I'm not trolling, and I'm not sick. I just don't agree with you, which is OK -- but you seem to think it's perfectly OK to personally attack me (by accusing me of 'being sick') just because my views and opinions don't fit into your paradigm.
Rather than personally attack me for my opinions and beliefs, why don't you take all that excess energy you seem to have and go educate people on how to set up their home networks properly so they don't leave their APs wide open -- unless of course that's what they intend to do, in which case they should be free to do so. I'm sure your community would be very appreciative of your time and expertise, and think of how much better you'll sleep at night knowing that you helped prevent so much "theft".:)
Why should someone be penalized because someone else doesn't have a clue about what they're doing? If this is the case then perhaps the owners of open APs should be held liable as well for creating an attractive nuisance?
I call bullshit; not a fair analogy. A hardline, baseband telephones allows ONE user to make ONE call at a time, call-waiting not withstanding. 802.11 allows for numerous simultaneous connections, as does TCP/IP.
So you are claiming that being ignorant is a defense? If being ignorant of the law is not defense against breaking it, then how can anyone in good conscience use ignorance as a defense when someone takes advantage of them in this case?
Does anyone who buys a wireless access point seriously believe that they are the only ones who will be able to access it?
That's the problem, my friend: they don't know the difference most of the time; most don't know there is such a thing as encrytion, let alone what it's called (WEP, WPA, etc).
What if, theoretically, you're in your house, and the open AP is one of your neighbors? And you're using the omnidirectional antenna that came with your wifi card? And it connected automatically? Should you be thrown in the pokey because your neighbor is a dumbass?
dwater said: Perhaps there should be a law to have Wifi routers labelled with a warning that anyone can access it unless they secure it. Then it's clear who's at fault (which, IMO, is the owner's fault for being ignorant).
Lax morals my ass. Where does "lax morals" end and "technically illiterate dumbasses" begin?
Any neighborhood I spend any time at, I can find at least one wide-open AP. I'll grant you that the AP manufacturers are at least 50% culpable because the default config for their APs is No Encryption, but the other 50% (probably more) is due to complete and utter technical ignorance on the part of the end user. For fuck's sake, I can find blank passwords to access the setup of these open APs all day long! I've set up at least as many of these APs as anyone else who reads slashdot on a regular basis, and they all have setup instructions that tell you how to change the password but NOBODY ever does it! It's like a 2007 version of "12:00" flashing on the display of a VCR: it stays that way because of utter technical illiteracy!
My final word on the subject of so-called "stealing" of someone's bandwidth via their wide-assed-open 802.11 AP?
"Call it evolution in action" (with no apologies to Larry Niven; in fact, he'd probably applaud me)
Not entirely true, actually. Really cheap chargers are current limited by design, but only by virtue of the fact that they choose a step-down transformer that can supply a specific amount of current, and that can handle being at 100% of it's rated capacity for long periods of time. For instance, the charger for my bicycle headlight charges a 6V 4.0AH NiMH pack. It's just a wall-wart, and you have to manually unplug it after 9 hours or slowly cook the cells. High-rate chargers for things like drills and other cordless tools will have some sort of active current-limiting scheme, very often charges in pulses so as to check the pack voltage, will have some sort of timing circuit, and usually some fault-detection circuitry to detect defective battery packs -- so that the charger and batteries don't end up being firebombs.
I assume you're using quick-charge batteries, charge in one to three hours? Here's why your battery packs are wearing out so fast:
They have limited charge/discharge cycles to begin with
Quick-charging batteries (e.g., at a rate faster than C/10) dramatically shortens the lifespan of the cells, regardless of whether they claim they're designed for quick-charging
Rapidly discharging the cells (as in high discharge-rate applications like a screwgun) also causes heating, which shortens the lifespan
Commencing a recharge cycle before the depleted cells have had a chance to cool after a high-rate discharge cycle is also very hard on them, further shortening their lifespan
Unfortunately that's just the way it goes with the application you're using them in; you have to keep working during the day, and that means keeping your screwgun supplied with current, which means quick turn-around on your battery packs.
