In-Flight Wi-Fi: Victim Of Terrorism Scare?
Gizmodo is reporting how the recent bomb scares will likely have the unintended consequence of delaying the rollout of in-flight wi-fi, a process that seems to be woefully behind schedule as it is. The problem? Wi-fi means its easier to set off a bomb remotely. Per Gizmodo:
The trouble, according to Roland Alford of explosives consultancy firm Alford Technologies, is that the benefits in-flight cellphone and Wi-Fi tech provides for your average traveler could give someone with malevolent intentions a way [to detonate a bomb]: “In-flight Wi-Fi gives a bomber lots of options for contacting a device on an aircraft,” Alford says. “Even if ordinary cellphone connections are blocked, it would allow a voice-over-internet connection to reach a handset.”
Come on, there’s got to be a way around this? Secure networks, in-flight IT plane marshals . . . bomb screening? If I’m forced to watch “Mamma Mia” on the plane instead of browsing the web or checking my email, then the terrorists have in fact really won.