LAX To London Flight Delayed Over "Al-Quida" Wi-Fi Name

linuxwrangler writes A flight from LAX to London was delayed after a passenger reported seeing "Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork" as an available hotspot name and reported it to a flight attendant. The flight was taken to a remote part of the airport and delayed for several hours but "after further investigation, it was determined that no crime was committed and no further action will be taken." That seems an awfully low threshold for disrupting air traffic, since wireless access points can be had for just a few dollars these days.

Comments

This was no AP.

[tibit]

wireless access points can be had for just a few dollars these days

What? I very much doubt this SSID was broadcast by a stand-alone AP. It was, likely, due to default behavior of old versions of Windows, setting up an ad-hoc network with an SSID of the last seen access point. Someone somewhere has jokingly set their SSID to "Al-Quida ...", and there was that one Windows-running laptop that someone had that picked up on that SSID and kept broadcasting it. Even if someone set such an SSID on purpose on their mobile device, it's still irrelevant and inactionable.

Delaying a flight over this shows how much technical ineptitude is there.

Re:This was no AP.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, blame Microsoft for this.

Or, you know, every smartphone made in the last 5 years.

Re:This was no AP.

[AmiMoJo]

The image in TFA shows a phone seeing the network as an AP. Chances are someone with a phone set up AP mode (fairly standard on Android devices).

The whole thing is dumb. The name clearly states that the network is "Al-Quida Free", as in there is no Al-Quida in it. Incredible that they managed to spell "Al-Quida" correctly but misspelled "nettwork".

Re:This was no AP.

[bill_mcgonigle]

What? I very much doubt this SSID was broadcast by a stand-alone AP

Brace yourself: defending @timothy for a moment. *

His point wasn't that you need a certain piece of gear, but that for a few dollars (or as others are pointing out "zero dollars", which a few dollars approaches asymptotic to zero) you can incite bureaucrats to attack the air traffic system.

Which I guess is the major strategy of Al Qa'e'da - asymmetrical attacks - so timothy can expect Hydra to be by momentarily for relocation and reeducation.

* someday Slashcode will catch up with the aughts and the at-tag will link this comment as rendered from the database

Re:This was no AP.

[Lazere]

Wow, you must use a cheap airline.

Re:This was no AP.

[Anonymous Coward]

No. They will ignore the fine itself as they likely can't pay, and if their stuff starts to be taken from them, they'll declare bankruptcy. They'll thus move from being an immature idiot to an immature idiot who has nothing left to lose.

I.e. precisely the opposite of the most beneficial outcome, which is to educate the guy and those who would do similar.

Punishment doesn't work. It is sadism for the punisher.

(And, yes, this is wrong behaviour. Even Alan Partridge got the terror squad arriving at his hotel when he registered under the name "the real IRA", because, well, some nefarious people tell the truth and speech has consequences. But those consequences don't have to themselves cause harm.)

Re:This was no AP.

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Delaying a flight over this shows how much technical ineptitude is there.

It also shows, however unfortunately, the futility of trying to protect everyone against everything all the time. Who needs to blow themselves up, or even risk the explicit criminal sanctions you'd face for making a bomb threat, when you can just co-opt some unwitting and otherwise innocent traveller's personal device somewhere outside a travel hub or other likely target for an attack?

If our threshold for fear has become so low that some kid's not-so-funny practical joke can now result in several hours of delays to long distance transportation, then apparently in a very literal sense the terrorists have already succeeded. Next you'll be telling me we spend time and money prosecuting angry travellers over tweets sent in frustration when airports are closed.

Re:This was no AP.

[Redmancometh]

Or rather the airline should have to refund a portion of everyone's ticket for the sheer ridiculousness of delaying a flight over this.

Re:This was no AP.

[unixisc]

Ain't there 2 ways of parsing this? One is 'Al-Quida Free', but the whole name was 'Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork'. In other words, it could easily be parsed as 'Al-Quida: Free Terror Nettwork'. In other words, terror is available for free. The misspellings don't mean much, since English usually ain't the first language of Jihadis.

Re:This was no AP.

[fastest fascist]

Which I guess is the major strategy of Al Qa'e'da - asymmetrical attacks

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WO... Per Osama Bin Laden, their goal is to bankrupt the USA. They seem to have achieved a pretty good ROI if the returns are counted as dollars spend by the US fighting Al Qaeda. They don't even need to do anything these days, just having their name mentioned can cause costly countermeasures to kick in.

Re:This was no AP.

[MrNiceguy_KS]

The image in TFA shows a phone seeing the network as an AP. Chances are someone with a phone set up AP mode (fairly standard on Android devices).

