Secured WLAN, Unsecured (filtered) Internet, Wardrivers...

I just got a WRT54GS (v2) and have been playing around with TinyPEAP
(Radius). It is a little flakey, but does work. Pretty cool. Don't think
I can find a home for it on my WLAN (802.11a), but it is just something else
to play around with. The WRT54GS cost next to nothing anyway. Nice to have
another tool in the kit, should it be needed, anyway.

Happy with my WLAN as it is anyway. Seperate, using all the wifi security
measures to fullest, and even doing VPN.

However, I like to keep one (internet only) AP completetely unsecured, by
intention. I'm doing just this on a seperate network and using a captive
portal (ZoneCD). I keep it open for my neighbors to use while they are
outside on the back porches, along with anyone else that wants to. Not only
could I care less, but I'm even inviting anyone that wants to use it by
suffixing the SSID's with "_OPEN". My philosophy of wireless is that one
of the greatest potentials is to provide free and open access.
Unfortunetly, the world is full of stupid people, so you do have to take
some cautionary measures, and that is why I have ZoneCD in the loop.

I wish manufacturers would adopt this type of thinking for home users. Many
users would keep an internet-only pipe open, but are so worried about the
girlfrield-less, Friday-night, wardrivers that they stop short of sleeping
on their porch with a shotgun and dog. What is needed for them is
simplicity to allow both their WLANs to be secured, while keeping an
internet SSID open (but still filtered). I.e., everything ZoneCD provides,
plus filtering against all the immature BS like strobing, repetative
pinging, repative emailing, filtering against large blocks of known porn
sites, ect. (I block as much porn as I can. Thats one thing I'm not about
to keep open. Use my open AP all you want, but use your own damn internet
for porn.)

I don't buy into the wardrivers' speal about how they are only out doing
"research" and trying to save the world from itself. If that was the case,
then why is it that the few times I got visited, they didn't simply mark the
location and drive on? (Hell, I am even labeled "_OPEN"!) Do they simple
just connect and pull up a browser to see if it works? Nope. Every time,
the first thing they do is start strobing and seeing what they can screw
with. (They never get anywhere, but get logged nicely.) If they are so
damn beneign, then why is it if you do a deja search for "wardriving" one of
the main things you find are posts asking how to spoof MAC's. Give me a
break, no-lives! Get a damn girlfrield and I bet you care less about
people's little $100 plastic boxes.

Thought about baiting 'em, by say having a captive portal redirect to
http://www.goatse.cx/ (*DON'T LOOK! ITS VERY NASTY!*) and automatically
upload strings of virii, but that would be no better than them (and also
potentially cause harm to neighbors).

Cheers,
Eric

No war drivers where I live. However, come
on out and I'll cancel my broadband and use
yours..

"Zebulon" wrote in message ...
> No war drivers where I live. However, come
> on out and I'll cancel my broadband and use
> yours..

Well, as I previously wrote - if you lived here, and were in range, you
could use mine.

As long as you are doing anything questionable with it, I could care less.

Keep in mind, as told by the captive portal redirector, that I do log and
look at the logs semi-frequently. If I found someone "living on it",
(common sense here), I'd probably start capturing all their traffic until I
had an email address. I'd simply email them and tell them that I believed
they were taking advantage of my open AP. I wouldn't tell them, but a reply
with an apology would mean that they could stay -- while a tail between the
legs ignore would mean they would be banned.

Cheers,
Eric

> As long as you are doing anything questionable with it, I could care less.

define questionable.

> Keep in mind, as told by the captive portal redirector, that I do log and
> look at the logs semi-frequently. If I found someone "living on it",
> (common sense here), I'd probably start capturing all their traffic until I
> had an email address. I'd simply email them and tell them that I believed

Here, you'd have to be registered with the data protection registrar in
order to keep data and would have to comply with all the legal
requirements of the Data Protection Act.

You'd also be liable if that data were misused. A lot of effort.

David.

Eric wrote:

> Give me a
> break, no-lives! Get a damn girlfrield and I bet you care less about
> people's little $100 plastic boxes.

Eric, Eric, Eric... If they _could_ get a girlfriend (damned or not) do you
think they'd be trying to hack your network?
--
derek

David Taylor wrote:

>> Keep in mind, as told by the captive portal redirector, that I do log and
>> look at the logs semi-frequently. If I found someone "living on it",
>> (common sense here), I'd probably start capturing all their traffic until
>> I
>> had an email address. I'd simply email them and tell them that I
>> believed
>
> Here, you'd have to be registered with the data protection registrar in
> order to keep data and would have to comply with all the legal
> requirements of the Data Protection Act.
>
Off the top, I have to admit that I don't know anything about your DPA, but
surely you don't have to register to keep your _own_ data? If that was the
case, then every home user would legally be required to register, because
we all have data. Until you have that email address, all you have is
private traffic on your own network. Once you have captured enough
information to know _how_ to contact that person, then it might become an
issue.
--
derek

> Eric, Eric, Eric... If they _could_ get a girlfriend (damned or not) do you
> think they'd be trying to hack your network?

Besides, why do they need to go out when they've got a laptop and his
network?

www.virtualgirlfriend.com
www.virtuagirl.com

shall I go on? :)

> Off the top, I have to admit that I don't know anything about your DPA, but
> surely you don't have to register to keep your _own_ data? If that was the

No, not your own, but if someone else is using my network and I know
about it and i'm logging that data, that means i'm storing their data
and I have to register and state the purposes that I intend to use that
data for etc.

> we all have data. Until you have that email address, all you have is
> private traffic on your own network. Once you have captured enough
> information to know _how_ to contact that person, then it might become an
> issue.

Yes quite. I'm just illustrating that it's not quite as simple as
leaving open a hotspot. When you've got police suing homeowners because
that policewoman slipped over on the back ramp that the homeowner needed
for wheelchair access and thieves suing homeowners when they cut
themselves on misplaced obstacles in the back garden etc, I have no
doubt that some spammer or similar will be quite happy to sue the
network owner for storing *their* personal data, especially when they
were explicity invited to use that network.

David.

"Derek Broughton" wrote in message ...
> Eric wrote:
>
> > Give me a
> > break, no-lives! Get a damn girlfrield and I bet you care less about
> > people's little $100 plastic boxes.
>
> Eric, Eric, Eric... If they _could_ get a girlfriend (damned or not) do
you
> think they'd be trying to hack your network?
> --
> derek

LOL

Good point!

Cheers,
Eric

"David Taylor" wrote in message...
> Yes quite. I'm just illustrating that it's not quite as simple as
> leaving open a hotspot. When you've got police suing homeowners because
> that policewoman slipped over on the back ramp that the homeowner needed
> for wheelchair access and thieves suing homeowners when they cut
> themselves on misplaced obstacles in the back garden etc, I have no
> doubt that some spammer or similar will be quite happy to sue the
> network owner for storing *their* personal data, especially when they
> were explicity invited to use that network.
>
> David.

Yep, it is quite sad.

Shakespear was so right when he said, "First we kill all the lawyers."

I'd like to see BS trivial civil matters go back to being settled the
old-fashioned and mature way: through violence and center-town showdowns.
:^)

Cheers!
-Eric