from the changed-name-back-to-'bomb' dept.
An American flight was delayed due to a passenger changing the SSID of a device to "Samsung Galaxy Note 7_1097":
Lucas Wojciechowski was on Virgin America flight 358 from San Francisco to Boston and told BBC News he photographed the hotspot after noticing it when he opened his laptop. A call went out for any passenger with a Note 7 to press their call button. Mr. Wojciechowski subsequently tweeted the crew's announcements from the late night flight after the pilot warned passengers they would have to make an emergency landing.
"This isn't a joke. We're going to turn on the lights (it's 11pm) and search everyone's bag until we find it. "This is the captain speaking. Apparently the plane is going to have to get diverted and searched if nobody fesses up soon." The owner came forward confessing there was no Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on board, but they had changed the name of their SSID wireless device to 'Samsung Galaxy Note 7_1097.'
The real world is funnier than any joke.
Related Stories
BGR reports that Samsung is to offer the Galaxy Note 7 FE, a mobile phone built with components from the company's recalled Galaxy Note 7. The device is set to go on sale in South Korea on 7 July for "below 700,000 South Korean won ($616)".
Previously:
Source of Samsung Note 7 Fires Announced
"Galaxy Note 7" Wi-Fi SSID Delays U.S. Flight
Samsung Software Update Will Brick Few Note 7s Left in the Wild
Samsung Takes Out Full-Page Ads to Apologise for the Note 7
Samsung Posts 30 Percent Profit Plunge on Note 7 Crisis
Samsung 'Blocks' Exploding Note 7 Parody Videos
UPDATE: Samsung Halts Galaxy Note 7 Production
Samsung Faces the Prospect of a Second Galaxy Note 7 Recall
Florida Man Sues Samsung Over Galaxy Note 7 that Exploded in His Pants
Samsung Recalls Galaxy Note 7 due to 'Exploding' Batteries
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @09:43AM
set it up on a throwaway device, stash it in the bag of someone you dont like
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @12:11PM
Remember kids, you will be on the terror watch list for life, if you let your mother pack your bag.
(Score: 2) by Valkor on Saturday December 24 2016, @09:43AM
On a scale of one to fuckall nothing just how dangerous is that thing versus a fucking airplane? If a single battery pack is that dangerous then why aren't they all required to be transported in a safe container?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Saturday December 24 2016, @10:07AM
They are, over a certain size.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday December 24 2016, @08:06PM
People are very bad at estimating risk. If this were a long flight over the ocean, the care *might* be reasonable. (Still probably not.) As it is, it's a poor allocation of resources based on fear levels caused by reporting an uncommon event at a world wide level. If they reported people choking on glasses of water this widely, nobody would drink water.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @09:49AM
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday December 24 2016, @08:08PM
Better yet, name someone else's phone. If they're serious, they WILL track down that phone.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Sunday December 25 2016, @12:24AM
I know you're just joking, but...
I can't even get the airport's wifi from the terminal once I'm on the plane, and that's a mere tens of metres away. Your phone from the nearest parking lot isn't going to even register.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday December 27 2016, @08:18PM
...with a cantenna.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Saturday December 24 2016, @09:50AM
Face, say hello to Palm. Palm, say hello to Face. I am expecting that at some time people will get flogged again. Justice of the mob; what could possibly go wrong.
There are no people left with humour, apparently. Maybe we should just wait until all those anxiety-infested near-humans die out of heart attacks and high blood pressure. The remaining part may be more inclined to take it easy and present themselves with a smile on their face.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @09:57AM
We want them all mopped up within OUR lifetimes afterall, and ideally while we are still young enough to enjoy the trouble free world that would beget.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by theluggage on Saturday December 24 2016, @11:47AM
Well, part of the fear is that if the crew did just laugh it off and there was a minor fire, their employers, the courts and the media would show even less of a sense of humour.
"Inquest culture" is a huge part of the problem. Anybody who does make the wrong call will be faced with a room full of lawyers getting paid more in an hour than they get paid in a day taking days to pick over the original split-second decision with 20:20 hindsight and a strong incentive to find a scapegoat. The media will, of course, egg on this process.
Anybody seen the mass media report any accurate stats as to the odds of a GN7 going foom vs any other smartphone?
