Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

If I am in a Wifi hotspot that wants to be paid, will something tell
me so, or will it just not work?

Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own 2 but
haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting on a bench
somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc., with few problems.
The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:18:10 -0500, "Armond Perretta"
wrote:


Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own 2 but
haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting on a bench
somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc., with few problems.
The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

This can be done on an unsecured network, if you can get close enough.
Typical wifi networks are pretty short range. Google "wardriving" for
techniques and equipment. On even a minimally secured network, you
have to know the magic word or have a MAC address the access point
recognizes or both.

Bear in mind that unless the network was specifically intended for
casual use by passers-by, tapping into it is at best a grey area
legally. At worst, it is criminal unauthorized use of a computer
resource. Hacking, in other words. Harmless, but given an aggressive
cop and a DA that wants to run for governor next year, who knows what
could happen?

People are more suspicious and observant nowadays. Walking around
with a high tech device trying different angles and positions to get a
good signal looks suspicious as hell. If there's a guy in that town
that's been "piggybacking" kiddy porn and you get mistaken for him, it
could be a bad day. Good luck rounding up the pictures of yourself
doing the "perp walk".

Not that this worst case scenario is particularly likely, but most of
us have a lot more to lose than the kids who normally do this sort of
thing. I'm not being judgemental here. I don't see using someone's
spare bandwidth fora few minutes as particularly heinous. I just
think people should realize the downside before casually hacking into
someone else's network.


__________________________________________________ __________
Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at world wide wiley dot com
To reply, lose the capitals and do the obvious.

Take a look at cpRepeater, my NMEA data integrator, repeater, and
logger at http://www.worldwidewiley.com/

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:18:10 -0500, "Armond Perretta"
wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

If I am in a Wifi hotspot that wants to be paid, will something tell
me so, or will it just not work?

Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own 2 but
haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting on a bench
somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc., with few problems.
The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

I suppose that depends on where you are, but it did work here. I just
called up the thing that searches for connections and it identified a
long list of nodes, most of them password secured with first names lie
Mary and Chad, but others unsecured. One of the unsecured had a strong
signal, so I tried it. My web browser and mailer both worked fine.

I am amazed. I guess most of the nodes were my neighbors in this large
(about 500) apartment bldg. The node I used had a commercial sounding
name.

Thanks



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a


"Nuke the gay whales for Jesus" -- anon T-shirt

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:
"Armond Perretta" wrote:
Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

If I am in a Wifi hotspot that wants to be paid, will something
tell me so, or will it just not work?

Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own
2 but haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting
on a bench somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc.,
with few problems. The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

I suppose that depends on where you are, but it did work here. I
just called up the thing that searches for connections and it
identified a long list of nodes, most of them password secured with
first names lie Mary and Chad, but others unsecured. One of the
unsecured had a strong signal, so I tried it. My web browser and
mailer both worked fine.

I am amazed. I guess most of the nodes were my neighbors in this
large (about 500) apartment bldg. The node I used had a commercial
sounding name.

Yes, this will probably not work well on the Eastern Shore in Nova Scotia.
But then cell phones are pretty "iffy" there also.

Someone mentioned the legalities of "piggybacking" (which are far from
clear). The best reading is that as long as you are using another owner's
bandwidth and nothing else, you will not cause harm and are unlikely to
encounter difficulties. This is an ongoing topic in the wi-fi newsgroups.

The real reason that "piggybacking" is possible is that the average user is
blissfully unaware of the security aspects of wi-fi and does not secure his
or her setup. As long as web browsing is the activity, that's just fine.
But I would not do any banking or online purchasing on an unsecured network,
and even a "secured" network is vulnerable in many cases.

It boils down to how much effort an attacker is willing to put into breaking
in my network (and I suspect the answer is "not much.")

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

In article ,
"Armond Perretta" wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

If I am in a Wifi hotspot that wants to be paid, will something tell
me so, or will it just not work?

Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own 2 but
haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting on a bench
somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc., with few problems.
The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

DO be careful, as some of the "unsecure" Wifi nodes can/will capture any
logins & passwords, including those entered via cookie. The tech isn't
much different than that used by companies to monitor computer use.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 06:42:36 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

In article ,
"Armond Perretta" wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

If I am in a Wifi hotspot that wants to be paid, will something tell
me so, or will it just not work?

Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own 2 but
haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting on a bench
somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc., with few problems.
The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

DO be careful, as some of the "unsecure" Wifi nodes can/will capture any
logins & passwords, including those entered via cookie. The tech isn't
much different than that used by companies to monitor computer use.

Thanks, good point.



Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a


"We have achieved the inversion of the single note."
__ Peter Ustinov as Karlheinz Stckhausen

Make sure you disable Peer-To-Peer mode. That will
prevent anyone from accessing your computer directly.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Rodney Myrvaagnes" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 06:42:36 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

In article ,
"Armond Perretta" wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

If I am in a Wifi hotspot that wants to be paid, will something tell
me so, or will it just not work?

Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own 2 but
haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting on a bench
somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc., with few
problems.
The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

DO be careful, as some of the "unsecure" Wifi nodes can/will capture any
logins & passwords, including those entered via cookie. The tech isn't
much different than that used by companies to monitor computer use.

Thanks, good point.



Rodney Myrvaagnes J36
Gjo/a


"We have achieved the inversion of the single note."
__ Peter Ustinov as Karlheinz Stckhausen