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Subject: IP: The Wireless Underground / San Francisco's Free Computer Networks
>Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 16:37:47 -0600 >From: John Shaffer <jshaffer@silverbacksystems.com> >Organization: Silverback Systems > >Dave, > >If you havn't heard yet, thought you (IP) might be interested in >this. Just posted on slashdot. > >john > > >http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2001/03/22/freewireless.dtl >-- >********************************************************************* >Dr. John H. >Shaffer >jshaffer@silverbacksystems.com >Member Technical >Staff Silverback Systems, Inc. >Ph: 507-289-6910 ext 6# 204 4th >Street SE >Fax: >507-289-6917 Rochester, >MN 55904 >********************************************************************* > > > > > ><http://www.sfgate.com>SF Gate Home ><http://www.sfgate.com/news/>Today's News ><http://www.sfgate.com/sports/>Sports ><http://www.sfgate.com/eguide/>Entertainment ><http://www.sfgate.com/technology/>Technology ><http://www.sfgate.com/liveviews/>Live Views ><http://www.sfgate.com/traffic/>Traffic ><http://www.sfgate.com/weather/>Weather ><http://www.sfgate.com/health/>Health ><http://www.sfgate.com/business/>Business ><http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/>Bay Area Travel ><http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/>Columnists >Classifieds ><http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/>Conferences ><http://www.sfgate.com/search/>Search ><http://www.sfgate.com/index/>Index > > > > ><http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/sf.gate/tech;abr=!ie;sect=tech__art_topban;zip=;kw=locart+TEC;width=468;height=60;sz=468x60;ord=83544?> > > >The Wireless Underground >San Francisco's Free Computer Networks > ><mailto:feedback@sfgate.com>Annalee Newitz, Special to SF Gate Thursday, >March 22, 2000 > > >San Francisco, California, USA -- With a wireless ethernet card, a laptop >and some basic software savvy, you can get on the Internet for free from >almost anywhere in downtown San Francisco. In fact, you can get a lot more >than free Web surfing. You can waltz unhindered into dozens of corporate >networks and access passwords, databases and private e-mail. > >"We walked around the Financial District with a laptop and an antenna, and >we could pick up about six networks per block," says Matt Peterson, a >network engineer and founder of the <http://www.bawug.org>Bay Area >Wireless User Group (BAWUG). > >He described a simple experiment he and a fellow BAWUG member performed to >see just how easy it would be to find the locator beacons, or radio >signals, for unprotected wireless networks downtown. "I was doing random >things like aiming the antenna at the 18th floor of various buildings, and >boom, I'd be sniffing somebody's corporate network. "Peterson laughs >incredulously, adding, "I thought it was just a rumor that you could do >that, but it's not." > >The price of creating an 802.11b network -- a satisfyingly fast protocol >for wireless ethernet -- has come down so much over the past several >months that over-eager consumers are setting them up at work and at home >with very little regard for security. Partly because the technology is so >immature, built-in security measures are fairly primitive. Also, as an >anonymous San Francisco hacker told me sardonically, "Lots of people just >don't know how to set up a wireless network, so they make mistakes." > >For example, many tech workers who want mobility will plug a wireless >access point into their company network, creating a bridge between the >company's wired network and wireless devices. Once the access point is in >place, they can take their laptops to the park across the street and still >have instant access. But, as network security expert ><http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~iang/>Ian Goldberg commented, "What you have >to remember with wireless is that anyone within radio range can read >(data) packets from your network." > >Such mistakes are understandable when so much wireless technology is built >to be as open and user-friendly as possible. Often, a wireless access >point comes out of the box configured to allow anyone with a wireless card >to interface with it. And Mac iBooks with built-in wireless cards >automatically search for a network the instant a user boots up. As a >result, a tech-saturated city such as San Francisco is riddled with >hundreds of unintentionally open wireless networks. > >What's surprising is that very few people -- aside from the usual black >hat hackers -- seem to be abusing these vulnerable networks. Rather than >stealing bandwidth or private data from clueless 802.11b newbies, wireless >mavens are taking advantage of the openness of this new technology to set >up their own, deliberately public wireless networks. > >BAWUG member Cliff Skolnick has even posted a ><http://www.toaster.net/wireless/aplist.php>list of wireless networks that >are intended for the public's free use on the BAWUG Web site. This list >includes the <http://www.toaster.net/wireless/>802.11b network he recently >set up at his house, which has become a convenient resource for people who >boot up their wireless-endowed laptops at the Martha's Coffeeshop in his >neighborhood. > >"I set it up so I could drink coffee and have a connection," says >Skolnick, "and then several people found it by accident. I've gotten lots >of e-mails from people thanking me for it." > ><http://www.shirky.com>Clay Shirky, a well-known open source pundit and >partner with New York investment firm Accelerator Group, is thrilled by >all this network openness. "I'm not worried about security, because >security and convenience are always a tradeoff," he explains. A more >interesting issue for Shirky is an economic one: "Wireless technology is >easier to provide to a group than to individuals, so the question is >whether businesses and municipalities should go into providing 802.11b >networks." > >Shirky isn't referring to services such as San Francisco's Ricochet, a >wireless Internet access network provider from San Jose's ><http://www.metricom.com>Metricom. He wants to know whether citizens will >be given free or subsidized wireless access, as if it were a municipal >utility like water. He muses, "In New York, we have laws that give zoning >variances for skyscrapers in return for creating public spaces. These >public spaces could easily include 802.11b networks." > >Currently, San Francisco has no plans to make wireless a public utility. >Indeed, Denise Brady, deputy director of San Francisco's >Telecommunications Commission, had never heard of public wireless >networks. "I don't see a need for it," she said simply. "We're at the top >end of the scale in terms of market attractiveness here, so we have >commercial services like AT&T's new cable system to provide for us." In >other words, San Francisco's official position is that for now wireless >users will have to content themselves with services such as Ricochet. > >There's still hope, however. Grassroots groups in several other major >cities have already started community-based public wireless networks: ><http://www.seattlewireless.net>Seattle Wireless, Portland's ><http://www.pdxwireless.org>Pdx Wireless and London's ><http://www.consume.net>Consume are three of the best-known. > >A more capitalistic venture is the Starbucks-Microsoft deal announced in >January of this year, which may lead to wireless access for customers in >Starbucks coffee shops. In a similar vein, San Francisco's ><http://www.surfandsip.com>Surf and Sip helps businesses set up public >wireless networks for their clientele. > >But the fact remains that many San Francisco geeks with 802.11b cards are >getting Internet access for free just by poking around and looking for an >open network. > >This begs the question of what companies and individuals can do if they >don't want their networks to be open. Security expert Goldberg explained >that Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), the most common form of wireless >security, hasn't been tested nearly enough to be foolproof. > >He suggests that if you want your 802.11b network to be secure, the best >thing to do is configure your access point to be outside your firewall. >That way, people with wireless ethernet cards might be able to find your >access point, but they still have to pass through the firewall's security >gate to gain access to the private network. > >For now, however, most of San Francisco's wireless networks are open to >the public. It reminds Skolnick of the early days of the Internet, when >people would give each other connections for free. Among wireless users >today, he says, "Most people generally just don't mind sharing." > >Of course, he warns, you can't expect things to stay this way forever. >"It's nice to think of wireless as being free anywhere, but soon you're >going to see it getting more and more commercialized." And it will >probably be more secure, too. > > > ><mailto:tabloid@jps.net>Annalee Newitz is a freelance writer in San >Francisco. Find out all the gory details at ><http://www.techsploitation.com>www.techsploitation.com. > > > > > · Printer-friendly version >· Email this article to a friend > >CURRENTLY: > >Gate Tech exclusives: > >The Wireless Underground San Francisco's Free Computer Networks ><http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/went/msglist?forum=techlocal&msgPerPage=25&postnum=>(talk >board) > >Culture Rave SFMOMA Working The Technology Angle Overtime > >The Spy Who Hacked Me Will Open Source Be The Hero Of International Security? ><http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/went/msglist?forum=techexpound&msgPerPage=25&postnum=>(talk >board) > >Buying The Grid Gov. 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