That was my first thought. I know when I'm running my phone as a hot-spot, I have the SSID set to "FBI Surveillance Van 42".

Re:This was no AP.

[Richy_T]

Is that free as in beer or free as in speech?

Re:This was no AP.

[tibit]

Very true. What should have happened, in an ideal world, and I'm not sarcastic here, was that a flight attendant would react to this "revelation" by looking at the customer and telling them "Are you fucking stupid?", perhaps in a more politically correct way. And that should have been the end of it.

Re:This was no AP.

[MrNiceguy_KS]

... for a few dollars (or as others are pointing out "zero dollars", which a few dollars approaches asymptotic to zero) you can incite bureaucrats to attack the air traffic system.

Cheap phones in AP mode with maliciously-chosen SSIDs, randomly distributed at airports = instant DoS attack against the US air travel system.

Doesn't really seem like Al Quida's style, but I imagine people at Amtrack and Greyhound might be interested.

Re:This was no AP.

[Anonymous Coward]

Incredible that they managed to spell "Al-Quida" correctly but misspelled "nettwork".

It's also redundant. Al-Quida means "The Network", I've seen several cases were people jokingly set their network name to Al-Quida because of this.

Re:This was no AP.

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

And real terrorists would broadcast they are in the vicinity by stating so loudly, of course.

Now do have a concern if the access point had been named "Good On You England No Terrorist Here".

Re:This was no AP.

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, but who put a 10 year old in charge of security at LAX ?

Re:This was no AP.

[TheGratefulNet]

actually, we need more of this.

why?

we are being desensitized to sensibility. the 'zero tolerance' world we now have - the so-called 'new normal' is BULLSHIT and needs to end.

the more we call attention to stupidity (no, not the wifi name but the airlines, in this case!) the better. we need to have more and more of these incidents to make us re-realize that stupid things are not going to hurt us. jumping at every bump-in-the-night is a failwhale.

we need to grow some balls. if it means that more 'authorities' have to start THINKING on their own instead of covering their asses, so be it. but zero-tol is not working and needs to end asap.

some kid takes a PBJ sandwich and eats part of it so that a shape of a gun is made; and he's sent home or expelled. this is just more of the same zero-tol CYA bullshit that also has to end immediately. if we don't come to our senses, we will be ruined (we're long on our way to ruin, as it is; due ENTIRELY to our own fear level).

Re:This was no AP.

[Anonymous Coward]

They didn't spell Al-Qaeda correctly at all. That looks like the spelling of someone who's only ever heard the name and spelled it the way they were taught English.

Right. "u" and "i" should not be in Al-Qaeda.

Re:This was no AP.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Al-queda opposes beer, free or not, and free speech.

Re:This was no AP.

[Archangel Michael]

Political Correctness is stupidity dressed up as reason.

Re:This was no AP.

[Jason Levine]

My father likes to tell the story of his and my mother's honeymoon. The whole thing was a disaster (my mother ended up with an injured neck during a hike). When their return flight was rerouted to another city entirely, my father had enough and loudly complained to a flight attendant about his wife's injured neck. The plane landed but didn't go to the hanger. Instead, the plane was surrounded and people boarded the plane, came to him, and asked if they were the ones who needed medical attention. As they left the plane, my father whispered to my mother "I guess they found the bomb."

Turns out a passenger heard this and reported it. When my parents went to collect their checked baggage, they found it on one side in chains. After the "bomb threat" and luggage turning up that nobody claimed (my parents having gone right to the hospital), the police suspected their suitcase of containing a bomb. After examining it, they let him go with his luggage. Nowadays, he'd probably be arrested for making a terrorist threat or would have his luggage blown up as a "preventative measure."

Re:This was no AP.

[TangoMargarine]

The whole process of losing what he has would make him wiser.

Or, y'know, just angrier. If I had my life ruined due solely to making a joking name on my computer, you'd better believe I wouldn't be getting all introspective about how dare I attempt to make a politically incorrect joke, I'd be thinking the rest of society is fucked in the head.

Re:This was no AP.

[itzly]

Free as in terror.

Re:This was no AP.

[stealth_finger]

The image in TFA shows a phone seeing the network as an AP. Chances are someone with a phone set up AP mode (fairly standard on Android devices).

That was my first thought. I know when I'm running my phone as a hot-spot, I have the SSID set to "FBI Surveillance Van 42".

Mine is simply 'Virus.net'. Best I've ever seen though is 'It burns when IP'

Re:This was no AP.

[stealth_finger]

Was assuming a smaller passenger load. Then I read the article and looked up the plane type. 777-300ER, depending on configuration could have a 3 class load of 350 pax. No telling how full it was, assume 85%. Planes run pretty full these days. So doing some math...

