[oclug] The Feds can own your WLAN too

[Robert Brockway]

On Tue, 5 Apr 2005, Adrian Irving-Beer wrote:

> The problem is, IMO, the Internet back then was inhabited by people
> with a more benign attitude.  These days, many people see the Internet
> as just a means to make easy money, or to perform illegal or morally
> wrong acts -- often both at the same time.

Yes it is a shame.  I feel as if many people take the Internet for granted 
and don't stop to consider how truly amazing it is, and how much effort 
went into creating it.

RIP Jon Postal.

> I suspect the number of wardriving spammers is less, but I sure

But will probably become more common given that open access points are 
still very common.

> I appreciate that, and I do find myself sometimes yearning for certain
> aspects of the older Internet.  But there are some things I recognise

To a certain extent Internet2 could be seen as an attempt to recapture a 
bit of the old days - and on very last links :)

> On the other hand, your words made me think.  If I ever find myself on
> an ISP with unlimited bandwidth and no sharing issues (and can
> overcome the routing and security issues), I may consider at least
> account-based, audited, free shared wireless access.

Yes, I would also not have a problem doing this either.  Even without 
unlimited bandwidth you could rate-limit or even block your free users 
once they hit quota.  Linux has the capability to all of this easily of 
course.

Rob

-- 
Robert Brockway B.Sc.
Senior Technical Consultant, OpenTrend Solutions Ltd.
Phone: +1-416-669-3073 Email: rbrockway at opentrend.net http://www.opentrend.net
OpenTrend Solutions: Reliable, secure solutions to real world problems.
Contributing Member of Software in the Public Interest (http://www.spi-inc.org)