ats:
"An alleged plot to kill thousands of people by detonating explosions in a "wave" of attacks on up to 10 transatlantic flights from UK airports was disrupted overnight."
And once again the lesson is that, regardless of the security measures in place, you can get a weapon onto any form of public transport fairly easily.
All right, so now hand luggage is banned. Let's suppose a terrorist is wearing a shirt soaked in something explosive. Are the security forces going to ban clothing next?
Are they going to ban hand luggage on trains and buses? There's nothing particularly special about aircraft.
Didn't this country learn anything from the IRA attacks that we all grew up with?
Are the 21 people arrested going to get a fair trial? Somehow I doubt it.
"This could have been much bigger than 9/11." (BBC News 24) -- no, that's just pure hype, and completely irresponsible reporting.
David:
Terrorism - the new initiative to cut carbon emissions
Since who wants to fly for 9 hours without so much as a book?
ats:
Right, I'm absolutely fed up with this.
BBC, a plot to blow up nine planes is not "more audacious" than a plot to crash four planes into major buildings killing thousands of people.
It wouldn't have lead to a greater death toll, it doesn't require as much imagination, it doesn't require as much skill on the part of the terrorists involved, etc.
Just because something sounds good does not make it true.
On the upside, I'm quite impressed with this bit of hedging from Channel 4 News: "the potential starting point in an alleged plot to mount an alleged terror attack that could have been bigger than 9-11".
David:
Oh no! My online banking isn't secure!
... if someone manages to get a keylogger installed on my computer
Well "duh!"
ats: And in other things today that make me angry: the Ruby on Rails authors are pulling stupid stunts with security.
"The issue is in fact of such a criticality that we?re not going to dig into the specifics. No need to arm would-be assalients."
Assuming that they mean "assailants", that's a really stupid attitude to take.
Particularly when it's easy to figure out what the problem is by reading the diff, and when you screw up the patch so that it doesn't work for some people.
If you've got a security problem, you describe it, in detail, along with the patch, so that people know if they're affected. The bad guys already know what the problem is; keeping your users in the dark only helps attackers.