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Airplane security raises questions about in-flight Wi-Fi

Following last week's incident in which packages containing explosives were found on an airplane, more questions are being raised about security - particularly about in-flight Wi-Fi.
Written by Rachel King, Contributor

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Following last week's incident in which packages containing explosives were found on an airplane, more questions are being raised about security - particularly about in-flight Wi-Fi.

According to GigaOm via The New York Times, the explosive materials hidden in printer cartridges in the aforementioned incident included cell phone materials that could have been used as detonators. Thus, phones could also be put to use as remote detonators when connected over VoIP or even in-flight Wi-Fi networks.

So could we be nearing the end of the short life of in-flight Wi-Fi service? Hopefully and probably not - at least just yet. There are already some boundaries put in place, such as firewalls that block in-bound calls. In-flight Wi-Fi isn't free either as it requires the use of a valid credit card.

I'd be more interested in seeing more resources used towards monitoring items that go in the cargo hold than taking away what seems to be the only (albeit, not free) perk of flying these days. Based on the incident last week, it is obvious that extra security measures like that are necessary.

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