Paul Harper <paul@harper.net> wrote:
>On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 07:34:42 -0800, floyd@apaflo.com (Floyd L.
>Davidson) wrote:
>
>>Paul Harper <paul@harper.net> wrote:
>>>On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 15:02:47 +0100, Alex Heney <me8@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>There is one HUGE difference.
>>>>
>>>>There is no big sign saying "Free wireless connection here".
>>>
>>>There *is* if they are broadcasting (that's they key word, right
>>>there) the SSID of the network.
>>
>>Please explain how that is true?
>
>Easy.

You didn't though...

>You are broadcasting the presence of your network outside
>of your premises. You are explicitly inviting people to use it,
>especially if you do not put any security around it.

That is an absurd concept!

As I said, you are claiming the garage door is an invitation if
it isn't hidden with camouflage. Actually now you are claiming
the entire garage has to be invisible!

>If you *don't* want people to use it, you would a) not broadcast it
>and b) put security around it.

You don't have to hide your garage, and you don't have to lock
the door either. Anyone who takes something from the garage
without permission is *stealing*.

The same is true of you wireless network. *Broadcast* is *not*
what makes the network visible! It merely guarantees an
identifying packet will be sent at *shorter* intervals than will
happen if it is not broadcast. In either cast your SSID is
unencrypted in *every* packet your AP sends.

Locking the garage is not required to determine that taking
something in it is theft, and neither is any particular degree
of security a requirement for your wireless network.

>It's the direct equivalent of putting "help yourself" in front of a
>pile of goods you leave outside your property boundary. It is
>*exactly* the same as that.

That is another absurd statement. Clearly if the SSID is set to
be "help yourself", then it would be that. But if the SSID
*doesn't*, then it isn't. There is *nothing* intrinsic to an
SSID that says "help yourself".

>>That is like saying the back door to the garage has to be
>>camouflaged to hide the fact that a door exists.
>
>No. It is nothing like that at all. Not remotely like that.

That is indeed *exactly* the same.

You clearly don't have any idea what the SSID is or how it works
and what it does.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@apaflo.com