With the airlines, TSA, DHS and those in between creating such hurdles and uncomfortable travel with flying, I wonder how long before people just say screw flying. This latest regarding the need to ban wi-fi is not only absurd from a technical standpoint, but proof that we have people with severe lack of technical understanding in charge of very important areas of society.

The wi-fi that exists on planes may have some slight potential threat but considering that in order to use the on-board wi-fi, a user must first signup with whatever company is providing the service. That process requires using a credit card and keying in personal information.  Could a terrorist go through that process? Sure, but why would they want to waste the time or even the risk of getting flagged by a credit card company (via DHS targeting software)?  There are much simpler ways that they could achieve their goal.  The banning of the commercial wi-fi service on board a flight is simply another hassle and inconvenience to those traveling and does nothing to stop a determined bad guy.

If a terrorist was going to utilize wi-fi for an attack operation, they could simply create a adhoc wi-fi network of their own, complete with security mechanisms to insure only they had knowledge and access to that connection. This concept would work even if airlines banned commercial wi-fi onboard. Likewise, just banning the use of wi-fi on an aircraft won’t inhibit a “bad guy”, since I seriously doubt they will follow the rules. There is also no way for flight attendants to know whether a person is utilizing a private adhoc wi-fi connection.  

So how would this ad-hoc wi-fi work?  Here is a simple example of using a device to talk to a parking meter which contains a micro-controller. I won’t go into the specifics of how it can be done, but this is def. a good starting point for the concept.

The bigger picture here is that wi-fi is not even required, it is just a technology being targeted as a “bad guy enabler”.  There are dozens of ways a “bad guy” could take down the aircraft with either a technology based solution or a non-technology based solution.  

From the technology based, there is Bluetooth, Mesh, altimeter (both watch and app based), gyroscopes just to name a few. This does not even take into consideration how one could hack medical based devices that could be taken on board trains, planes, buses, etc. with much less scrutiny than personal gadgets.  For instance a talented hardware hacker could modify a portable insulin pump with a miniature wi-fi or micro blue-tooth transmitter to be a controller or trigger. That is the simple aspect. 

What happens when humans are using electronic tissue interfaces in their bodies and again, these could be augmented or modified to act as a weapon? Will they be banned from flying?

There are a slew of non-tech threats as well, which I shall refrain from posting, in case the “bad guys” might not have already thought of it.

So this quick post is just to illustrate that banning the commercial wi-fi on planes is not the answer to solving potential threats. It does not deter nor does it impede the “bad guys”, it merely pisses off the consumer who is already suffering from all the nutty TSA, DHS, and airline guidelines.  

Currently, I feel the terrorists have already won. They set off a fear epidemic in the US and the US government has just propagated that fear even further with all the crazy bans on airline travel.

 If the “bad guys” want to down an aircraft, all the bullshit bans that have been put in place already will not stop them. Why? Anything can be made into a weapon and the plane itself is full of enough items that a few determined people could do a MacGyver and make it happen.  

Sure, it can be argued that explosives, liquids, etc. would make it easier and I am not arguing to not perform those checks. What I am arguing is that technology is not the problem, the people are the problem. Do better background checks on those who make reservations. Look for patterns in lifestyles of people.  Look at what Israel has in place. But don’t ban wi-fi or other technology because it “might be possible” to weaponize, since anything can be weaponized - even a fast acting bio-virus with a human carrier.

