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Auto-Scanning the Names People Choose For Their Wireless APs

Posted by timothy on from the just-name-them-all-hidden dept.

MichaelSmith writes "I code on the tram, going to and from work, and I noticed that there are a lot of WiFi access points along the way. So one week I made it my job to write an automatic scanner which runs from a cron job every minute during commuting times. My backup script pushes the new AP names to my web server and you can read it online. It is a mixture of the straightforward, naive and funny, with a few pop culture references along the way. The first column in the file is the number of access points with that name. The second column is the AP name, in brackets to pick up white space." Why can't "Dress Me Slowly" and "Domestic Bliss" just share an AP?

9 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. Best SSID by thewils · · Score: 5, Funny

    The SSID I use is "Honeypot"

    --
    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
    1. Re:Best SSID by cpt+kangarooski · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't you mean Get off my LAN?

      --
      -- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
    2. Re:Best SSID by cdrudge · · Score: 5, Funny

      The w in lawn is silent.

  2. Having RTFA for once... by AccUser · · Score: 5, Funny

    My favourite is the tie fighter: ]-o-[

    --

    Any fool can talk, but it takes a wise man to listen.

  3. Re:hi neighbor! by OverlordQ · · Score: 5, Funny

    Upside-Down-Ternet.

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
  4. Re:Once in Washington DC... by Gangis · · Score: 5, Funny

    I saw one near a Subway restaurant that said "Jared Is Still Fat"

    Also died laughing.

    --
    "Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steve Wright
  5. Best Secure SSID by AmigaHeretic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I got rid of of passwords, WPA,WPA2,WEP or whatever crap and just changed my SSID to "$5.99 per minute".

    I check the logs and have never seen a single person connect to my router.

  6. Re:answer. by GigaplexNZ · · Score: 5, Funny
    Opening line:

    I code on the tram, going to and from work and I noticed that there are a lot of wifi access points along the way.

    I thought about it.

    Sincerely,
    Derp

  7. Quiet Street by Jeffrey_Walsh+VA · · Score: 5, Funny

    I leave an AP open using my street number as SSID. Its outside my firewall and bandwidth is throttled to 15% of my 15/25 Fios. I check the logs sometimes. Its usually someone who came out on a service call, probably logging the job and gettting directions to the next gig. I saw repeated connections once so I blocked the mac address. Shortly after, my close freinds next door noted to me that thier wireless stopped working. I went over and set up their Fios router for wireless.