Oh fuck it. Who the hell cares. I am so sick of you fucking nit-picking slashdot morons. The point is a fine proportional to the impact on the airline and passengers would make the fucktard think twice about doing it again. $100K, $500K. Either would do.

The fine should be given to whatever dickhead decided an obviously shady network name was enough grounds to delay a flight for several hours. You know, when you idiots run scared from every little boo the terrorists have won. Once you introduced TSA they had you on the backfoot and now this. America is shitting it's pants while the rest of the world looks on in disbelief and the actual terrorists are pissing themselves laughing.

Re:This was no AP.

[ColdWetDog]

I knew it!

It's Bush's fault.

Re:This was no AP.

[tburkhol]

It isn't even that. The ineptitude of those looking for the AP is astounding. You stop the plane. You open up your wifi analyzer app and walk down the isle. Then you check all the devices in those few rows (4 tops) , and boot the asshole playing the joke. 1/2 hour tops.

Why on earth would you make 200 people sit on the tarmac for even half an hour? This kind of event requires absolutely no response. Any acknowledgement of goofy AP name, even out of "an abundance of caution," amounts to hysteria.

It seems we've forgotten, but it is actually possible to have no official response to trivial events. It is possible for law enforcement not to "do something." Picking on the methods used in tracking down the offending wifi is like criticizing the validity of polygraph testimony at a witch trial.

Re:This was no AP.

[imikem]

And in unrelated news, the makers of "Depends" announced record profits this week.

Re:This was no AP.

[fustakrakich]

Panicky people are fun to watch. Your"douchebag" is merely pointing it out. I think mocking hysteria is a good thing. It has a chance of knocking it out of the morons out there who make life miserable for the rest of us.

Re:This was no AP.

[flu1d]

Weird, I just saw a similar (or same) SSID in my neighborhood... Do you live in Denver?

Re:This was no AP.

[Garfong]

I would say at least three. An alternate parsing is as Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork. I.e. if you're looking for a terror network, use this one: it's free!.

Re:This was no AP.

[pooh666]

The sad thing is that this is now taken to be, "common sense", instead of acknowledging the environment of fear created, NOT by the terrorists.

Re:This was no AP.

[xaotikdesigns]

So, using the same logic that makes an SSID into a terrorism threat, I should report you for pretending to be a law enforcement agent.

Re:This was no AP.

[Anonymous Coward]

Home for the brave indeed more like home of the fucking pussies

Re:This was no AP.

[sjames]

Personally, I blame the pathetic cowards who shriek, hike up their skirts and do the mousey dance every time someone sneezes at the airport.

Re:This was no AP.

[morgauxo]

I see your point. But, the world has far too many panicky people. Maybe it is time to decide that nowhere is sacred. Maybe they should be trolled into panicking until enough of them finally wise up and stop running around yelling that the sky is falling every time something seems a little off.

Re:This was no AP.

[The Ickle Jones]

The real douchebags are the cowards who freak out over things like this. Sometimes they even end up infringing upon people's fundamental liberties to make themselves feel better.

Re:This was no AP.

[Noah Haders]

you seem to think that free speech means you can spout your mouth off whenever you want. I know that free speech means protection from unreasonable government interference. I got news for you, you keep spouting your mouth off and somebody's gonna bop you in the nose, and the government isn't going to interfere with that, either.

Re:This was no AP.

[david_thornley]

You have to figure out who made the stupid decision, and fine that person or persons. Using the name of a terrorist organization as an access point name isn't necessarily too bright, but it isn't a threat. Reporting the name to the authorities should be harmless. The real culprits are those who took that to be a threat.

Re:This was no AP.

[jmcvetta]

How about we fine the dunce in charge, who decided a humorous wifi name was a good reason to go into ape-shit public panic mode.

wireless access points, what is this? 2002?

[miknix]

since wireless access points can be had for just a few dollars these days.

Every major phone nowadays allows setting up a softAP, you do not need a frigging wireless AP to send a few "Al-Quida" Wi-Fi beacons..

Funny

[DaMattster]

I read about this on CNN and just about had an asthma attack from laughing. You know this was a distinctly American joke because it was misspelled - it should've been spelled as 'Al Qaida Free Terrorist WiFi Network.' That's what made me even laugh harder. People are living life with their assholes puckered. I'm sorry to have to put it that way but it's true that Americans are living in a constant state of fear. If it isn't terrorism, it's Ebola, if it isn't Ebola, it's the weather. Good gravy people, the sooner you get that life constantly changes and is impermanent, the better you'll be able to deal with it.

