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California Passes Wi-Fi Guidance Law

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the he-wants-us-to-think-for-ourselves dept.

MrNonchalant writes, "California's legislature has passed a law requiring Wi-Fi device manufacturers to include warnings about security. From the article: 'From 1 October 2007, manufacturers must place warning labels on all equipment capable of receiving Wi-Fi signals, according to the new state law. These can take the form of box stickers, special notification in setup software, notification during the router setup, or through automatic securing of the connection. One warning sticker must be positioned so that it must be removed by a consumer before the product can be used.'"

4 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Let's hope the "warnings" are well written by SachiCALaw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A law like this is only as good as the warnings. If the warnings wind up being heavy on the legal boilerplate or tech jargon, not many of the people who really need them will be helped. But if they are written with the law's intended target in mind -- clueless Mom and Pop (or Ted Stevens) -- and use simple explanations and instructions for securing the WiFi connection, the law could be a good thing. That's said, I'm kind of pessimistic . . .

  2. California by dch24 · · Score: 5, Funny

    California has more warning stickers than just about any other state. WARNING: This post may cause reproductive harm, as it has been used on a website where counter-reproductive agents known to the State of California exist.

  3. Bad Idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I hope this doesn't lead to criminalizing open access points by brainwashing peole into thinking access points should be locked down and encrypted.. I provide free wireless to one of the coffee shops at the end of my block; and a friend of mine does to the other one. Of course our own computers are safely firealled off from the wireless access point which is in a sort of DMZ/outside our firewall.

    This idea that people should not share wireless (even when their ISP allows it) is just one more step in wrecking the freedom of the internet.

  4. Manufacturers can solve this problem easily by thesandbender · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Telling people how to do it is not going to solve the problem. When I headed up the IT department for my old company I established a program where people could fedex in their routers and we would secure them and fedex them back... at no cost to them (I successfully argued that the cost of next day air was less than the cost of a potential breach). One person out of a company of 300 took advantage of it. As much as I hate big government/big brother there are times when you have to overcome apathy but legislation. It sucks but it's true... and there is a simple solution to this problem. Almost every piece of commercial software you buy today includes a key that is, for practical purposes, unique. The technology to create, assign and distribute these keys exists and can be done at a price point low enough to pass on to the consumer without them caring (e.g. $5 a router, most of which pays for support and not the actual technology to do it). The legislation should not mandate that users are told *how* to secure the router. It should mandate that the routers are *shipped* secured, with a pseudo-random key pre-program and stuck on the outside of the router with a label. Just like the keys you get if you buy Windows. The problem is the support costs... but good documentation can take care of must of that, along with a little $ tacked onto the cost of the router.