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Wardriving Worries Residents
sphynx99 writes "This article describes how residents of an upscale neighborhood in Arizona are worried about wardriving, a "new method of privacy intrusion and identity theft". Nothing to worry about, though; "The Scottsdale Police Department plans to create a cyber-crimes unit next year."
purely passive wardriving is NOT a crime.
now connecting to their access point and using their internet/network for whatever... that might be, i am not a lawyer, so i cannot say. what i do know is that RF signals are not owned, for if they were i could sue for criminal trespass when the other guy's signals cross my property.
While the article is absolutely informative in a panic-causing sort of way, they're a little off on their history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardialing
While Wargames popularized the practice (among geeks anyway) it was not the origin of it.
It could be that their SSIDs were altered to something else, which is not all that uncommon, especially when you look at WIFI maps. So, if they hop on their laptop, and select the AP, the name could pop up saying "you are connected to XXXX" and that's how they might know something is up.
you can get access into any gated community with an access code beginning with "911" ("9110", "91100", etc.)
:)
if "privatized" = "stupid" then you're right
I fail to see what exactly they are going to arrest or prosecute people for.
This is a radio transciever operating completely within legal regulations.
If you don't want me to listen to your router's packets, don't transmit them.
If you don't want you router to respond to my 'specially crafted' transmissions, then tell it to ignore me.
Of course, it's far more complex than that, but current law does not seem to apply to this on the surface. It may apply to your actions once you are using their resources, but only marginally.
-Adam
And don't tell me that this is beyond the savoir faire of Joe Sixpack. Enabling WEP involves checking a box, and entering a passphrase, on a web admin page. About the same level of difficulty as sending an email.
If only that was true....
Setting up WEP at the router is that simple. However, if you're relying just on the passphrase, then all of your 802.11x equipment had better come from the same vendor. If not, you have to realize that the passphrase is converted into four key strings, and type that randomly generated key into each computer on your WiFi system.
For some reason, non-geeks just can't make that connection and all they know is that when they turn on WEP, things don't work.
You can easily crack the WEP key in under an hour these days. All ARP packets are 40 bytes (and nothing else is), so all you have to do is wait for one of those, then inject it back into the network. New replies will be generated, and you'll have more data for key-cracking. Repeat 1000 times a second, and enjoy your new AP :)
My other car is first.
...we disagree with the trial court's reasoning that the cordless telephone conversations were not private because of the ease of their interception. Such reasoning would erode the right to privacy as technology advanced to create simpler ways to intercept private communications of all types. ... "[f]undamental rights should not be sacrificed on the altar of advancing technology."...we do not believe that Joanne Stone's use of a cordless telephone clearly and unequivocally waived her privacy rights. The ... testimony indicated that Joanne believed her cordless telephone conversations to be just as private as if she had used a corded land-line telephone. ...Joanne Stone was conducting a conversation on a telephone in the privacy of her own home. Pavlik did not unintentionally or accidentally pick up Joanne Stone's conversations on the scanner, but targeted and intentionally monitored Joanne Stone's conversations with the scanner. The fact that it was easy for him to do so is irrelevant. The type of conduct that occurred in the ...case is exactly the type of conduct the eavesdropping statute was intended to discourage, and which we will not condone.
Actually I beg to differ, manuals these days are written for fuckin morons.
.PDF manuals on CD are worthless. They are not writing documentation for geeks any more, it is all targetted at Joe Average, and if he's not willing to read through literally 3 - 5 pages of setup, screw him I'll go wardriving myself.
Have you bought a Linksys, Dlink or Netgear product recently? If you did or plan to, RTFM, and you'll see that they offer next to no technical information any more.
Even their included
Not sure about US law (or realy even the local ones) but they tend to distinguish between stuff the owner has / has not attempted to secure.
ie if the doors and windows are locked, and you bypass them to get in, it is break-and-enter, but if the door is not locked, it's different.
Turning on WEP could be seen as locking the door - if you are determined to get in it won't really stop you, but it is illegal to enter because the owner has tried to stop you/informed you they do not want you to get in.
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-Steve
Huhhhh, I said marriage. http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=marriage%2 0AND%20mediatype%3Amovies
Definitely time for the rest of the nation to get with NH's laws regarding wifi. If you don't take adequate measures to secure your wifi AP then you are responisble for anyone accessing your network and for any damages they cause.
I think maybe ehack doesn't completely understand that the purpose of a lock isn't to keep everyone out. It is to *deter* theft. If a thief really wants to get into your house (or into your computer), they will find a way. But if you raise the level of difficulty or the chances of getting caught, most thieves will look for an easier target. So, if I'm trying to break into dorm rooms to steal money, I'm going to walk down the hall looking for open doors. If I don't find any, then I resort to lock picking. Most thieves aren't looking for the challenge. They are looking for an easy source of money.
GreyPoopon
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Why is it I can write insightful comments but can't come up with a clever signature?