Re:Funny

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh, how about Al Qaeda is spreading ebola using wifi, but you can only get it by using wifi during a thunderstorm, because the system needs the extra lightning power to move the virus.

Re:Funny

[TheGratefulNet]

I know you were being funny, but take australia as an example. its often said that everything that moves around down there with more than 2 legs is ready to kill you. all kinds of dangerous venemous creatures in oz; and yet, they are just as afraid of their shadows as we yanks are. they are being terorized by their own people just like we are (ie, the 'authorities').

we have little to fear about the big bad foreigner. we have much more to fear by our own lawmakers and those who carry guns under color of law.

but terror 'sells' and every country has pretty much realized that by controlling people via fear, they can pass any restrictive law they want, spy on anyone they want and get huge 'toys' budgets passed. this never would have happened a few decades ago, but now, we are all pussies - the whole world, pretty much. cowering over shadows in the night.

this is not at all a funny matter.

Free Terror, what a bargain!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a wonderful future we live in. No purchase necessary. Terror is Free!! It's all over the news! BE TERRIFIED!

Re:LAX?

[RadioTV]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

Re:A Pox on Both Your Houses

[cdrudge]

I'm not sure how much it was an over reaction. Seemed reasonable to me. It's unfortunate it happened, but TPTB were screwed no matter what they did.

If it was reported, and did nothing, then it gets out that authorities didn't investigate a possible threat and are inept.

If it was reported, dismissed, and something bad happens, then it was something that was preventable.

If they did what they did, it's labeled as an overreaction.

It's not like passengers were ordered off the plane, stripped searched, and received a free body cavity search. They were inconvenienced for a few hours before a 11 hour flight. It happens.

Where is that surveillance van?

[portwojc]

I've had the FBI parked outside my house for seven months now. I just can't figure out where "FBI surveillance van 42" is at.

Low threshold = enormous rate of return

[stritt]

We will be defeated not by force but by our own fears.

Re:A Pox on Both Your Houses

[king neckbeard]

I'm not sure how much it was an over reaction. Seemed reasonable to me. It's unfortunate it happened, but TPTB were screwed no matter what they did.

If it was reported, and did nothing, then it gets out that authorities didn't investigate a possible threat and are inept.

If it was reported, dismissed, and something bad happens, then it was something that was preventable.

If they did what they did, it's labeled as an overreaction.

It's not like passengers were ordered off the plane, stripped searched, and received a free body cavity search. They were inconvenienced for a few hours before a 11 hour flight. It happens.

Everything beyond a mild chuckle was an overreaction.

If it was reported, and did nothing, then it gets out that authorities didn't investigate a possible threat and are inept.

Unless they stuck to their guns and pointed out, like most of the posters here likely will, that it's incredibly stupid to ground a plane over a joke SSID.

congratulations america, theyre still winning.

[nimbius]

Regardless of all that freedom-isnt-free these-colours-dont-run support-the-troops rhetoric, 13 years after the original terrorist attack on America this is still happening. Terrorists have succeeded in doing what they sought to achieve: terrorizing. liquids are treason on airplanes, nail clippers are an assassins blade, and full body virtual nudity is encouraged prior to boarding. Now, a simple SSID is cause to lock down an entire flight. For all your achievements, oh how the mighty have fallen. We once sent real people to the moon and laughed at the vacuum of space. Lawn darts existed for a decade before their retirement. even a 9 year old can have access to a fully automatic machine gun. however the minute someone breathes an utterance of terrorism its secret prisons, wiretaps, indefinite detention, extrajudicial rendition targeted killings, and secret courts. and you know whats hillarious? Heart disease kills 600 million americans a year. thats 150 times the number of people who died in the world trade center but we still sell sandwiches called the baconator and a small or as we rebranded it 'regular' drink is still 22 ounces. smoking kills almost 400,000 americans a year, or roughly 32000 times the number of people who died in the pentagon on 9/11 but we still sell vape kits and marlboros and 5% of the states in our union still permit indoor smoking.

Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning.

[meta-monkey]

however the minute someone breathes an utterance of terrorism its secret prisons, wiretaps, indefinite detention, extrajudicial rendition targeted killings, and secret courts

The response is so out of proportion to the threat, it makes you wonder if there's an ulterior motive for stripping people of liberties and increasing the power of the government and military, merely using islamic terrorism as an excuse?

Nah, that's crazy talk.

Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning.

[tehcyder]

Heart disease kills 600 million americans a year.

Out of a population of 300 million, that is pretty horrendous.

Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning.

