Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

simpleflying.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 1001 posts

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#401

Post by [deleted] »

claw-el wrote: post #197
Eridrus wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is trying to sanewash totally insane levels of risk aversion. Do you think terrorists are really going to name their Bluetooth speaker "bomb"? Do you think this behaviour has any meaningful true positives? This is the kind of brainworms thinking that has people throwing our their 150ml liquids out at TSA and taking their shoes off.

What if it is not the terrorists naming them? What if it is a good samaritan trying to warn the pilot but this is the only way they can get a message out?

[deleted]

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#402

Post by dghlsakjg »

Aeolun wrote: post #365
dghlsakjg wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m Jewish and living in North America. I have no ability to affect Israeli policy, nor is my heritage an endorsement of it. If someone was yelling at me about Palestine because I am Jewish, I would be pretty offended, even though I probably agree with them. It’s the same as running up to a Muslim and screaming “stop terrorism”. Or running up to a black person and yelling “stop gang violence”. The action of yelling a…

I think this is true to some extent. On the other hand, the Jewish community in the US and the (unconditional) support it leadership gives Israel is a large reason any of this is possible. Saying you weren’t directly involved is only an excuse up to a point.

This kind of generalization is exactly the issue though. There is no singular “Jewish community” in the us. Every single temple or congregation is independent, there is no central authority. You saying that there is unconditional support is just a different degree of yelling at random Jews in the street. Every one of my Jewish family members and friends is horrified by Gaza and the AIPAC/GOP collaboration and speaks against it. So the support is not “unconditional” as you posit.

Why aren’t we anti-war Jews the “Jewish community”? Lumping us all together as “unconditional” supporters of Israel and any supporter of Zionism as a supporter of the apartheid state is exactly the problem. It is definitionally racism to say that my behavior or viewpoint is a function of my heritage. So please stop.

What exactly am I supposed to do? Of course I’m not involved. I’ve never been to Israel. I don’t support their war aims. I don’t associate with any Jews or Jewish organizations who really do. Your last sentence is akin to saying that random Muslims can only claim not to be responsible for 9/11 up to a point. It’s reductive, stupid and racist.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#403

Post by redsocksfan45 »

dualvariable wrote: post #278
Zak wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Landing the plane because of something that could be interpreted as a bomb threat without waiting to be sure it was intended that way seems like a precaution on the far end of reasonable, but still reasonable. Demanding that people disable Bluetooth does not seem reasonable. If there's an actual bomber, tipping them off that you're reacting to their threat might lead them to set off the bomb early. Similarly, demandi…

It seems pretty obvious to me that this situation was being treated more like a disruptive passenger issue than an actual terrorist threat of a real bomb. So more like the Minneapolis plane diverted to Wisconsin the other day because of an unruly passenger. They took everyone and their devices through screening after deplaning, and it sounds like they found the teenager who owned the device. That was the point of tur…

[dead]

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#405

Post by simulator5g »

alex_young wrote: post #404

How would turning bluetooth off convince anyone that there isn't a bomb on board? It seems like the bluetooth offering is the least of our worries in the insane case that this is how a threat was delivered.

The idea wasn't to convince anyone of anything, it was to reduce RF noise so the cops could find the offending device more quickly. Also if it were a real threat you would probably quickly identify someone who is unwilling to turn off their Bluetooth.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#406

Post by gpm »

dualvariable wrote: post #283
abejfehr wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just found the theory referenced on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/KidsAreFuckingStupid/comments/1tsts...

> A redditor who's wife and her friend were on the flight said that the 16yo boy next to wife's friend admitted to naming his speaker "Bomb" long enough ago that he had forgotten he'd named it that. Wife's friend got to hear the questioning That is also stated clearly in the comments. Reddit really wants to run with the default speaker name theory, though.

> long enough ago that he had forgotten he'd named it that

Actually sounds a lot like "that was the default name but now that everyone's making a big deal about it I'm assuming I must have named it that". I wouldn't assume that this "confession" means that reddit's theory is at all incorrect.

Witnesses are terribly inaccurate sources of information, unfortunately.

(Not to say the alternative also couldn't be the case)

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#407

Post by simulator5g »

al_borland wrote: post #398
f_allwein wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, who carries a Bluetooth speaker on a plane? And for what purpose?

Most BT speakers have a battery, which means it has to be in carry-on luggage. Why it would be powered on is the question, but this could have happened inadvertently by getting knocked around in a bag.

Sometimes I see my BT speaker broadcasting BLE info when it is turned off. Most things do not really 'turn off' these days.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#408

Post by simulator5g »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #344
overfeed wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turning it off would have solved the bureaucratic problem for flight crew. Sadly, the passengers (collectively) failed to accomplish this basic task.

> Turning it off would have solved the bureaucratic problem The article says two Bluetooth radios weren’t turned off. Do we know if one of those was “the bomb?”

You can't really turn off most BLE devices with internal batteries, off means low power mode nowadays. Some of them are still discoverable on wireshark when they are 'off'.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#409

Post by kube-system »

School-Cotton wrote: post #237
kube-system wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4. A normal level of risk aversion in one of the most risk averse industries If airlines ignored every threat that was “probably not” a real threat, they’d ignore all of them. It’s better to inconvenience a few thousand passengers than it is to kill a few hundred.

A normal level of risk aversion? Are you being serious? They inconvenienced a few thousand passengers to save zero.

Without testing the null hypothesis that is not possible to determine. There doesn’t have to be an actual bomb for an unruly passenger to inflict injuries or death.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#410

Post by kube-system »

stefan_ wrote: post #180
kube-system wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4. A normal level of risk aversion in one of the most risk averse industries If airlines ignored every threat that was “probably not” a real threat, they’d ignore all of them. It’s better to inconvenience a few thousand passengers than it is to kill a few hundred.

You don't have your head quite on, they had already taken off!

Yeah, that’s how diversions work?
Post reply on HN