Nnnyesssss...and no. It's possible you don't need a laptop, just a blackberry with WiFi, etc (I was refering to things like corporate sabotage, where cutting some wires would be immediately noticable). In any case, it's not
that big of an issue, I just don't ever want to see it get to that stage. Pundits in the 80's and 90's said security would never be an issue...now look where we are.
As John said it is up to the marketplace to deliver a solution. Unfortunately, I don't think the same principle of encrypting web traffic is going to work. Thats the point of WEP/WPA-2, except websites use much larger encryption keys on a higher level in the stack...performance issues are immediate.
To OP's comments: it sounds as if you haven't truly worked with a digital board in a manner becoming of a digital board. If you tour with any of the band(s) you mix, as an experiment, try and borrow a PM5D or an LS9, or even a Digidesign if your lucky for a week or two...or maybe the entire tour. It's very eye opening to go from an all analog system to digitally controlled, even if you don't actually like the feel of it.
I went from working with sh*t Mackies, to working with my first digi...a DiGiCo D5, and wow...what a difference. A year later I worked with a Digidesign Venue. Even though the D5 is 6x the cost of the Venue, I prefered the layout of the Venue. Now my analog desk of choice is from APB, but because of the modularity and flexibility associated with digital, I would trade up and go with a Venue any day.
When it comes to the major fundamental differences, my perception is of when the work is done. With analog it takes some time to set up, but its a simple step of logical wiring and patching. With digital, its more than wiring...you have to program the board properly per channel, set up cues, set up FX, set of EQs etc before show time which is 10x more time consuming. Once the show starts with analog you are ready to go manually moving faders, tweaking pots for EQs, panning, switching auxes, etc. With digital, you all ready have the show programmed, so you have the option of just hitting "GO" and switching between cues, or you can manually control fader groups, and do really cool things like use macros to increase the lead vocals IEM 10% by the touch of a button, etc.
When it comes down to it, prep for digital is huge. Less than analog. My opinion is, if digital prep is done improperly, it compounds the intial complexity tenfold. But, get it right and its smooth sailing for the rest of the tour.
Give 'er a go. But make sure you have enough lead time to do proper prep. </rant>