switch (i.e. the consequences of getting caught are very high), $89 to improve my opsec is definitely worth the money.
Actually, Amazon did have USB-A magnetic breakaway components before, but they went EOL and sold-out when I first published my DIY article on how to build-your-own-BusKill-cable last year.
The reason I started making my own was a response to all the folks that asked me how they could get a USB-A BusKill cable since they sold-out (and they also were never available in Europe -- now they are!).
That is pretty much what Tails is doing: If you disconnect the USB drive with the system, it will wipe the RAM and then shut down. However the data on the USB drive isn't modified, so if you don't trust its encryption you should prepare for quick physical destruction and/or disposal.
I can grant expensive (though I don't know for how cheap I could make such a sellable project with free worldwide shipping, while also making profit), but what is comically impractical about this? It's not like the default functionality is to nuke the device from the orbit on disconnect.
You could make one for yourself cheaper, though, if you have the know-how.
Though a basic face detection-based screen lock could be quite more useful and cheaper, at the cost of increased battery consumption.
Personally I have only found cables with relatively weak magnetic power. Where does one find these strong ones, in particular for prices like you mention? It doesn't seem to be a well-advertised property, so it's difficult to tell if they are actually strong ot not :/.
The $59 price still includes worldwide shipping.
> That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to.
I mean you are already carrying a laptop, and probably a charger with cables, so carrying a magnetic cable doesn't seem a big stretch. You would put it to the same bag with your other laptop-related accesories.
It is also quite popular to wear pants with belt loops, which would seem suitable for tying this one. Granted dresses and skirts have these less commonly; even then perhaps one could use a belt. For sportswear I don't have a good suggestion.
I notice you refer to these "better ways" yet you don't enumerate any. At least I wouldn't consider accelerometer and radio-based solutions proper alternatives to this (unless using proper latency-based distance measurement, I wonder if this truly can be implemented for less than $30). The camera solution I proposed might be realistic one, but it eats battery.
> That you have to carry such contraption around and find a place to tie it to.
If you're the type of person who uses a laptop lock, I could see something like this being a welcome enhancement. But in that case it would be most practical if it were built into the lock itself.