[NeutronCowboy]

Considering the over-reaction we're getting from a lot of people around Ebola - and that includes people who laugh about bureaucrats' overreaction to blinking lights in Chicago and WiFi network names - I'm going to guess that most people are just scared shitless of stuff they don't understand and willing to sacrifice everything to feel safe again.

That doesn't make it any better, but it gives us a better shot at fixing the issue (educate people) than the conspiracy theory approach.

Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning.

[Kaptain Kruton]

400,000 / 32000 = 12.5 So twelve died and one is mostly dead?

Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning.

[wvmarle]

I'd call that good riddance.

Re:congratulations america, theyre still winning.

[hey!]

I went through a period of my career where I was taking two, sometimes three business trips per month. I was supposed to fly on one of the planes that flew in the WTC on 9/11, but my trip was cancelled a couple days earlier so I could attend a meeting up in Nashua with Oracle. I've never been hijacked or crashed, but I've been in more than one near-miss, which takes a lot of flying. I've also been stranded by missed connections multiple times. Take it from me, Chicago Midway is the worst airport hub to spend a night in.

One day I was stranded at Phoenix Sky Harbor by a missed conection. Standing in the customer service line, watching the passengers ahead of me yell at the woman behind the counter about things she couldn't fix, I had an epiphany: air travel sucks, *and nobody's going to fix it*.

So here's my strategy when it comes to flying: minimize my exposure to the system by taking an alternative whenever it is remotely practical. Rather than fly to Sacramento, which involves at least one flight change from where I live, I fly direct to San Francisco and drive for two hours each way. Rather than take the shuttle from Boston to New York, I take the bus which costs only $22. Spending four hours on the bus is not *safer*, and it's certainly not *faster*, but it sucks soooo much less. On a recent business trip to Blacksburg VA (in the middle of nowhere), I took Amtrak and drove the final two hours, anticipating that 12 hours in the rail system would be *much* preferable to four hours in the air travel system -- and it was.

When I *do* have to fly, I try to do it in cheerful acceptance that the experience will be uncomfortable, inconvenient and possibly personally degrading. It doesn't matter how mad you get, the system isn't going to respond *as long as you continue using it*. The only thing it *will* respond to is more people opting out whenever they have *any* feasible alternative.

um

[Charliemopps]

LAX To London Flight Delayed Over "Al-Quida" Wi-Fi Name...

You mean...

LAX To London Flight Delayed due to Authorities being morons...

Re:um

[Sperbels]

I expect there would be far fewer incidents if the news media started covering them like this.

America's auto-immune disease: Terrorism.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

When the body mistakenly believes a substance to be a pathogen, it kicks its immune system in high gear and starts attacking it like Don Quixote charging the windmills. That over reaction harms the body more than what the substance could have caused.

America's overreaction to ISIS, al-queda etc fall into this category. We are doing a lot more damage by such over reactions than what these entities could do to us. We need a strong dose of anti-histamines. (Of course there will be people protesting the discrimination against the histamines)

Re:A Pox on Both Your Houses

[Archangel Michael]

Here's the reason for the "overreaction". Lawyers. Suppose, just for a second, that they ignored the SSID and the plane fell out of the sky. End of that Airlines (multi-billion dollar business). Risk / Reward analysis is you don't risk the entire company on something that might be a joke.

The issue isn't the overreaction (it is), the issue is that there is an asshole who thought the whole thing was funny.

Zero Tolerance

[linuxwrangler]

I have zero tolerance for zero-tolerance policies.

The "terrorist" won...

[koan]

The goal of terrorism is to disrupt life and create fear, so when you look at how we have to live now it's clear they won.

Whoever "they" is...

Re:A Pox on Both Your Houses

[tburkhol]

If it was reported, dismissed, and something bad happens, then it was something that was preventable.

This is the single worst notion that ever wormed its way into a decision-making process. It is the foundation of authoritarianism. It justifies any excess. It provides a cover of legitimacy for any surveillance or intrusion. It is the cancer that is killing freedom in the US.

Puckered

[ThatsNotPudding]

People are living life with their assholes puckered.

Well, I'd certainly hope so.

Re:A Pox on Both Your Houses

[elgatozorbas]

A agree. How is this different from making "bomb" jokes at the airport. Everyone knows "bomb"-jokes are not taken lightly by serucity personnel. Same holds for using such stupid SSID. I *also* know this does no actual harm and, most likely, real terrorists would not use this name etc, but broadcasting such an SSID in an airport is just not a very smart thing to do because it can be expected to trigger security folks. Note that I am not defending them, just saying that their reaction is not completely unpredicatable. If you value such a joke more than your time, go ahead, but I don't.