Posted on 01/26/2007 9:55:50 AM PST by John Jorsett
Thanks for posting that link!
thanks
How about if the city offers free wi-fi?
Bump to that. Not everybody can be computer whizzes.
Its all over Atlanta not just in airports.
Aren't you opening yourself up to potential problems like child pornography? If one of the guys in the boat does anything illegal with your connection, it will be traced back to you.
In a lot of instances like this, you are guilty even if you can prove your innocence.
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All routers are different, but somewhere in your setup authentication type can be selected. If Shared Key is selected, the Access Point will not be seen on the wireless network except to the wireless clients that share the same WEP key with MAC Addresses "allowed access" as specified in a "Filter List" you determine. In other words you can tell your router specifically what MAC addresses are allowed on your network and even then they still have to have your WEP key to connect. If Open System is chosen, only the wireless clients with the same WEP key will be able to communicate on the wireless network, but the Access Point will be visible to all devices on the network. As far as I know most routers ship in Open System mode, which is still very secure. This article isn't about the security of your network, it's about how people will freely broadcast their personal information over some one else's router where your information can be captured. Of course we all broadcast over thousands of routers all of the time, but there is a certain feeling of security when it's AT&T, Sprint, Time Warner, Comcast, Charter etc. owning these routers. There are security issues surrounding the giants too, but that's another issue. Securing you home network is really the most imperative goal. If your network is secured, then someone connecting to your router isn't that big of a deal. Keep in mind that having a secured router doesn't stop outside vermin from infecting your machine. I can't explain this nearly as well as Steve Gibson: Below is the most typical security hole in computers shipping today and frankly for the last 12+ years. Gibson has a tutorial and directions for securing your computers/network at. http://www.grc.com this information is more specifically at http://www.grc.com/su-bondage.htm
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Duh...
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Aren't you opening yourself up to potential problems like child pornography? No. I'm just one hop in a series of many hops from the point of origin to a floating laptop. I have no more liability than any other node. While it is something I did inquire seriously about, you can ask yourself these simple questions and come up with a common sense answer: Do Starbucks and Denver International Airport have these same potential problems? Do you imagine they had an opinion from their counsel? And finally why would my liability be any more severe than theirs? You are guilty even if you can prove your innocence. I just had dinner with a rather scholarly judge this evening and I bounced your question off of her thinking that maybe something had changed in the law over the last few years. She responded, and I quote: "Your reasoning is correct [HG], but tell me, where in this country is a man guilty even though his innocence can be proven?" As a humorous anecdote I just directed a fellow freeper in this very thread to this site: http://www.grc.com/su-bondage.htm It's not what it sounds like, trust me. |
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