Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This article is from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
It's an essay on why routers should not be passworded.
Now before most of you go nuts and say this is the stupidest idea since the Obama administration decided to produce a Pakistani version of Sesame Street, read the article and think about it and think of the ramifications of open WiFi routers...
How can we leave our wireless open and protect ourselves from abuse from law enforcement?
Here's one possible way:
1. Everyone with Wifi would have two routers - one for themselves and another for the public.
2. Public access would go through a proxy server. All users would need to register first and be given a user name/password.
3. Usage would be on a credit system. You get one hour of wifi for every hour that you provide the public. The more you share the more you can use while out on the road.
4. Those who are unable to share their own broadband would buy credits.
Anyone who commits a crime can be traced through their individual account.
If we're going about the idea of providing wireless internet to the public then it should be provided as a public service from local carriers, such as Verizon, ATT, TWC, other.
Some local or multiple carriers could setup neighborhood wireless access. Clear (formerly Clearwire) does this now. Allow subscribers some minimal access. Enough for email and text browsing, not enough to stream video.
My electric company provides a 'SmartMeter' to my home. An electronic device that continuously measures my electricity usage and reports back to my electricity provider. I can download a daily report of my electricity usage, at fifteen minute intervals. This meter relays that information to my provider by wireless device. If they can provide that kind of service, locally and universally, then so can broadband providers.
Only a FOOL leaves their wireless open. So many illegal activities can be done by anyone through an open wireless, and there is absolutely nothing can be done to prove it was not the person leasing that IP address at the time. From kiddy porn to having the RIAA sue you for hundreds of thousands of dollars for music you didn't steal, at least not without spending 10's of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Only a FOOL leaves their wireless open. So many illegal activities can be done by anyone through an open wireless, and there is absolutely nothing can be done to prove it was not the person leasing that IP address at the time. From kiddy porn to having the RIAA sue you for hundreds of thousands of dollars for music you didn't steal, at least not without spending 10's of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Didn't bother to read the article I see..........
Quote:
When people turn on WEP or WPA encryption for their networks deliberately, there are two common reasons: a desire to prevent their neighbors from "free riding" on their connections; and a fear that unencrypted WiFi is a security or privacy risk. Both of those reasons have a degree of legitimacy, but neither of them changes the fact that we would be better off if there were more open networks. Also, both of these problems could be solved without password locking our networks. What we need, instead, is to develop and deploy better WiFi protocols.
There was a system back in the '90s, I believe, (don't remember what it was called) that was sort of like a public WiFi. The hardware mounted on street light poles. I believe they were propriety and required a special computer card. It wasn't very successful.
There will be no record of my connecting (assuming you have the normal consumer router) , and if in fact you captured the MAC of my wireless it would be useless, in tracking me down, or even proving the crime was committed on a wireless device with that MAC address. Yet the IP address that will be associated with my actions will be your public IP from your ISP provider.
Then there is simple bandwidth consumption, every ISP I know of has a maximum monthly limit with either throttling or fee based consequences for exceeded.
OBTW, if checking their email every 10 seconds is so damn important, perhaps they should have a data plan allowing them to do so on their cell phone, it's not up to private citizens to 'provide the service' for these people.
There was a system back in the '90s, I believe, (don't remember what it was called) that was sort of like a public WiFi. The hardware mounted on street light poles. I believe they were propriety and required a special computer card. It wasn't very successful.
There was a move locally to have free WiFi downtown, but threats of lawsuits from ISPs seems to have stopped it. The ISP's complaint is that the county wanted to give away what the sell, hurting their profits.
The previous great leap in communication was the telephone. If communication, any time, any where, for free is such an issue, why was there never a move for free phones to be used by anyone that wanted to call someone?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
