14 DAY TRIAL // The presence of a Wi-Fi hotspot named to suggest affiliation with a terrorist group caused the departure of the Sunday evening plane from Los Angeles to London to be delayed until the next day.
Airport officials were alerted of the existence of a hotspot called “Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork,” and immediately took actions to secure the aircraft and the passengers.
It appears that the name of the network was serious reason for concern since the plane was directed to a remote part of the airport and the passengers told to turn off gadgets that could connect to the suspicious hotspot. If the funny man was on the plane, this request would have made sure that he remains undiscovered.
The aircraft was isolated for three hours, and an announcement from the captain came after an hour, informing of a security threat that prevented them from taking off.
Individuals are free to name their Wi-Fi networks as they please, and even if the joker had been caught (ABC 7 reports that the individual has not been found), officials would have had nothing against them, because no crime had been committed.
There are many ways pranksters can interfere with the flight schedule, and this adds to the list even. Apart from the fact that it is highly unlikely that real terrorists would give themselves away through the Wi-Fi network’s name, a more subtle approach would definitely have been more fruitful.
Back in August, a tweet from hacker collective Lizard Squad to American Airlines was enough to divert the plane carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley, from Dallas to Phoenix. However, in this case the potential of a real threat existed.