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Open Wi-Fi May Become Illegal In India
chromoZ writes with word that because of the serial blasts in Indian cities (and terrorist outfits claiming responsibility via email, often sent via Cyber Cafes and open Wi-Fi spots), sharing unsecured wireless access may get much tougher in India: "The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) after studying open Wifi networks is coming up with a set of guidelines and recommendations to secure them. 'All ISPs may be instructed to ensure that their subscribers using wireless devices must use effective authentication mechanisms and permit access to internet to only authorised persons using wireless devices.' An open Wi-Fi could be as much as illegal in India after this."
I recently toured Skandinavia. In every reasonably big city
(that means "more than 15 houses" over there), you can nearly
be sure to find some open access point. Of course, some of
those are cluess users using lousy default configs - but quite
a lot are deliberately open, with SSIDs like "welcome_to_stockholm".
One even ran a guestbook on the AP's port 80, accessible only :-)
from the inside. Lots and lots of grateful people from all over
the world had left a message before mine
That's the kind of culture I would like to see encouraged in
other places as well, not this "OMG terrorists" bullshit being
used as an excuse for more and more control in way too many
parts of the world.
That fails the "authenticate" requirement. In fact, it completely ignores that authentication (clearly and accurately ascertaining the identity of the connection user) is intended to be a mandatory precondition to access.
By analogy (not a car analogy, sorry), if you operate a liquor store and your local jurisdiction imposes an age-verification requirement (authenticate purchaser's age) before you can make a sale of an intoxicating controlled beverage (authorize the transaction), your solution is to ignore the "carding" requirement and sell to whomever you feel like. Which works great until the authorities haul you off to jail.
At best, you can argue that this is civil disobedience. More likely, it's just scoffing at the law. But it's not a solution.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
The current Indian government is the most ineffective and clueless one. The emails are sent after the bombs have gone off, after the victims are dead or injured. The damage is done. The terrorist will find another way of sending their message. Shutting down Open Wi-fi will achieve nothing!
where did my sig go? where's my sig at?
yea, this is quite idiotic.
terrorists don't carry out attacks because they have open wi-fi access. they simply use open wi-fi because it's available and convenient--the same reason everyone else uses it.
if they can't access the internet via open wi-fi they'll just use other anonymous channels. what is the Indian government going to do, eliminate public computer terminals at schools and libraries? ban proxy servers? or simply outlaw anonymity altogether?
it would be just as easy to claim responsibility for a terrorist act by leaving an anonymous note or spraying graffiti onto the side of a public building at night. should all Indian citizens have to get GPS implants?
Come on, anyone that has businesses or have lived a couple of months in India knows this "must be a registered user to get wifi" thing will be just BS. Basically, India is a shithole with 3/4 of their people eating their own dried shit to survive, they don't own a computer or have wifi.
The other 1/4, the guys that will use wifi, cell-phones, and answer your customer support call when you call your US telco hotline, those people are already registered wifi users. So, this is just stupid government propaganda. Harmless. There is no liberty and freedom fight in India. They fighting only to survive starvation...
In Sweden, it is common to either leave one's door unlocked so that passers-by can use the restroom, or have the house laid out such that a restroom is accessible from outside without passing through the house.