Ultracaps don't have a fraction of the capacity per cubic centimeter versus basically any rechargable battery technology, even if the huge ones that (for instance) Maxwell makes for things like subway cars and streetcars do have an incredibly low equivalent series resistance (and therefore capable of tremendous charge/discharge rates). Compare that to the energy storage density of Li+; we're talking roughly 29 times the density with currently-available COTS technology. I have every confidence that if enough research money is invested in developing the technology they can reach the aforementioned 50%, but they've got a long way to go to get there.
I don't think anyone really knows anymore how to write compilers that generate small, efficient assembly code, or write applications in higher level languages that are small and efficient, either, do they?
Realistically, I imagine that one of the few excuses for such a thing would be that you'd buy it to silence a very small child, one young enough to want a Wii, but not old enough to really know the difference -- you know, like a child young enough to not know the difference between actually playing an arcade game at the pizza parlor, and just poking the buttons while the attract mode is playing through?
Not that I'm excusing HellMart in any way for this sort of thing. I find it to be a reprehensible form of marketing.
You got a score of 4 for an 'insightful' post; I say it should be a score of 5 for a 'funny' post instead, but darkly funny because that's likely to be exactly what will happen.;)
That's essentially what I had to say in the letter I just sent to the FCC about this, that IP spoofing and DoS attacks are prosecutable offenses in any other case, and how is this really all that different?
Why not take the fight back to them, and hack their servers in return?
Everyone remember recently how much trouble was caused by a transformer failure-caused power outage in San Francisco causing all sorts of chaos for a whole laundry-list of large internet sites? How many times do you think they'd suffer losses because hackers broke in and disabled their network(s), before they'd lose enough money (and face, for that matter) that we might not see them again, at least for a good long while?
Perhaps I'm influenced by my re-reading of authors like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson lately, but..
Why can't we fight fire with fire? Perhaps this hosting consortium is "bulletproof" in the legal sense, but is it bulletproof in the technical sense? Are they completely un-hackable themselves? We live in a nation full of some of the most talented hackers in the world, why don't we take the fight to their doorstep, relentlessly hack their servers as relentlessly as they try to hack us, and try to gain enough control of their networks to do some damage to them? A rather romantic idea, I'll admit, but still: others here have advocated acts of "civil disobedience" as being right and proper in certain contexts, wouldn't this be one of those contexts?
Fact of the matter is, it's made with an embedded processor, and likely the rest of the architecture is straight out of the embedded PC market.
First thing I thought when I saw it: Linux gateway router;)
I wouldn't at all be surprised if they're just going to these pirate operations, threatening them with criminal and legal action, then quietly making a deal with them to cut them in for a share of the profits.
Actually yes, it is, after a fashion; one conductor has a ribbed texture to it, the other is smooth. Even if it hadn't, I'd've used an ohmmeter and marked the ends with a Sharpie marker.
Sheesh. I'm no genius, but I could've come up with some of those scams myself, assuming I could selectively switch off my conscience, and I'd be living high off the fool parted with his money..
Ironically enough I was having a conversation on the topic of (professional) audio cables in general late Saturday night, with about half the people in the rock band I run sound for sometimes. Snake-oil isn't limited to consumer-level audiophiles; there are predators out there targeting musicians as well, trying to convince them that they need to spend twice as much on specialized cables that are "tuned" for an electric guitar, or "tuned" for a bass guitar, or "tuned" for a synthesizer. What brought that subject up, was my pointing out the need for the band to own longer speaker cables for the mains -- a pair of them around 100 feet -- and that I was going to go price out something like this (it's appliance power cable) at the local building supply and build them myself, to save them money -- because there really isn't much difference that matters between that and what is sold as "speaker cable".
