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United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

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

#851

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they aren't actively harming people nor threatening to do so with their words then that's their right. Can by tacky or in bad taste, why's that matter? It's not harming anyone and is a bad WiFi name even meaningfully annoying?

It's the woke shit behind it that is annoying. Would you say the same if it praised Israels bravery? Honoured Charlie Kirk? Said anything you don't agree with?

Yes, I would. Because it’s just words. Beyond that, it’s words you don’t even have to look at. You would be choosing to repeatedly read the list of WiFi networks.

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

#852

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an aside, this is something I've only seen in the US. At least in my country the domestic baggage claim area is not accessible unless from an arriving aircraft. I'm guessing that has more to do with theft though than security.

Do people collect their bags from the baggage claim area and then immediately reboard an aircraft to exit the terminal? How do the arrivals exist the terminal Are you not allowed to have a friend who is picking you up assist with baggage claim?

>> Do people collect their bags from the baggage claim area and then immediately reboard an aircraft to exit the terminal? >> How do the arrivals exist the terminal

You arrive, go to baggage reclaim, then into the "public area". You can then exit the terminal, or go check in for another flight or whatever you like. The point is that once you have left the baggage collection area you cannot re-enter it.

>> Are you not allowed to have a friend who is picking you up assist with baggage claim?

exactly. No-one from outside is allowed into the baggage collection hall. But equally, we don't get charged for trolly use. So you don't need help. You stack everything onto a trolly (which are there waiting for you for free.)

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

#853
We need to start asking questions about when it's appropriate to charge staff for falsely escalating a nonsense concern. A teen with a bluetooth network named bomb is not a threat, and turning around a plane for it is creating false alarm. This happens a lot, frequently in schools, where someone will make a joke (like asking Benjamin Netanyahu to drop bombs on a school building in a clear joking manor) and officials shut down the building and have the FBI arrest the child under false pretense of a threat.

At some point we need to start asking hard questions about when to charge administrators and staff for creating false alarms.

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

#854
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people collect their bags from the baggage claim area and then immediately reboard an aircraft to exit the terminal? How do the arrivals exist the terminal Are you not allowed to have a friend who is picking you up assist with baggage claim?

often baggage pickup is on the terminal side of the ‘one way exit’.

yes. In the US. that's what I'm saying. This appears to be a very US design. (Although obviously my experience of domestic air travel is limited to a small number of countries.)

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

#855
post #821
post #156

This is a hilariously stupid reaction to a stupidly hilarious decision made by a speaker manufacturer. And also a new vector for a ransom-attack on the Bluetooth namespace in certain environments via malicious BLE advertising. The worst thing that could have happened here was for someone to take this seriously.

I'm confused why people keep calling it a speaker when the article states it was verified by multiple sources as a Fitbit that the kid gave the name bomb. Nowhere in the article was a speaker mentioned.

People are wont to stick to their pet theories even after they’ve been contradicted by facts. The idea of a Bluetooth speaker named “boom” filled the initial vacuum and became a meme that won’t die.

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

#857

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.

> This is trying to sanewash totally insane levels of risk aversion. To add more credence to your point, let's not forget this beautiful line in TFA | During this incident, a Wi-Fi hotspot named "Free Palestine, F Zionists" prompted the pilot to issue a warning to the cabin, telling the passenger responsible that they had "30 seconds" to remove the name or the FBI would meet the aircraft. This is clearly not a threat…

> Being on the plane doesn't remove your right to free speech

The First Amendment only prevents the government from penalizing your speech. It doesn't stop a private company (airline) kicking you off an airplane for something you said or did.

The PIC (Pilot In Command, aka Captain) is the final authority for the safe operation of the flight (14 CFR Part 91.3). If the Captain determines that a threat exists, they are empowered to do pretty much anything reasonable to deal with the threat. Turning the plane around and landing is certainly in the realm of "reasonable".

Whether you or somebody else who is clearly not an airline captain feel the original actions constituted a threat is pretty much irrelevant.

Signed, airline captain.

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

#858

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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

"bare beating"

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

#859

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is at odds with basically every major security incident postmortem in recent history. Most security failures happen when people wait to take something seriously until it is “very clear” that something is wrong. We have the luxury of hindsight while reading this article but listen to the tapes of any security failures and you’ll find it painfully obvious that the most common issue is that people don’t do anything…

That has nothing to do with what we're talking about. We're discussing threats. Serious threats are made seriously.

[deleted]

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

#860

I find interesting that no one thought about localising the device based on the Bluetooth signal strength.

I was just thinking "watch someone now invent a single-purpose easy-to-use Bluetooth hone-in device and sell it to the airlines for exactly this situation".
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