[delayed]

Seems like an effective DoS attack - ground all planes in the US by sneaking cheap bluetooth speakers into people's luggage with provacative device names

The same thing that is stopping them from suicide bombing the super crowded security checkpoint line before ID checks.

Nothing really.

> What's to prevent terrorists from going through TSA, waiting in the scanning line when everyone is still going through, and then planting a bluetooth device into someone else's bag? I never open my carryon once I have packed it.

I make it a point to hold up the whole line until it is my turn to go through the xray. It gets fun when they mandate a pat down in lieu of the millimeter wave scanner but refuse to have someone available for it.

It’s the only way to honestly say you have kept your bags under watch. If anybody tries to send in my bags without me , I immediately speak up in a loud stern voice, “That is not your bag!”

You can't rename most Bluetooth speakers. "Bomb" was the name the selling brand gave the speaker.

By making everyone turn off their Bluetooth, the kid whose speaker had turned on probably couldn't even see the device broadcasting the name. People linked to one by a company made Hellotec but Hama has a similarly named device, and plenty of other speaker manufacturers try to make a pun out of "boombox" by naming their devices "bomb" (iJoy, ZEB-MUSIC, and presumably other such brands).

Maybe if someone asked the passengers if anyone knew about this "bomb" Bluetooth device the kid would've remembered, but in this case I can't blame them. On the other hand, asking passengers if they know something about a bomb is probably the quickest way to cause a panic.

The entire thing seems like a ridiculous overreaction. What kind of terrorist would call their bomb "bomb"? This is "Al Qaeda Free WiFi" all over again.

It was a bomb speaker: https://hellottec.com/product/bomb-portable-bluetooth-speake...

When did Airlines start scanning Bluetooth devices?

Very interesting, but a hell of a way to dox yourself for being on the flight manifest.

Those new obfuscated links prevent old.reddit to work.

Is there a way for you to post proper direct links?

Pranks aside, this becomes remarkably scary when you think about all the ways that a malicious/compromised device could cause chaos.

I really don't appreciate you posting my unhashed password to the public like that

I guess they assumed there were two scenarios:

1. It was unintentional; someone had a bluetooth device called BOMB for some reason that made sense before boarding the plane. They would turn it off.

2. It was intentional; someone wanted to send a warning and chose this channel - they would leave the device on.

It wasn't a bomb threat: https://hellottec.com/product/bomb-portable-bluetooth-speake...

Apparently it wasn’t a threat - a kid had a commercial Bluetooth speaker that names itself as ‘bomb’. No one on the plane did anything intentionally.

To be honest calling the police and saying you have a bomb planted on flight XYZ and want 100000$ or you'll detonate it, is probably also enough.

> These phones should have limits of how much you can use the tech...

What do you mean?

Presumably the logistics of being back at a major hub

Better food and theater.

There is nothing new in that. It's pretty common that people get drunk at the airport or on the plane and make jokes about bombs or something. Then the place is evacuated and flights are disrupted. The culprits get arrested and probably have to pay a fine and maybe some compensation to the affected airlines, but they usually don't get any prison time.

There are simpler ways to disrupt a flight.

Just wait until you hear what a bad joke while waiting in the TSA line can do to you day.

How does that scenario work? Someone's under duress because presumably there's a terrorist on board. He lets the crew know there's a bomb onboard. The plane turns around, and the terrorist... lets the plane land safely?

OK maybe the bomb blows up when it crosses some longitude, because this is like the movie Speed, and turning around means the plane never cross that longitude..

If you mean another type of duress, naming your device "plshelp-[seat number]" would be a hell lot more effective..

Not directly, no, but they’ll build a file for what they consider extremist views. Just look back to the Civil Rights Movement era for the list of things people said that would get them an FBI file - we have a long and storied history of surveilling anyone and everyone who says things that go against what political power desires.

That being said, I do think any cabin crew pitching a fit over such a hotspot name is absolutely in the wrong. That’s not a threat, that’s personal opinion, and it’s not the hotspot owner’s fault the crew conflates Zionist ideology specifically with Jewish Faith in general like an ignorant fool.

In the UK you can get arrested for saying less.

An aircraft is not really public. The Captain and FO have a tremendous amount of power they can wield to make sure a flight passes without incident. A plane is not the place to make statements.

Granted though, the FBI didn’t actually get involved. But why let facts get in the way of rage?

The "Palestinian" movement _invented_ airplane hijacking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings_an...

So yes, the FBI will get involved in this case. In this context it is something to worry about.

The government of Israel has more freedom of speech and control over the US than voting citizens do.

Not sure why this is downvoted. This was an example from the same article.

And the answer is that the FBI wasn't involved. That was a threat the pilot made, which comes psychologically from the same place as terrorist bomb threats (and also "eat your vegetables or you'll die early" parenting). You want to control someone's behavior so you threaten maximalist retaliation.

Imagine getting your jimmies this rustled over expressing antipathy for a genocidal regime, and sympathy for an oppressed people.