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EFF And Others Push For Open Wifi APs Everywhere
netbuzz writes "Forging ahead with an initiative that proved controversial when introduced last year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and nine other groups today are advancing the Open Wireless Movement to encourage ubiquitous sharing of Internet access. 'We envision a world where sharing one's Internet connection is the norm,' said EFF Activist Adi Kamdar, in a press release. 'A world of open wireless would encourage privacy, promote innovation, and benefit the public good, giving us network access whenever we need it. And everyone — users, businesses, developers, and Internet service providers — can get involved to help make it happen.'"
When I lived in SF I set up my home network to provide free wireless to the coffee shop at the end of the block.
QOS routing prevented guest bandwidth from interfering with my own. I put the wireless thing outside my firewall to protect my network.
Occasional casual monitoring suggested that no-one abused the network from either a bandwidth or content point of view. And the only thing it had protecting it was a "please don't abuse this or I'll take it down" welcome message.
TL/DR: Most people are basically good, so it (like wikipedia) works and isn't abused as much as you might thing..
I currently run an open wireless SSID as a guest connection and I am not concerned with being sued. Here in the UK, I don't think the law has yet been tested that you are held liable for someone else's actions. To my mind, if there's something suspicious about what "my" IP address is downloading, then they have to find proof that I'm responsible (e.g. files on my computer).
It's so easy these days to set up a secure internal wireless network and also a guest open network with appropriate bandwidth limits that I'm surprised that more people don't do it. I'm not concerned if people are freeloading as long as my connection isn't noticeably slowed down. I've got unlimited bandwidth, so why should I care if someone uses a little bit of it?
So far, I've not seen anyone camping outside my house so that they can download stuff and I've not noticed any high usage, so I think that most people tend to be reasonable with freely offered services.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
I use MonkeyBrains.net. When they came to install my point-to-point wireless connection they left an open AP called "monkeybrains". It is balls slow but they put one in that piggybacks on my link (below network layer). My neighbor also uses the service. When his home server went down and he was restoring his 5TB backup over his residential wireless connection they sent him and email and asked him about his spike in usage. He explained to them what was happening and they said that the wireless connections weren't really meant for that type of use. Then they invited him to bring the machine down to their office to plug it directly into a switch. The only reason why the "executives" from MonkeyBrains would be laughing is because they love the idea and the EFF. Local ISPs are pretty awesome. Setting up a WISP can be done with relatively low overhead using a cooperative model.
I do. If I didn't have a reason to be concerned I'd free my connection. If I had the time to setup my router to work as a guest access point and force users through Tor I'd definitely do it. I certainly promote others providing such access and do contribute to Tor as a node.