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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

[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.

[Kaptain Kruton]

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

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...

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)