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Saturday December 24 2016, @07:46PM
You underline the premise of the parent post; there is no humour left. When you are fucked if you do and fucked if you don't, then it is time to doubt the system because it no longer allows for flexibility.
There is a difference between inciting X and venting a bad joke. I an not saying that yelling "fire" in a busy room is a responsible or acceptable thing to do. However, bad taste is being misclassified as harmful. When we start to judge based on taste, then we all have lost. The role of the media is often a shameful display and they are complicit in the judgemental treatment of taste. The media's function is not to judge but to present the facts in a sober and balanced way. But, that does not seem to pay the big cars of the owners.
Still, if we accept the status quo, then we will find ourselves in a world we do not want to live in for very long. Silent acceptance or ignorance is a form of self censorship. That is why the title of the post is "fear is powerful".
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 24 2016, @12:01PM
...Introducing the new Samsung Hot Palm 10!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @05:45PM
It's all the millennials they hire in TSA and as pilots. Damned millennials are fuck ups.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cellocgw on Saturday December 24 2016, @01:07PM
Let's see who can come up with a name that'll get a flight stopped the fastest.
Ricin_Aerosol_Bomb
Someone_set_us_up_the_bomb
These_Arent_the_Nukes_Youre_Looking_For
Physicist, cellist, former OTTer (1190) resume: https://app.box.com/witthoftresume
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 24 2016, @01:47PM
The sad part is they could probably spin it into a crime and get a conviction, even though it's essentially free speech and not a serious threat.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @03:11PM
I'd say there's a good chance a court would rule this not being free speech if it were done intentionally as it does fall under the territory of yelling fire in a crowded theater. Whether they'll bother is another matter.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Saturday December 24 2016, @04:09PM
Even the judge who made that ruling later dissented on the application of that idea. (adding a link so I'm not just making an assertion)
http://popehat.com/2012/09/19/three-generations-of-a-hackneyed-apologia-for-censorship-are-enough/ [popehat.com]
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Saturday December 24 2016, @02:06PM
* Smallpox-R-Us
* Zika_Virus_Sample_Box_Locator
* INFECTION_ALERT_BEACON
* Biohazard_Safebox_Breach_Alert
* Samsung Galaxy Note 8
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @05:13PM
Those are too obvious jokes.
Try these:
Islamic_State_Allahu_Akbar
Al_Qaeda
Or this since it actually got a reaction: http://www.thelocal.fr/20161105/french-court [thelocal.fr]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @08:40PM
ISIS_Bomb_Squad
(Score: 4, Insightful) by EEMac on Saturday December 24 2016, @02:31PM
I must be misunderstanding the tone of the comments on this thread. Does nobody get how serious this is?
This is the electronic equivalent of shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater, only worse. Fire on a plane is A Big Deal. There's limited air, people are crammed together, there's nowhere to go to escape flames or smoke, and you're in a flying machine thousands of feet in the air.
So when someone makes a credible claim (via SSID) that they have a device known to burst into flames randomly, _I want the crew to take this seriously_. According to the article, no further action was taken against the passenger after he confessed. If true, that's waaaaaay more than reasonable.
I'm glad it all worked out, but . . . . c'mon. Doing this kind of thing, even as a joke, is just a bad idea.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @02:59PM
(Score: 4, Insightful) by kazzie on Saturday December 24 2016, @03:09PM
Duty free Vodka and a lighter require some concious effort on someone's part to do damage. A note 7 can (and has been known to) do it all on its own.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @05:05PM
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday December 24 2016, @06:13PM
And how were the cabin crew to know that until the owner explained what they'd done?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 25 2016, @02:47AM
Also ECigs can go boom http://abc30.com/news/1-injured-after-e-cigarette-explodes-on-fax-bus/1667422/ [abc30.com]
It seems anything that can catch fire, will, alone or with "help". So the question is, if "turrorizm" is a problem, why so many things allowed? Puncturing a battery is not impossible, vodka and lighter are also easy, and so on.
Ah, yes, vodka is profits for someone, and the rest is security theatre.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @03:04PM
*rotflmao* I used to call my wireless "FBI Surveillance Vehicle" and one of my neighbor's was "It hurts when IP" does that mean I should be arrested for impersonating law enforcement and my neighbor be quarantined for a pending STD? Get real here. This was just hysteria plain and simple.