I had some time to reflect on observations and upclose interactions I have had the chance to experience over the last two months at both tech and non-tech conferences.
I decided to post this evening as I was pretty much blown away with @garyvee’s interactions at SXSW and his secret wine party.
First late me state the first time I personally met Gary was in FOWA Miami 2010 for about 2 min. I ran into him again the first day of the conference and chatted with him in Russian and he briefly remembered me from a few weeks earlier. Did I expect him to remember me? Hell no! He sees tons of people everyday and I can’t imagine his email and Twitter input streams. Yet, he was personable and sincere in talking even though he is a busy guy.
So a few friends (@venson, @gagnier, @lovisatalk) pand I ran into him last evening on our way from drinks and networking at the Driskill. He was headed up the street alone on his way to setup for his party. He stopped to chat with us (not because of me, but I think the Russian made him remeber me)and invited us to walk with him to the first party location. Just that invite made us feel important for a brief moment (well least me, I won’t speak for my friends). The only thing he asked is we not tweet the location. We got there and eventually helped a bit to get things setup. People in the place had spotted him and people there tweeter as within a few minutes the place started to fill up. Apparently in a 1/2 hour before Gary was supose to tweet the location there was already a 2 hour wait outside. Gary had already started serving wine to people. Yes he himself filling the glasses. When the place was too full he moved the party next door to the speak easy to allow more people to join the party. It was impressive to watch him engage with his fans and customers.
Did he need to do this? Probably not. He could have just hired a crew to handle the whole thing, but he knows his cutomers and fans and wants to know them and be part of it all. While he himself is important, he makes others (his fans and customers) feel just as important.
Is he alone in his customer service efforts? Probably a minority in my opinion. I can name about 10 people or orgs that do this. Another is @craignewmark who is just as amazing. I have had the chance to sit at conf next to him and watch him respond from his mobile device to tweets, etc from customers. He has also spoken a great deal on the subject and has very good advice. Again itis impressive that someone this busy and important handles customer service still for such a successful business.

This post will continue.

Those that know me, know that I don’t sleep much. Not by choice, but I just can’t seem to get to sleep and don’t stay asleep for more than a few hours. So I went to see the doctor about this or I should say….

 I had to debate with my doctor today. He was trying to tell me that my insomnia problems are a result of a obsessive-compulsive disorder with technology and information which in turn keeps my brain engaged and won’t let things calm down in order for me to fall asleep.

 I told him that he was being ridiculous for offering up a crazy diagnosis and informed him that there is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise, I mean the Borg Hive Mind and the Cylons did not sleep at all and they functioned beyond capacity.

I knew I needed to convince him that I did not have Agoraphobia or Stockholm Syndrome as Strand Consulting might lead him to believe. Nor for him to him suggest some attachment theory, I only had rudimentary technology growing up.  After all he is just a General Practioner/Family doctor not a psychologist nor do I want him suggesting the condition is mental related when in fact I believe it is a physical implication within the brain’s cyclical clock.

I felt I needed to facilitate in this diagnosis and provide some quantifiable and qualifiable metrics to him.  So I  pulled out my iPhone to Google a few key terms with initial proof  to repudiate his claims and my Androidphone to show him recent posts on social sites around sleep disorders have not shown any cases in the last 90 days to justify his claim. 

 There were a few links to some YouTube and Viddlr videos from some other doctors at sleep clinics, but my doctor said he did not have time to view them and did not think they would be relevant. I told him give me a second to save these to Evernoteand  tag them so I could review them later.  He just stared at me perplexed.

Because of limited bandwidth I could only illustrate to him that:

  1) OCD has no correlation with his stated claim based on initial research 

   2) that once I have access to “R” on my iphone or droid I can provide him statistical analysis against his claims. 

I also informed him he his still operating in Luddite mode with his paper based prescription system, hell the Amish are even a bit further ahead than his office.

I had offered to email him a link to additional research I have on mobile based electronic prescription systems, but he declined.

I also informed him that his credit card billing system could be more efficient if he looked into becoming a beta test of the kick ass startup Square  Credit Card product that will be a huge disruptorin this field. He would have the flexibility to use Droid or iPod Touch to accept credit cards rather then those expensive office machines.  Actually, I told him he could use any mobile device but would be foolish to use anything other than a Droid or iPhone/iPod device.

Apparently, he has a technophobia of some sort - least from what a quick Google provided me and telling him this apparently did not one bit of good in actually getting an accurate diagnosis of my sleeping condition.

Nonetheless I obtained a copy of my medical record for that office visit and have placed it into my Google Health account, just to be sure I have a record of the visit and the absurd diagnosis.

I guess I need to seek another opinion of some doctor or find something more to do to fill that time when I just cannot sleep well.

Just as I am leaving I informed the doctor that I was able to write a post to my Tumblrblog on this crazy office visit from my iPhone using the Tumblerette App. All while his office staff was using archaic methods to pull the paperwork together for me.