Thank God for students...

....and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's house, and
I have the choice of three routers that I can connect to the internet
with (and use up all their monthly download limits if I so desired).
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have you strayed?"

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Hugo Nebula <abuse@localhost> wrote:

> ...and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's house, and
> I have the choice of three routers that I can connect to the internet
> with (and use up all their monthly download limits if I so desired).

I suspect that it's not just students. Wireless routers are being sold in a
form which makes them able to 'plug and go' - with no security - and that's
what most people do! The suppliers have no interest in pushing anything
which would make them more difficult to use.

Maybe there's a need for Ofcom - if they're the appropriate body - to insist
that all routers will work only for a very short time without some form of
encryption being turned on. It would put the price up though - unless it was
a world-wide requirement.

Wireless security has been discussed ad nauseam in this NG - but the great
unwashed who never frequent this hallowed place can't be expected to have a
clue about it.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

> ...and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's house, and
> I have the choice of three routers that I can connect to the internet
> with (and use up all their monthly download limits if I so desired).


But don't forget it is illegal to do so quite apart from the fact that they
can monitor your data.

Peter Crosland

* Peter Crosland <(E-Mail Removed)>:
>> and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's
>> house, and I have the choice of three routers that I can
>> connect to the internet with
>
> But don't forget it is illegal to do so

Maybe they're open because the owners _want_ you to connect to
them and share their bandwidth?

Maybe not. I live in a student area and the local computer shop
does a roaring trade in wireless routers, last time I was in
there *everyone* else who came in was either buying one, or
(sigh) asking about why their router wasn't working. Not much
hope for security if you can't even set one up.

Personally I would be more concerned about what nasties might be
lurking on the lan you've just connected to.

> quite apart from the fact that they can monitor your data.

You would have to limit yourself to what you can tunnel over ssh,
or otherwise encrypt.

--
Andrew Preater

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 10:20:06 -0000, "Peter Crosland"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>But don't forget it is illegal to do so quite apart from the fact that they
>can monitor your data.

There we go! Tits-up again.
..
..

===========================
Comparing the aftermaths of the Black Death and of World War I,
James Westfall Thompson found all the same complaints:
economic chaos, social unrest, high prices, profiteering, depraved
morals, lack of production, industrial indolence, frenetic gaiety,
wild expenditure, luxury, debauchery, social and religious hysteria,
greed, avarice, maladministration, decay of manners. Familiar
===========================

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Peter Crosland <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> ...and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's house,
>> and I have the choice of three routers that I can connect to the
>> internet with (and use up all their monthly download limits if I so
>> desired).
>
>
> But don't forget it is illegal to do so quite apart from the fact
> that they can monitor your data.
>
> Peter Crosland

If they're sufficiently clueless to leave their wireless networks wide open,
they're hardly likely to know how to monitor your data!
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 10:20:06 +0000, Peter Crosland wrote:

>> ...and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's house, and I
>> have the choice of three routers that I can connect to the internet with
>> (and use up all their monthly download limits if I so desired).
>
>
> But don't forget it is illegal to do so quite apart from the fact that
> they can monitor your data.

Some cards will attempt to connect to their preferred networks, failing
that they will default to a publicly accessible one. I once wondered why
my network was running so slow, it was only then I discovered it was
connecting to one of the many open APs around here.

Also, while they can monitor what you send, chances are they are not savvy
enough to know how.

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 09:46:51 +0000, Tiscali Tim wrote:

> In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Hugo Nebula
> <abuse@localhost> wrote:
>
>> ...and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's house, and I
>> have the choice of three routers that I can connect to the internet with
>> (and use up all their monthly download limits if I so desired).
>
> I suspect that it's not just students. Wireless routers are being sold in
> a form which makes them able to 'plug and go' - with no security - and
> that's what most people do! The suppliers have no interest in pushing
> anything which would make them more difficult to use.
>
> Maybe there's a need for Ofcom - if they're the appropriate body - to
> insist that all routers will work only for a very short time without some
> form of encryption being turned on. It would put the price up though -
> unless it was a world-wide requirement.

I think we can live without nannying. I have in the past set up an open
AP, the catch being it was firewalled and you could only connect to the
VPN with the right keys.


>
> Wireless security has been discussed ad nauseam in this NG - but the
> great unwashed who never frequent this hallowed place can't be expected
> to have a clue about it.

>> But don't forget it is illegal to do so quite apart from the fact
>> that they can monitor your data.
>>
>> Peter Crosland
>
> If they're sufficiently clueless to leave their wireless networks wide
> open,
> they're hardly likely to know how to monitor your data!


Do not assume so. Numerous scams have been perpetrated by getting the
gullible and greedy to use such faciolities.

Peter Crosland

"Hugo Nebula" <abuse@localhost> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> ...and their unprotected wireless routers. I'm at my mum's house, and
> I have the choice of three routers that I can connect to the internet
> with (and use up all their monthly download limits if I so desired).

I stay in hotels a lot. I never pay for the hotel wireless access until I've
had a quick scan ;o)
No point in paying for something that some numpty is going to let me use for
free !