And fire in a crowded theater? Um no, since you have to have a device out and looking at the display of networks in range. Not something most people do, rather than just have sound vibrations hitting a sense organ designed to sense sound vibrations, most people have and can't shut off. More hysteria. I can say that I deliberately named my wireless in a hope that someone would read it and at least do a double take and laugh. I highly doubt any government organization for any country would ever use such an obvious name.
No further action? The actions taken were more than enough to cause distress to not only the victim of this harassment (as I will equate these actions with) but to everyone in the plane. The pilot might as well said there was an active ticking bomb on the plane (and it will go off if we travel slower than 50 mph).
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday December 27 2016, @08:26PM
And you're forgetting that even if someone DID have their device out searching for networks, it's still not like shouting "FIRE!" -- it's more like whispering "This lamp looks like a fire hazard" since mere possession of a Note 7 is no guarantee of the thing starting a fire. The probability is pretty low.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @05:54PM
could you please reread this stupidity you wrote to yourself until you get why it's not a perfectly reasonable response
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Hyperturtle on Saturday December 24 2016, @06:30PM
Do phones make up a name based on their model or something? The last few digits look like a BSSID/Mac address, why did no one even check that for accuracy? Do people really not understand how to idenfity what they might be about to connect to?
No one checked the mac address of the BSSID to determine if the vendor code matched a valid samsung note 7, regardless of what the name is. If this is a real problem -- then the MAC addresses of banned devices based on a vendor code wildcard mask should be on a blacklist on all planes with logging. Anyone faking it would get blocked as well; it would take real effort to do a stunt like this with a different mac address, but would save numerous freak out moments like this if the bar was raised sufficiently high to thwart such pranks.
They shouldn't be relying on accidentally noticing a hotspot that can be named anything. This is probably a joke the prankster had on the ground and didnt realize it'd cause a scene when someone ignorant saw it. He may even have forgotten until the scare machine went into full gear.
If people do not know what a fire looks like, then they shouldn't be reporting fire. This was a theatre that has a sign with the word Fire printed on it. The guy that put the sign up did not shout fire. The guy that took the screen shot of the word "fire" and claimed there was a fire without any proof -- HE is the one that shouted fire. And don't give him a pass for not knowing what fire looks like. If he doesn't know, he shouldn't be shouting it; he should draw attention to the sign, but not cause a panic. There are so many ways to get a hold of technical support options; the pilots could have called in to ask how to find it; asked for an IT person to help like when asking for a doctor when a medical issue arises... instead they defaulted to fear. Maybe my logic has no place in this argument.
That said--don't phones come with connectivity troubleshooters anymore? The blackberry OSes 6.x and 7.x have a site survey program as part of the settings screens that lets one save in a .csv file all the SSIDs around me, with the mac addresses and signal strength and all of that seen around the phone -- you can check the mac address and use that to look up whatever vendor, and if multiple SSIDs are assigned to it... are these details now hidden from everyone in the latest OSes?
I'll go get off my lawn now.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by vux984 on Saturday December 24 2016, @10:06PM
So when someone makes a credible claim (via SSID) that they have a device known to burst into flames randomly,
How many note 7's spontaneously combusted? Really. Seriously. How many? Estimates are that under 100 out of 3-4 million phones overheated to the point of damaging the phone -- melting the case etc. Only a handful actually created any sort of actual incident (fire, explosion, injury) in doing so. So less than 1 in 30,000 chance of anything happening at all, and an order of magnitude less of it being even slightly serious.
I'm not pretending it's not a defective product that needed a recall; but this is just hysteria. I mean, what if he'd brought his 2006 ipod nano on board? Would any one even blink twice? Even in 2006?
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday December 27 2016, @08:24PM
That isn't a credible claim.
What happened here is nobody on the flight crew has the slightest fucking clue what an SSID even *is*, but upon seeing one they somehow made the determination that it was an appropriate reason to harass their customers and start digging through everyone's personal property anyway. Because that's considered the appropriate response to anything you don't understand these days. Lack of education is now considered a legitimate justification for oppression.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @03:46PM
oh please please pleeeease(!) require all mobile phones to have their batteries removed during flight.
this way we might get back a perfectly good device that doesn't become obsolete
just because the battery died (for good) ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 25 2016, @10:27PM
better:
Samsung_Galaxy_Note_7_on_fire