Re: [Netstumbler] Browse Networks

[Julian Bond <julian_bond@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Julian Bond <julian_bond@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Notice that I haven't once referred to any legal issues in this post. 
> I'm really not interested in these, but rather in practicalities.

Wow. I guess I should have expected the firestorm, after all it's not 
the first time.

I tried really hard to be reasonable; to put both sides of the argument; 
to point out that a common OS (Win XP) assumes that an open AP with DHCP 
is to be used; and to encourage a stumbler to avoid the most obvious 
pitfalls. And I all I got was a torrent of abuse. I don't recall saying 
anything about wardriving and yet most of that abuse seemed to me to be 
about giving wardriving a bad name. Well, there's more to Netstumbler 
than just using it for wardriving.

The trouble is we live in a world with shades of grey. As well as 
secured APs, there are also accidentally open APs, deliberately open 
free APs and deliberately open commercial APs. It's not always clear at 
all, at all, which is which. And it's all too easy to sit in a 
Starbucks, look for a T-Mobile AP and pick up the open community AP 
across the street or the accidentally open AP in the office upstairs. 
All my laptop knows is that it connected, got an IP and collected it's 
email. Sorry guv, I made the mistake of setting dhcp because that's what 
I use at home.

One real world end result was that I sat in a Pret a Manger on Oxford St 
London, opposite a Starbucks and used what I thought was a free T-Mobile 
link while they were trialling their system. I later found out it was a 
free WiFi enabled internet kiosk put up the Westminster city council.

And no, I don't go out of my way to use or hack into APs that are 
obviously private or that I can freeload off when that wasn't the 
intention of the owner.

I apologise for keeping this going, but I'll defend it on this list 
because I use Netstumbler as a tool for trying to work out what just 
happened and to try and see what's going on.

BTW. Yes, I'd really like to see some commercial outfit sell a commodity 
consumer grade AP that made it easy to safely share bandwidth. With a 
captive portal splash page. Just like I'd really like to see a cheap 
consumer grade mesh networking AP. But I don't expect to see them any 
time soon.

Now where's v0.4?

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