Wi-Fi System Safe, Says Boeing
Along comes yet another security expert declaring that Boeing's Connexion WiFi-in-the-sky plan as unsafe. They say there are too many things that could go wrong allowing WiFi on a plane and, worse, the system needs to "re-authenticate" with a WiFi access point on the ground every time it finds a new one. Except, as Boeing quickly pointed out in response, that's not how their system works at all. The WiFi is only to an access point on the plane, and then the connection runs via satellite. As Boeing says, the analyst's position comes "from a position of ignorance". It seemed pretty clear from the beginning that this wasn't WiFi to the ground, so I'm not sure why anyone would assume that it would, or come out with a report suggesting it did work that way.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team