The Cost of FlyingAccording to Wired, Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner computer network could allow passengers accessing the Internet during their flights to connect to the plane's control and navigation system.

Wait one mile-high minute, Cowboy.

"This is serious," Mark Loveless, a network security analyst with Autonomic Networks, told Wired. "This isn't a desktop computer. It's controlling the systems that are keeping people from plunging to their deaths. So I hope they are really thinking about how to get this right."

There are more than 800 advance orders for the plane.

But you can rest easy knowing the FAA and Boeing are working on correcting the problem before the first one is delivered, which is due to enter service in November 2008. Before that happens, Boeing must prove to the FAA that they've fixed the computer-network issues.

But the investigation isn't available to the public. Loveless says software firewalls offer protection but they aren't bulletproof.

"The fact that they are not sharing information about it is a concern," Loveless told Wired. "I'd be happier if a credible auditing firm took a look at it."

Or maybe a teenager who's hacked into his high school's database and changed his grades.

What do you think? Do you want this investigation public to assure the problem has been fixed?

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