Slashdot Mirror
Fonera 2 To Launch With Extended Functionality
The next installment in the Fonera router family is set to make its debut in a couple of weeks, and the additions to the hardware are relatively impressive. Promising full support for networked storage, automatic downloads, sharing of a USB 3G connection, and a few other perks in addition to the normal range of functionality found in the Fonera routers this package packs quite a punch. "Like the original Fonera and Fonera+ routers, the principals of this hippie-love-in-styled product still apply. You buy the router and hook it up to your internet connection as normal. The trick is that the router shares a part of your bandwidth on a public-facing connection. Other Fon owners can log in and use this public network for free. In turn, you — as a Fonera owner — can travel the world and use other Fon hotspots. It's a neat idea and everybody wins, except the money-grabbing telcos."
It does this all without a computer, so once you have it set up you can take your laptop out on the road and look forward to a new episode of Criminal Minds when you get home.
Why must people continuously tout the ability of these devices to aid in copyright infringement? Before you stop reading here, consider this: I'm posting this from an Ubuntu laptop. I publish all my software under the GPL and BSD licenses. I publish 99% of my other content under Creative Commons attribution-only licenses. So I'm doing my part to make the IP scene a nicer place.
All that said, it's ridiculous how many people would scream bloody murder over a GPL violation, while they're downloading someone else's content without the publisher's permission. This is beyond dumb, and it's precisely the reason BitTorrent is so poorly regarded by many publishers and ISPs. Yeah, I actually use it to download ISOs and other legal stuff, but to specifically encourage people to use it in ways that defy the law is idiocy.
People can't demand that their own rights be respected while they trample on those of others.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
I think the concept of Fon is excellent. But not all that useful in practice.
I live in a fairly populated area, and there are ~7 Fon routers within a five mile radius of where I live (Go to http://maps.fon.com/ to check around where you live). But every single one of those hotspots is in a residential area. Which is (I think) why I've never actually seen a Fon hotspot when I've been looking for WiFi. And, in the 6 months or so that I've ran a Fon hotspot out of my home, I've had zero outside connections.
I think the key to success for Fon would be to target businesses where people are typically looking for WiFi. Coffee Shops, Hotels and the like. The way it is now, I'd have to camp out on someone's Cul-de-sac to find a Fon hotspot.
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
Just wait... pretty soon it'll be illegal to provide an open accesspoint.
Because, you know, terrorists (or even child pornographers!) might use it.
The sad thing is, I'd be actually scared to put one of these up. People wardrive around my neighborhood all the time during the day... what if one of them was transmitting kiddie porn? Would I be legally liable? Even if I wasn't legally liable, would the potenital inconvenience of the legal issues outweigh the benefits of this product?
What if I live in Australia -- would I have to retain logs of all the traffic? And when will Americans be required to do the same?
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Since users would have to log in with their Fon account, wouldn't the burden be on Fon and not you?
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
I can't speak for anyone else, but it's against my ISP's Terms of Service to provide others with access to my internet connection.
Even if I just left my access point open, I'd be in violation.
If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot immediately.
"But officer! My router firewall is strictly RFC 3514 compliant! Only a hacker could have done anything evil with my internet connection, and I can hardly be responsible for that."
*gets booked on kiddie porn/terrorism charges and shived in jail*
the totally insane witch hunt we have going on when it comes to kiddie pron
Have you ever seen kiddie porn?
Usenet makes it all too simple, and let me tell you: it's not busty blonde 17 year olds "this close" to 18, and it's really, really disgusting.
Dude... How does the horribleness of those pictures in any way/shape/or form justify putting tens to hundreds of thousands of innocent people through trials and basically branded as guilty pedophiles for life, only to discover they really were innocent and let go?
Those peoples lives are ruined forever. Friends and associates lost, families torn apart, carriers ruined... All because the accusations make front page news for weeks, and the retraction and court outcome is 2 lines in small print somewhere towards the bottom of page E-10...
That is the witch hunt of which the GP speaks.
And No, I don't buy your excuse for why that is OK to do to people, simply because the pictures are really really disgusting.
If ANYTHING, that reason of yours should be EXACTLY why this madness needs to stop, so the real criminals taking the pictures and doing the child abuse might get caught, instead of given a week to get away while someone else is "investigated"
You truly are a sick person to prefer innocent peoples lives are ruined instead of the real criminals caught