[wsfii-discuss] Fwd: [india-gii] poor WiFi encryption a security risk

Thu Sep 18 23:32:16 UTC 2008

I do absolutely agree.

For sure put bombs to kill innocents is very sad, but to use this 
argument to restrict people's freedom capability to communicate, an 
argument that shouldn't be seriously considered in any circumstance. 
Absolutely wrong.

There are tons of ways to send messages.  You can do it even form a 
mobile, your own or even by bluetooth using someone's else.

This argument only can be in the benefit of big telcos to block other 
emerging participants, or governments willing to restrict civil rights, 
and cause no major difficulties to the terrorists, and they can be even 
happier because of the people becoming upset against their governments 
because facing restrictions.

En/na Kaplan L. Aaron ha escrit:
> On Sep 18, 2008, at 3:16 PM, wlanmac wrote:
>
>   
>> True, but your analogy isn't complete, in my opinion.
>>
>> Roads are patrolled by police and sometimes cctv. You need a license
>> to drive and are subject to random inspection. The postal system puts
>> safeguards in place to deal with threats. Cellular networks are
>> not free and open and they also monitor and track usage.
>>
>> What safeguards are put into open WiFi networks?
>> How are they patrolled and/or monitored?
>>
>> Closing the 'networks' you pointed out would indeed have serious
>> implications to business, life, and liberty. Does closing down
>> (or securing) WiFi have the same kind of consequences? hmm...
>>
>>     
>
> the problem with securing wifi is that WEP is still crackable anyway.
> WPA is just as good as the passwords the user chose.
>
> So the whole security topic should be seen more on an "internet level".
>
> you could just as well replace "open wifi network" in the  
> argumentation above by
> "internet cafe" or "university campus" or "DSL uplink". Why?
> Because we live in times of tor or other strong crypto anonymizers.
>
> So...
>
> no reason to bash at open wifi networks in particular in my opinion.
>
> a.
>
>
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