Oh, and by the way, what I used to wire the surround-sound speakers in my living room with? I used 18ga white lamp cord, purchased at Home Depot. Or if you prefer, I'll "certify" said same, and sell it to you for the amazing price of $10/foot; I'll even cut it to custom lengths for you and solder pretty little gold-plated connectors on the ends for you, if you like.;-)
Slashdot Mirror
Can I come live with you? :D
I'm not trolling, and I'm not sick. I just don't agree with you, which is OK -- but you seem to think it's perfectly OK to personally attack me (by accusing me of 'being sick') just because my views and opinions don't fit into your paradigm. Rather than personally attack me for my opinions and beliefs, why don't you take all that excess energy you seem to have and go educate people on how to set up their home networks properly so they don't leave their APs wide open -- unless of course that's what they intend to do, in which case they should be free to do so. I'm sure your community would be very appreciative of your time and expertise, and think of how much better you'll sleep at night knowing that you helped prevent so much "theft". :)
Why should someone be penalized because someone else doesn't have a clue about what they're doing? If this is the case then perhaps the owners of open APs should be held liable as well for creating an attractive nuisance?
I call bullshit; not a fair analogy. A hardline, baseband telephones allows ONE user to make ONE call at a time, call-waiting not withstanding. 802.11 allows for numerous simultaneous connections, as does TCP/IP.
So you are claiming that being ignorant is a defense? If being ignorant of the law is not defense against breaking it, then how can anyone in good conscience use ignorance as a defense when someone takes advantage of them in this case?
That's the problem, my friend: they don't know the difference most of the time; most don't know there is such a thing as encrytion, let alone what it's called (WEP, WPA, etc).
If you live in one of those areas where this is the standard practice, you're getting screwed.
What if, theoretically, you're in your house, and the open AP is one of your neighbors? And you're using the omnidirectional antenna that came with your wifi card? And it connected automatically? Should you be thrown in the pokey because your neighbor is a dumbass?
Yes, damnit! Someone else gets it!
Any neighborhood I spend any time at, I can find at least one wide-open AP. I'll grant you that the AP manufacturers are at least 50% culpable because the default config for their APs is No Encryption, but the other 50% (probably more) is due to complete and utter technical ignorance on the part of the end user. For fuck's sake, I can find blank passwords to access the setup of these open APs all day long! I've set up at least as many of these APs as anyone else who reads slashdot on a regular basis, and they all have setup instructions that tell you how to change the password but NOBODY ever does it! It's like a 2007 version of "12:00" flashing on the display of a VCR: it stays that way because of utter technical illiteracy!
My final word on the subject of so-called "stealing" of someone's bandwidth via their wide-assed-open 802.11 AP?
"Call it evolution in action" (with no apologies to Larry Niven; in fact, he'd probably applaud me)
Not entirely true, actually. Really cheap chargers are current limited by design, but only by virtue of the fact that they choose a step-down transformer that can supply a specific amount of current, and that can handle being at 100% of it's rated capacity for long periods of time. For instance, the charger for my bicycle headlight charges a 6V 4.0AH NiMH pack. It's just a wall-wart, and you have to manually unplug it after 9 hours or slowly cook the cells. High-rate chargers for things like drills and other cordless tools will have some sort of active current-limiting scheme, very often charges in pulses so as to check the pack voltage, will have some sort of timing circuit, and usually some fault-detection circuitry to detect defective battery packs -- so that the charger and batteries don't end up being firebombs.
- They have limited charge/discharge cycles to begin with
- Quick-charging batteries (e.g., at a rate faster than C/10) dramatically shortens the lifespan of the cells, regardless of whether they claim they're designed for quick-charging
- Rapidly discharging the cells (as in high discharge-rate applications like a screwgun) also causes heating, which shortens the lifespan
- Commencing a recharge cycle before the depleted cells have had a chance to cool after a high-rate discharge cycle is also very hard on them, further shortening their lifespan
Unfortunately that's just the way it goes with the application you're using them in; you have to keep working during the day, and that means keeping your screwgun supplied with current, which means quick turn-around on your battery packs. Ultracaps don't have a fraction of the capacity per cubic centimeter versus basically any rechargable battery technology, even if the huge ones that (for instance) Maxwell makes for things like subway cars and streetcars do have an incredibly low equivalent series resistance (and therefore capable of tremendous charge/discharge rates). Compare that to the energy storage density of Li+; we're talking roughly 29 times the density with currently-available COTS technology. I have every confidence that if enough research money is invested in developing the technology they can reach the aforementioned 50%, but they've got a long way to go to get there.I don't think anyone really knows anymore how to write compilers that generate small, efficient assembly code, or write applications in higher level languages that are small and efficient, either, do they?
