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United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

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41–50 of 128 posts

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#41
'Corporate types' have a lack of humour at the best of times, but that isn't what is going on here.

It's the 1 in 100, 1 in 1,000,000 chance that the tweet wasn't a joke, but a real threat. They can't take the risk that they knew about it, and didn't take it seriously and 100's died.

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#42
I have a problem with the often used phrase "legitimate researchers", because it suggests that certain freedoms should only apply to certain people.

"legitimate researcher" is not a specific job, researching is an activity any citizen can and should be free to conduct within the confines of the law, and all of that is "legitimate".

The whole "legitimate researcher" creates a huge loophole through which the powers that be can create some kind of registered researcher status, with the obvious consequences for everyone else.

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#43

I have a problem with the often used phrase "legitimate researchers", because it suggests that certain freedoms should only apply to certain people. "legitimate researcher" is not a specific job, researching is an activity any citizen can and should be free to conduct within the confines of the law, and all of that is "legitimate". The whole "legitimate researcher" creates a huge loophole through which the powers tha…

I don't think they mean legitimate as professional or industry recognized, but more as a way to distinguish from an actual bad guy hacking for criminal intents and then claiming he is a researcher and should have carte blanche.

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't exactly a new phenomenon - even before 9/11, a careless joke at baggage check-in ("Did you pack your own luggage today, Sir?" - "No, my wife probably put a bomb in there.") would often result in the joke not being recognised or treated as such. Said jokester gets taken to one side, scrutinised by the boys in blue, and eventually told that they "will not be flying today, sir." In the age of Twitter, such hi…

The baggage questions is so stupid, IF you wanted to do some evil with things packed, WHY would you say something that isn't the "right" answer to them?

no it isn't.

it exists to weed out the absolute moronic and deranged. not everyone is a supervillain with an iq of 300.

plus, i guess it also exists for legal reasons. lying to the question can be used against you.

there is a lot of smart people out there, working keeping things running and safe. if something looks ridiculous from the outside, it still might be ok - you just might be lacking context to understand it.

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The baggage questions is so stupid, IF you wanted to do some evil with things packed, WHY would you say something that isn't the "right" answer to them?

It's an excellent question if people pay attention - the question, (at least as asked in Singapore), is, "Did you pack your own luggage, are you aware of everything in it, has anyone given you anything to place in your luggage, and has your luggage been under your control/observation the entire time." Every time they ask me that question - I do a quick mental checklist, always mention that my luggage did leave my con…

>Every time they ask me that question - I do a quick mental checklist, always mention that my luggage did leave my control when placed in the boot of the cab - which they always understand is an acceptable loss of control.

I'd bet that a fair number of the people who thoughtfully answer that question give an answer that is calculated to produce the least amount of hassle for themselves, even if they know that their luggage could have potentially been tampered with. Most people probably aren't aware enough of their surroundings to give an informed answer. I'd like to know out of the number of extra checks that have been initiated due to this question, how many have yielded anything useful.

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#46
post #40
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I clicked on the word "tweeting" in the article twice before realizing it wasn't a hyperlink. I totally assumed it would be. And now I see why EFF didn't link to this. I'm sorry, but that tweet actually is threatening in my eyes. Note that I know __nothing__ about airplane-system-security, but that looks to me like he gained some kind of cmdline and/or admin-tool access and "PASS OXYGEN ON" looks like something that…

Proper archives > screenshots. https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://twitter.com/Sidragon1/... https://archive.today/ysTzt

You should always make your own copy in cases like this.

Archive.org will delete everything on request. For example if you add a robots.txt file blocking them they will automatically remove the entire history for your domain

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#47
post #43

I have a problem with the often used phrase "legitimate researchers", because it suggests that certain freedoms should only apply to certain people. "legitimate researcher" is not a specific job, researching is an activity any citizen can and should be free to conduct within the confines of the law, and all of that is "legitimate". The whole "legitimate researcher" creates a huge loophole through which the powers tha…

I don't think they mean legitimate as professional or industry recognized, but more as a way to distinguish from an actual bad guy hacking for criminal intents and then claiming he is a researcher and should have carte blanche.

Researching with criminal intent is also legitimate research provided no laws are broken.

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't exactly a new phenomenon - even before 9/11, a careless joke at baggage check-in ("Did you pack your own luggage today, Sir?" - "No, my wife probably put a bomb in there.") would often result in the joke not being recognised or treated as such. Said jokester gets taken to one side, scrutinised by the boys in blue, and eventually told that they "will not be flying today, sir." In the age of Twitter, such hi…

The baggage questions is so stupid, IF you wanted to do some evil with things packed, WHY would you say something that isn't the "right" answer to them?

It's not actually intended to catch YOU. It's actually in response to a case where a passenger was given luggage containing a bomb, unbeknownst to them. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindawi_affair

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#49
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If he was going to harm the aircraft, he wouldn't have announced it in a tweet." Many, Many bad actors have a pretty good trail/history of signals that made it clear that they were going to do something stupid. And a lot of them are stopped because authorities stepped in when those signals were reported. Would you want to be the person who was notified that someone was communicating they were considering interfering…

It's one thing to unobtrusively investigate a suspicious person, but actually interrupting their life just because your heuristics aren't good enough sound like a ding to free speech. If everyone joked about hacking planes, that would no longer be a risk factor.

I learned at the age of five or six to never make jokes about airplane safety - and that was 20 years prior to 9/11. Most adults in North America have enough common sense, particularly after 9/11, not to start mouthing off about endangering airplane security. It's like being humorous regarding the safety of the president - it's just one of those things that if you do it, you know are going to get a visit by the authorities, and, quite possibly, go to prison. There are certain topics around which you do not have absolute freedom to say whatever you want, particularly when you are in an airplane.

In this case, all the authorities did was interview him, and seize his electronics. My reading of the story is they didn't even charge him with a crime or put him in a cell. I don't find it surprising whatsoever that United Airlines does not want him flying on their planes.

What did he expect was going to happen?

Re: United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an excellent question if people pay attention - the question, (at least as asked in Singapore), is, "Did you pack your own luggage, are you aware of everything in it, has anyone given you anything to place in your luggage, and has your luggage been under your control/observation the entire time." Every time they ask me that question - I do a quick mental checklist, always mention that my luggage did leave my con…

>Every time they ask me that question - I do a quick mental checklist, always mention that my luggage did leave my control when placed in the boot of the cab - which they always understand is an acceptable loss of control. I'd bet that a fair number of the people who thoughtfully answer that question give an answer that is calculated to produce the least amount of hassle for themselves, even if they know that their l…

It also has the peripheral advantage of ensuring that you never carry a package for someone else, and that you are leery about carrying luggage/bags packed by someone else.
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