The End of In-Flight Wi-Fi? | Hacker News Reader

The End of In-Flight Wi-Fi?

schneier.com

33 pointsyan23 comments

Please let someone discover a plot where they use screaming babies to set off the bomb.

Asking everyone to shut off their wifi hardly seems like a security measure. I've often wondered, if cell signal and wifi really put the flight in danger, then why is anyone allowed to bring a device with this capability on board? Wouldn't a would be terrorist just ignore the order to shut devices off? It doesn't make much sense.

Presumably Bruce is envisioning a world where airlines refrain from providing internet service on a plane to prevent a device from being triggered remotely, not one where they provide wireless service but instruct you not to connect to it.

Has this actually happened anywhere or are we just trying the experiment of getting the ridicule out there ahead of the policy?

(Which may be a sensible experiment, since after-the-fact ridicule has proven to have little effect.)

Un-fucking-likely, Bruce. You mean after JetBlue, Virgin and all the rest tens spent millions of dollars putting WiFi on their airplanes, TSA is just going to undo that with a security directive?

Naah. It may or may not make sense from a sense from a security standpoint, but I can promise you that it will not happen. Not as long as big business is still running the American government.

I have to disagree with you from "big business is still running the American government" on this one. If this were so true in this case why bog down the Airline Industry with the draconian TSA in the first place?

Did you see what happened to the airline industry after 9/11?! (hint: bankruptcy). It wasn't exactly good for business...

Little does Schneier know about the TSA's plan to outlaw clocks on all flights.

Shhh! The TSA thinks the terrorists don't know that a clock at altitude appears to run faster than a clock on the ground thanks to gravitational time dilation. So clocks are safe until the terrorists figure out how to adjust. Then we'll get all excited and lock the stable door after the horse has bolted.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gravitational...

Remember: If we outlaw clocks, only outlaws will have clocks!

Great idea - if you arrive at your job on thyme, you must be a terrorists.

Be late, its the american way.

Soon: Travelers will have to spend their time onboard in suspended animation.

i'd pay extra for that.

Bad news for this guy: http://haswifi.com/

Actually good news. His code just became a lot more readable, maintainable, and shorter.

Hah. Thanks Jacques. I've got the update ready, though:

UPDATE flights SET flight_haswifi=0 where id>0

Heh, that's a pretty laid back response. Bummer though if it turns out to be true, I really hope they'll not be stupid enough to do this.

If thats really an issue, why don't they setup a system that makes you go through a CAPTCHA before it will allow any internet access?

That's already how it works.

Why use the plane's internet when successful authentication to the (non-advertising) wifi router embedded in the bomb is the trigger? Which is probably less reliable than a timer or altimeter trigger, anyway, as I gather from other comments. If you don't keep explosives off the plane, you've already lost.

Or have a special code you must get from a crew member to access WiFi.

> Please, let's not ever tell the TSA about timers. Or altimeters.

I think this sums it all up.

Given that this story is also on the current HN front page, I doubt the TSA is going to try and enforce a WiFi ban anytime soon:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/08/google-gifts-free-air...

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