Realistically, I imagine that one of the few excuses for such a thing would be that you'd buy it to silence a very small child, one young enough to want a Wii, but not old enough to really know the difference -- you know, like a child young enough to not know the difference between actually playing an arcade game at the pizza parlor, and just poking the buttons while the attract mode is playing through? Not that I'm excusing HellMart in any way for this sort of thing. I find it to be a reprehensible form of marketing.
I forsee a possible Cease and Desist Letter in Wal-Mart's future. ;)
What a bunch of asshats!
You got a score of 4 for an 'insightful' post; I say it should be a score of 5 for a 'funny' post instead, but darkly funny because that's likely to be exactly what will happen. ;)
I wish I had a choice, there are no other broadband providers for where I live, I'd have to move to get Surewest or DSL from anybody. :-/
That's essentially what I had to say in the letter I just sent to the FCC about this, that IP spoofing and DoS attacks are prosecutable offenses in any other case, and how is this really all that different?
Everyone remember recently how much trouble was caused by a transformer failure-caused power outage in San Francisco causing all sorts of chaos for a whole laundry-list of large internet sites? How many times do you think they'd suffer losses because hackers broke in and disabled their network(s), before they'd lose enough money (and face, for that matter) that we might not see them again, at least for a good long while?
Perhaps I'm influenced by my re-reading of authors like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson lately, but..
Why can't we fight fire with fire? Perhaps this hosting consortium is "bulletproof" in the legal sense, but is it bulletproof in the technical sense? Are they completely un-hackable themselves? We live in a nation full of some of the most talented hackers in the world, why don't we take the fight to their doorstep, relentlessly hack their servers as relentlessly as they try to hack us, and try to gain enough control of their networks to do some damage to them? A rather romantic idea, I'll admit, but still: others here have advocated acts of "civil disobedience" as being right and proper in certain contexts, wouldn't this be one of those contexts?
Fact of the matter is, it's made with an embedded processor, and likely the rest of the architecture is straight out of the embedded PC market. First thing I thought when I saw it: Linux gateway router ;)
This is your brain. :p
This is your brain, overclocked. *splat*
Any questions?
I wouldn't at all be surprised if they're just going to these pirate operations, threatening them with criminal and legal action, then quietly making a deal with them to cut them in for a share of the profits.
Actually yes, it is, after a fashion; one conductor has a ribbed texture to it, the other is smooth. Even if it hadn't, I'd've used an ohmmeter and marked the ends with a Sharpie marker.
Ironically enough I was having a conversation on the topic of (professional) audio cables in general late Saturday night, with about half the people in the rock band I run sound for sometimes. Snake-oil isn't limited to consumer-level audiophiles; there are predators out there targeting musicians as well, trying to convince them that they need to spend twice as much on specialized cables that are "tuned" for an electric guitar, or "tuned" for a bass guitar, or "tuned" for a synthesizer. What brought that subject up, was my pointing out the need for the band to own longer speaker cables for the mains -- a pair of them around 100 feet -- and that I was going to go price out something like this (it's appliance power cable) at the local building supply and build them myself, to save them money -- because there really isn't much difference that matters between that and what is sold as "speaker cable".
Oh, and by the way, what I used to wire the surround-sound speakers in my living room with? I used 18ga white lamp cord, purchased at Home Depot. Or if you prefer, I'll "certify" said same, and sell it to you for the amazing price of $10/foot; I'll even cut it to custom lengths for you and solder pretty little gold-plated connectors on the ends for you, if you like. ;-)