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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?

5 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. already by adairw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    slashdotted

  2. Why. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are a lot of "cute" AP names around, but mine is what the thing came with. The extent of my interest in that equipment is knowing I've properly secured it, and occasionally looking at the access logs. Beyond that I don't care. I've already thought about it way too much today.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Why. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He declared that the SSID he uses "is what the thing came with", which is probably a bad choice and definitely bad advice, since it can't be assumed that default SSIDs are not the same for many devices. Some manufacturers uses SSIDs with random character sequences, but many don't. The SSID is indeed used as a seed value in the calculation of the session keys, so not using a standard SSID increases the security.

      Besides, there are other good reasons for choosing a unique SSID: Your laptop won't try to connect to other networks with the same SSID as yours and it makes debugging simpler. There's no need to be cute, witty or offensive, but not changing the default at all is not a good idea.

  3. Re:What you are doing is ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, and IIM by adolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Indeed. It's public information, broadcast on some of the most public of the public airwaves -- the 2.4GHz ISM band. Nothing needs decrypted (therefore, various satellite and terrestrial broadcast rules don't apply, nor the DMCA), and nothing needs accessed (therefore, various computer access rules don't apply). Further, an SSID is too short for a meaningful copyright, and trademark law doesn't apply since it's not used in trade. And, of course, recording and publishing these things is simply recording and publishing a list of facts; a practice which has long been protected by various laws and rulings.

    --
    Kid-proof tablet..
  4. Re:Best SSID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ACTUALLY ... if you ever run into the hell that is a DUPLEX MISMATCH, you'll be grateful that your SWITCH does in fact have a COLLISION LIGHT.

    Why yes, I am CAPITALIZING random WORDS this evening. It's a RESULT of the prodigious quantity of ALCOHOL I have been drinking.

    THANK YOU. Now go back to scribbling about THINGS you DO NOT FULLY appreciate. This is SLASHDOT, after all. :-)