Wil Wheaton, his eReader and flying

[DMB]

I am a frequent flyer within Europe and because of internal metal I always set off the alarm -- always have to remove shoes and be patted down. I hate it but I know the drill.

I board the plane with my Kindle and a magazine or newspaper. The latter is for takeoff and landing.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Heh. Believe me, if the TSA had EVER caught a terrorist, they'd be shouting it to the rafters.

Considering how frequently 'suspected threats' are announced to the news media, if there were a REAL threat or capture, we'd know about it.

This. Very much this.

Every terrorist attack dealing with planes has either been caught beforehand due to police work (the liquid bombers in london) or made it all the way through the grope line and set their crotches on fire on the plane itself. Couple that with all of the reports of experts and non-experts getting stuff past the TSA and it's patently obvious that the TSA's security theater does nothing but bunch up people in giant queues that would be attractive to terrorist bombers who wouldn't even have to go through the TSA grope line to cause massive damage.

There's a reason Israeli airports don't have massive security lines, after all.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

How do you know?
Do you think that everything that happens is told to the public?

Sorry, Pinecone - how do I know what ?

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by toddos

There's a reason Israeli airports don't have massive security lines, after all.

No, they do their screening in a different manner. Works for a smaller country with less people flying.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Sorry, Pinecone - how do I know what ?

How do you know they haven't stopped any?

[Pinecone]

Oh, and the reason that we have such long lines is that people are too stupid to pay attention to the rules or consider what they wear.

I travel a LOT. And it amazes me that 10 years of the current screening, and how many years of similar screening before that, that people stil have NO CLUE.

Women wearing 37 bracelets. Shoes that Roman gladiators, with straps that wind up the leg. Huge bottles of various products. And then those who travel with kids, making it 10 times as bad, as they have to deal with the same issues with the kids. etc, etc, etc.

Luckily, they are working on a program for special screening lines for people who travel a lot and know what they are doing and are willing to submit to a background check before hand.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

How do you know they haven't stopped any?

Oh, right, well..........It wouldn't surprise me if they had, which is sort of what I meant ........ [ "but we are not necessarily likely to know, are we...."].

So no, I don't know they haven't stopped any, and I don't think I said "they" had not stopped any.

[ I think you might have got me a bit mixed up in quotes and not-quotes on one of somebody's posts ? I know I nearly did.... ]

[Jhary]

The Problem here are two things a flight asistent who want that some thing is Shoot out. and a Prima donna who plays smart ass.

You have this on every flight.

[Donnageddon]

Originally Posted by MovieBird

This, unfortunately, is too true. I refuse to fly at this point, precisely because of Security Theater. And I studied Aerospace Engineering at Uni.

Yes, but are you a marine biologist?





Sorry, couldn't resist.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Donnageddon

Yes, but are you a marine biologist?

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

[Shaggy]

FYI,

http://www.zdnet.com.au/wi-fi-proven...-339311113.htm

[toddos]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

FYI,

http://www.zdnet.com.au/wi-fi-proven...-339311113.htm

Context is everything. Quotes from the article:

Boeing confirmed to ZDNet Australia this afternoon that the issue does exist, but said that it has not delivered any planes suffering the fault.

"Blanking of the Phase 3 Display Units (DUs) has been reported during airline EMI (electromagnetic interference) certification testing of wireless broadband systems (Wi-Fi) on various Next-Generation 737 aeroplanes," Boeing told ZDNet Australia in a statement.

"Boeing has deferred the activation of wireless systems that interface with passenger devices that could potentially interfere with the DU 3 displays," it added.

and

A senior Boeing engineer stressed to ZDNet Australia that the levels of EMI required to affect a pilot's screen exceeds the levels produced by the normal operation of normal levels of Wi-Fi use.

"Boeing and Honeywell have concluded that actual EMI levels experienced during a flight where there is normal operation of a Wi-Fi system will not cause any blanking of a Phase 3 display. This is not a safety issue with currently operating 737s and 777s," a Boeing engineer said.

So this is a problem with wifi delivery systems (aka, "in-flight wifi"), not wifi devices that just happen to have their radios on, and does not happen at normal operating levels. There's nothing a passenger can do to cause or stop this. It can only happen if the in-flight wifi is misconfigured and then turned on.

Or in other words, it's a red herring.

[John F]

Originally Posted by toddos

...

So this is a problem with wifi delivery systems (aka, "in-flight wifi"), not wifi devices that just happen to have their radios on, and does not happen at normal operating levels. There's nothing a passenger can do to cause or stop this. It can only happen if the in-flight wifi is misconfigured and then turned on.

Or in other words, it's a red herring.

Aren't many cellphones capable of becoming hotspots, thus becoming wifi delivery systems?

[toddos]

Originally Posted by John F

Aren't many cellphones capable of becoming hotspots, thus becoming wifi delivery systems?

Sure, but when you're in the air with no cell access that's not very useful. And those hotspots are generally low-powered, generating maybe a 10' radius around the device. This is where reading comprehension comes into play. The issue is very clearly around what happens when an in-flight wifi system is misconfigured to be too powerful. That wifi system needs to cover the whole plane. A personal hotspot needs to cover a handful of seats. If whole-plane wifi configured normally is not enough to cause a problem, personal hotspots will not be either.

And to head off the next question, "But what if the user hax0rs his phone hotspot to be super powerful?" The answer is very clearly, "Every phone has to pass FCC inspections for emissions, and are restricted on the amount of power that can be used to transmit radio signals. This is hardware-level stuff, so unless you want to punish everybody for the 1-in-a-million hacker who actually physically modifies his phone to provide a stronger hot spot wifi signal, despite the fact that the systems in question recovered well within the required amount of time, there's nothing more to worry about here."

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by toddos

Or in other words

... it is possible.