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The End of In-Flight Wi-Fi?
- edkennedy 16y agoLittle does Schneier know about the TSA's plan to outlaw clocks on all flights.
- raganwald 16y agoShhh! 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_time_dilation https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gravitational... Remember: If we outlaw clocks, only outlaws will have clocks!
- tomjen3 16y agoGreat idea - if you arrive at your job on thyme, you must be a terrorists. Be late, its the american way.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- die_sekte 16y agoSoon: Travelers will have to spend their time onboard in suspended animation.
- sigstoat 16y agoi'd pay extra for that.
- mechanical_fish 16y agoHas 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.)
- jacquesm 16y agoBad news for this guy: http://haswifi.com/ http://haswifi.com/
- kenjackson 16y agoActually good news. His code just became a lot more readable, maintainable, and shorter.
- fname 16y agoHah. Thanks Jacques. I've got the update ready, though: UPDATE flights SET flight_haswifi=0 where id>0
- jacquesm 16y agoHeh, 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.
- doki_pen 16y agoAsking 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.
- trotsky 16y agoPresumably 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.
- sabat 16y agoGiven 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-airline-wifi-for-the-holidays/ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/08/google-gifts-free-air...
- xxpor 16y agoIf 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?
- drusenko 16y agoThat's already how it works.
- thyrsus 16y agoWhy 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.
- dougb 16y agoOr have a special code you must get from a crew member to access WiFi.
- ja27 16y agoPlease let someone discover a plot where they use screaming babies to set off the bomb.
- hyperbovine 16y agoUn-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.
- wh-uws 16y agoI 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?
- hyperbovine 16y agoDid you see what happened to the airline industry after 9/11?! (hint: bankruptcy). It wasn't exactly good for business...
- nowarninglabel 16y ago<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525951113?ie=UTF8&tag=nowarlab-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0525951113>Sounds http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525951113?ie=UTF8&tag=... like the plot of this book</a>
- DjDarkman 16y ago> Please, let's not ever tell the TSA about timers. Or altimeters. I think this sums it all up.