Wifi

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logic

1. the people who do access your wireless network don't have the expertise to do bad things
2. and the people who want to break into your data will easily by pass the wep encryption and
3. if people have the expertise to extract data and finanaces from your hardrive then they most likely have the expertise to bypass the standard encryption on your linksys router
4. the feeble wep security protocol is about as secure as a doorknob you can open with a credit card
5. its a matter of politeness
6. burgeoning anxieties of internet deprivation and painful feelings of withdrawal and frustration with the fallibility of consumer electronics
7. that said, the conventional repsonse is that it is similarily as beneficial as the many locks used in life to keep honest people honest
8. this is where the analogy of the lock breaks down
9. the game is not zero sum by anymeans a neighbours access does not mean a loss of access for you nor in most cases does it mean a loss of privacy or performance of your connection.
10. furthermore, just as key locks simply keep honest people honest
11. this logic does not apply to wireless passwords because exploiters have a noncompetitive end in mind and often a desperate need for a wifi fix

if it slows you down it is probably slow for them and it is cheap to b

1. from a realist perspective it is almost always more practical to pay the costs of an inexpensive router for the intense gains of a reliable and closly situated internet connection

1- community buildling

2- accessability

1- community building

* it is like giving to chairity
* i can think of countless situations when i just needed to look something up but their was no signal

* if someone can't afford it
* this concept is idealistic

2- accessability

* wireless internet is becoming the new primary method of communication
* it is more versatile and offers more freedom and convience than cable internet access
* these benefits are offered at marginal costs to performance speed of the internet connection
* universal wifi coverage is the future
* cities across the world are experimenting with universal coverage
* including toronto
* in some cases, such as san fransisco it is even free universal access

* does it hurt anyone to share your internet?
* you still have the service
* so this is an opportunity to give and not have to pay anything

a hypothetical illustration of when an unpasword protected signal could become useful

* emergency situations
* your stranded in rural ontario snow storm
* cellular coverage doesn't work
* but a wifi signal is close by
* new cell phones including apples much anticipated iphone offer a wifi signal
* and with the prevelance of internet phone services like skype
* if one is in a bind a you could still make a call from you cell phone because of the generosity of a neighbour

* should replace onstar

* eco friendly-
* if we put everything on our computers there is less paper waste

* virtualization!

* individualist
* communitarian
* collectivist
* social

1- performance

2- liability

3- indivdualism

performance

* creepy guy in a car pulling up in front of your house and…
* downloading pirated copies of the latest hollywood blockbuster
* this slow down your internet

* if downloading a movie

liability

* unwittingly supporting illegal activity
* downloading child pornography from your router!
* alarmist media reports

* you are not liable for the child porn downloaders -
* they will get it somewhere else.. .what is the difference?
* is rogers liable for child porn on its routers why is yours different?

individualism

* we are paying for it so why should we share?

SECURITY?

Without a secure network a malicious person could hack into your personal system and files and can add viruses and worms. The latest trend have been worms that go into your computer and then when you access a banking site, instead of taking you to the real one, it takes you to a fake one that looks identical so you enter all your information and then some jackass can access all your funds. People should be very very careful when using unsecure networks.

Sean, I really think you need to address the safety issues, because that is the main reason why i protect my internet. That and having someone take up my entire bandwidth! It's expensive!

• this discussion is about personal wireless internet routers that people have in their homes
• these routers often broadcast signals that allow neighbours and people on the street access to wireless internet
• the debate is between alarmists and communitarians
• over whether or not these personal wireless routers should be password protected or not

There's been much written about FON's recent deal with Time Warner Cable. However, the new trend in Wi-Fi sharing communities is to remove the pesky, expensive, time-consuming hardware part and just build services and sharing around any consumer-grade Wifi station.
Whisher, founded by a FON refugee and We-Fi a San Jose-based startup funded by Israeli VC Yossi Vardi (of ICQ fame) are the first two out of the gate. We'll see if they gain momentum, but the idea of turning wi-fi sharing, which has always been an infrastructure-centric activity, into a software-centric activity, seems to be to be on the scale of the shift from Ham radio to the Internet. Software geeks are just better at scaling collaboration than hardware geeks.
Pew Internet: Wireless Internet Access
Some 34% of internet users have logged onto the internet using a wireless connection either around the house, at their workplace, or some place else.
boy was arrested for borrowing a library wifi policy in a parking lot [there is a term used called phishing to describe the boy's use of the internet from a parking lot]