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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.