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Posted by on February 7, 2008, 11:13 pm
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The Phila Inqr reported how wireless routers are being "piggybacked"
by thieves, who then use other people's network for illegal purposes.
The network's real owners get blamed for illegal activity (such as
downloading illegal materials). Many network owners, such as
individuals with wireless routers in their homes and businesses, are
not aware of the problem.
For full article please see:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20080207_Wireless_signals_draw_piggybackers.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
Sounds like (excuse the expression) old news. War Drivers and other
WiFi poachers took advantage of open hot spots as soon as they were
deployed, mostly just to get high-speed access.
Why is this an issue now?
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
(Please put [Telecom] in your subject line, or I may never see your
posts)
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Posted by Robert Bonomi on February 9, 2008, 3:49 pm
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>***** Moderator's Note *****
>
>Sounds like (excuse the expression) old news. War Drivers and other
>WiFi poachers took advantage of open hot spots as soon as they were
>deployed, mostly just to get high-speed access.
>
>Why is this an issue now?
>
It's all a matter of perception.
It *is* notable that 'awareness' of the matter is now being reported in the
popular press, not just the trade press.
***** Moderator's Note *****
The popular press didn't do its job this time: the story is an obvious
"fluff" piece, with lots of fright words, and many "experts" cited,
but few details and fewer hard facts.
AFAICT, this "story" was written by the some Mega-ISP's PR flack,
because they want to scare their customers out of any idea of sharing
their "dangerous" WiFi connecitons with anyone who isn't paying a
monthly fee.
This is not a surprise to me: MIT researchers proved the viability of
"mesh" peer-to-peer networks by experiments in Cambridge,
Massachusetts a couple of years ago. Not only that, but the One Laptop
Per Child project is already producing a $200 machine which includes
wireless capability that AUTOMATICALLY shares its connectivity with
other nearby OLPC laptops, thus forming a mesh network that doesn't
depend on paying an ISP. Needless to say, the largest ISP's don't like
that, and their collective marketing muscle is being pumped up in
preparation for a campaign of fearmongering and shaming that will
(they hope) nip in the bud any notion of ordinary people sharing their
collective works, common wisdom, and dangerous communistic fluridation
without paying for the privilege.
The Internet, by its nature, concentrates power at the edges of the
network. Traditional telecommunicaitons companies, such as the PSTN
providers, are fighting a rear-guard action to retain as much of their
power and profit as they can, but their transition to "pipe and ping"
providers is already underway and unstoppable.
The Mega-ISPs, having found that the average luser is an abundant cash
cow who is easily manipulated, are trying to replace the old-line PSTN
companies as collectors of a never-ending monthly tribute to the
church of do-it-our-way-or-go-without. The very idea of those users
having the efrontery to bypass the all-wise, all-knowing, endlessly
greedy moguls who run those ISPs is anathema to them and to their
(powerful) friends in the entertainment industry.
Pay up, suckers: only [place megacorp name here] can protect you from
the deviant, drug crazed, communist sympathiser sexual predators who
want to [insert what you're most afraid of here].
FWIW. YMMV.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
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Posted by John Mayson on February 10, 2008, 10:54 am
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Hash: SHA1
On Sat, 9 Feb 2008, Robert Bonomi wrote:
>> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>>
>> Sounds like (excuse the expression) old news. War Drivers and other
>> WiFi poachers took advantage of open hot spots as soon as they were
>> deployed, mostly just to get high-speed access.
>>
>> Why is this an issue now?
>>
>
> It's all a matter of perception.
>
> It *is* notable that 'awareness' of the matter is now being reported in the
> popular press, not just the trade press.
Something else I might add. I just read, and I don't know if it's true,
but in the north Atlantic alone 50 undersea cables get cut every year and
the world has a fleet of 20 ships that do nothing but go around repairing
undersea cables. Suddenly the 4 (or 8 or 9 depending on who you believe)
cables that were cut and shut off parts of the world from the Internet is
big news.
- --
Austin, Texas, USA
iD8DBQFHroTl2kz4fWh3iuERAsG+AJ0ZYx4VqCaURNKf/k3fevtpMx1mHwCeMrt6
dklXd0N6+zieaKIJCMH/Kys=
=v9dF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
***** Moderator's Note *****
The 4 (or n) cables were all in the oil-producing areas of the middle
east. Someone is sending a not-so-subtle message to the government's
involved: with some sheikdoms looking to the future and working to
establish their nations as international banking centers or to
position their people as the next software hotspot, parties as yet
unknown have delivered a warning about the difference between trade
and defense.
Or, it might have been oil tankers dragging their anchors. Works
either way.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
(Please put [Telecom] in the subject line of your post, or I may never
see it. Thanks!)
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Posted by Scott Dorsey on February 11, 2008, 9:54 am
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>Something else I might add. I just read, and I don't know if it's true,
>but in the north Atlantic alone 50 undersea cables get cut every year and
>the world has a fleet of 20 ships that do nothing but go around repairing
>undersea cables. Suddenly the 4 (or 8 or 9 depending on who you believe)
>cables that were cut and shut off parts of the world from the Internet is
>big news.
This is because they were in places without much redundancy. What is news
is that some places have poor network redundancy.
I remember when HAW-1 failed and GTE was routing calls from the mainland
through Japan.... that was BIG NEWS at the time. If the same cable failed
today, it wouldn't be news because it would fail over.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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Posted by John Mayson on February 11, 2008, 9:52 pm
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>>
>> Something else I might add. I just read, and I don't know if it's true,
>> but in the north Atlantic alone 50 undersea cables get cut every year and
>> the world has a fleet of 20 ships that do nothing but go around repairing
>> undersea cables. Suddenly the 4 (or 8 or 9 depending on who you believe)
>> cables that were cut and shut off parts of the world from the Internet is
>> big news.
>
> This is because they were in places without much redundancy. What is news
> is that some places have poor network redundancy.
Exactly! It's not a MOSSAD or CIA conspiracy. No one is conducting cyber
terrorism. It was just a normal sequence of events that got publicity
because of the lack of redundancy.
The tin-foil hat crowd hates out when you point out things like this. :-)
--
Austin, Texas, USA
***** Moderator's Note *****
I wear an _Aluminum_ Foil hat, thank you very much!
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
(Please put [Telecom] in the subject line of your post, or I may never
see it. Thanks!)
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