Networking World: Open Wi-Fi, a national risk

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER
08/23/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Backspin columnist Mark Gibbs says we need to look at this
issue in the bigger picture of national security
* Links related to Gibbs & Bradner
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Open Wi-Fi, a national risk

By Mark Gibbs

"This is very similar to you walking down the street where a
store has apples and oranges, and you grab one and keep going .
. . "

- Ovum Vice President of Wireless Telecom Roger Entner
highlighting the gap between his reality and that of the rest of
the world.

Opinions have been flying all over the place about the recent
Florida Wi-Fi theft case
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/070705-wifi-arrest.html>
that was extensively covered in the press in July - you
remember, the one in which one Benjamin Smith, 41 (why do they
always quote people's ages? I want to know how tall he is, his
shoe size, his weight . . . the stuff that really matters),
allegedly accessed an unsecured residential Wi-Fi connection
while parked outside the "victim's" home.

What Smith was doing has never been made clear (he was most
likely picking up his e-mail), and indeed, exactly how he was
caught is also a mystery, but we do know he wasn't on the
"victim's" property.

As to the legality of what Smith was doing, there's a huge gray
area over whether unauthorized Wi-Fi use is illegal, but what
really staggered me was that Smith was arrested and charged with
"unlawfully accessing a computer network." This is a crime that
carries a penalty of as much as five years in prison.

As far as I can find out, Smith wasn't hacking - in the accepted
sense of the word - into the service. It was more like someone
reading a book using the light spilling from someone's porch
while standing on a public sidewalk.

Don't like that analogy? Well, we can argue endlessly over what
might be a suitable one for using someone else's Wi-Fi
connection without permission. But as always, digital
technologies make real-world analogies tenuous at best.

There has been a huge amount of commentary about this case (most
of it pretty silly) but search as I might I can't, at least as
of last week, find out what has happened to Smith. Maybe they
let him go with a warning ("don't let us find you Wi-Fi rustlin'
in these here parts no more, else we'll tar and feather your
PC"), or maybe some idiotic district attorney is working himself
into a moral frenzy and planning to request the death penalty.
Who knows?

Surreal standards

What I know is that there is a surreal quality to the case and
that prosecuting Smith would seem to run counter to what I
thought was our society's immediate concerns over national
security. After all, Smith wasn't responsible for the open
access point.

Just think: If Smith had been a terrorist, he might have been
sending messages to Osama bin Laden. The owner of the unsecured
Wi-Fi connection then would have been, in fact, guilty of aiding
and abetting the enemy.

Smith, who at best is a pawn in the whole affair, is almost
certainly not a terrorist. But before him there could well have
been a terrorist or gangster or other ne'er-do-well using that
same unsecured connection.Get a grip!Folks, we need to get a grip
here. We need to look at this issue in the bigger picture of
national security. The bigger picture means that Smith is not
guilty of anything and the owner of the unsecured Wi-Fi
connection is definitely guilty. Guilty of gross negligence and
guilty of undermining the security of our country.

The same goes for anyone or any company that has unsecured Wi-Fi
access. That applies to all those pinko, commie coffee houses,
parks and wishy-washy liberals who just don't get it. Free Wi-Fi
is a national security risk, an open door for the fifth column.
An unsecured Wi-Fi point is simply a foothold for the enemies of
freedom, and anyone who owns an open Wi-Fi access point should
be prosecuted for treason. And hung.

Of course, that's just my opinion.

Your opinion to <mailto:backspin@gibbs.com>. And check Gearblog
<http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/gearblog>.

RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

Mooching Wi-Fi
08/08/05
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/080805widernet.html

Man arrested for hopping on to home Wi-Fi network
07/07/05
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/070705-wifi-arrest.html

The latest wireless security news
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/wireless-security.html

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Cisco preparing management play
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5686>

2. VoIP security threats: Fact or fiction?
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad3812>

3. Questions surround smartphone security
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5687>

4. CLECs play a new tune
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5688>

5. Google goes berserk
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5689>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cisco preparing management play
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5690>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Mark Gibbs

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist
and he writes the weekly Backspin
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html> and Gearhead
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gearhead.html> columns
in Network World, as well as the Gearblog blog
<http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/gearblog/> . We'll spare
you the rest of the bio but if you want to know more, go to
<http://www.gibbs.com/mgbio>. Contact him at
<mailto:webapps@gibbs.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponosred by Arbor Networks
Special Report: Internal Intrusion Prevention: Providing
Network Security Inside the Perimeter

Gibbs archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html

Bradner archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/bradner.html
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Networking World

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Open Wi-Fi, a national risk

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