On our 802.11b network, I can be at any marina in our service area (we provide marine wireless access) and my ping times to our router are usually 2-3 ms, and that's going through 3 wireless hops first.
That's pretty good in the latency department.
Me and a partner are setting up a system to provide (at a cost) wireless access from boaters. We live on the great lakes, and have many rich boaters here in the summer.
We've been doing some system testing lately, basically driving around and pointing a yagi around to test signal strength.
At just about every location we stop at, after testing we set the SSID to 'any' to see if anyone has open systems around. There are TONS!
Several large retail outlets, several homes, and even a few systems on large towers that we couldn't for the life of ourselves figure out what they were for. On some systems I tested to see if I could get a DHCP lease, and was generally successful.
We run our systems to not allow 'broadcast authentication', and we authenticate based on MAC. But, there are a lot of people around, even a 'Wireless ISP' in our area, that have completely open systems. Major retail stores certainly should know better!
If you get an AirPort, or any other base station, take some time and configure it correctly.
i work for an isp that resells several nationwide networks. most big networks, such as uunet, psi, c&w, etc all block port 25 traffic to all but allowed hosts.
on uunet, we can unblock 25 traffic by sending radius attributes. but, in general, people who use our dialup service and need to send mail through their third party web hosting or mail hosting providers need to simply use our mail servers for outgoing.
i recommend you tell your users to simply plug in mail.home.com, or whatever it is, as their outgoing mail server.
all in all, this is less of a problem and more of a security issue.
It's times like this that I'm glad as a web hosting provider that I run a wonderful open sourced operating system and web server. If this isn't enough to want to make a company switch to Linux, BSD, whatever - I don't know what is. This topic gave me a wonderful idea for a document that should be written. I have a feeling too many NT people stick with it because they're comfortable with it, it does the job although not perfectly, and they're afraid of how hard it might be to switch. I don't know if it exists, but if not there should be a howto, FAQ, or book written with the NT person in mind on migrating to Linux or BSD.
Quite simply, I think the company has a product that they could, with various modifications, market as so many different things. These things have the power for word processing, integrated devices, audio/video applications, home automation, the list goes on. If I had such a nifty device, I'd try to use it more than just an internet access device, especially considering broadband will sweep the nation over the next few years, and I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck with something we marketed only as a 56k internet device.
This isn't really a 'hack'.. Using high gain antennas to boost ERP is a VERY VERY common thing. My wireless ISP goes some far distances using 100mw wireless equipment, simply because we use high gain yagi and parabolic antennas.
There are a handful of providers offering wireless internet access to home and business users. I'm one of them. You can usually get speeds in the 500kbps - 2mbps range on a wireless package, both upstream/downstream.. The only current disadvantage is that the setup cost is usually rather high, as wireless network cards are a bit pricey, and a tower is sometimes required, depending on the situation. I DO know that the linux kernel has support for the wireless card in it. You might want to call some local ISP's and ask if they offer wireless access. If they say "duh, whats that" - have them give us a call.:)
The FCC probably thinks that since every company is having a hissy fit about DeCSS, MP3's, yadda yadda, that it has to as well. If private companies are afraid that their stuff will be copied and reproduced, then they won't embrace the technology. Also, digital in the eyes of idiots (a.k.a. recording industry and broadcasters) means easier to duplicate and redistribute.. If someone records something on their VCR, they are probably going to keep it themselves or lend it out on occasions.. Not too many people will make a digital copy. However, if they have a digital stream and can download a crack/program that will copy it to their computer, instantly that user can share a perfect copy of whatnot with the world, no special hardware or time needed. While I don't think they have a right for all of this copy protection crap, I can at least understand where they are coming from.
I myself have tried to get on numerous host listing lists and be rated.. Unfortunately there reqirements often require 24 hour phone support, which a small web host like myself cannot afford. Also, many of the lists have a 'fee' associated with them... And I certainly don't believe in paying to be listed as a good service. Although I'm very small and have less than 100 domains hosted with me, I know most of my customers by first name, and there is no need for 24 hour tech support since the one or two tech support e-mails I get a week are taken care of promptly. I think the size of the hosting company should not be a determining factor in quality of the company.
As a small web host myself (less than 100 clients), I know how terrible situations like this can be. While I've never had this extreme, there have been many situations where lawyers and companies have contacted me saying that one of my clients is infringing on so and so's rights. In my opinion (and in our terms of service), all content of the site is property of the client, and therefore all responsibility of content is that of the client. I will take the material down either a) at the request of the client, or b) by court order. It's easy to get scared as a "little guy". If I had been in this small hosts' shoes, I think I probably would have removed the material too until I verified the legitimacy of the FBI's claims.
I personally see a difference between HTTP headers and software sending out specs on our machines. HTTP headers have different characteristics. For one, ANY website can get them. They aren't hidden, there is lots of documentation about them, and they can help for various things, such as allowing a website to display a different page based on the browser, language, etc. When a private piece of software "hides" features to send information about a specific computer, it is not documented, not public information, and the data collected will probably not be recorded. The information can be sold to hardware manufacturers as additional income, etc etc. And this is just the beginning. Sure it currently may only send info about the video card, but what about if this gets overlooked. id could take it a step further, thinking that they won't get into trouble since the first time around they didn't. Quake 4 could send info about software installed, competing games/products, mods, who knows what. I don't mind someone knowing what IP I'm from and what browser I'm using. I certainly don't want people knowing much more than that, and when a game, a browser, or ANYTHING starts peering into things they shouldn't without my knowledge, I will certainly discontinue its use. If id really wants to know what kind of video cards we're using, why don't they ask us?!
Slashdot Mirror
On our 802.11b network, I can be at any marina in our service area (we provide marine wireless access) and my ping times to our router are usually 2-3 ms, and that's going through 3 wireless hops first. That's pretty good in the latency department.
Me and a partner are setting up a system to provide (at a cost) wireless access from boaters. We live on the great lakes, and have many rich boaters here in the summer. We've been doing some system testing lately, basically driving around and pointing a yagi around to test signal strength. At just about every location we stop at, after testing we set the SSID to 'any' to see if anyone has open systems around. There are TONS! Several large retail outlets, several homes, and even a few systems on large towers that we couldn't for the life of ourselves figure out what they were for. On some systems I tested to see if I could get a DHCP lease, and was generally successful. We run our systems to not allow 'broadcast authentication', and we authenticate based on MAC. But, there are a lot of people around, even a 'Wireless ISP' in our area, that have completely open systems. Major retail stores certainly should know better! If you get an AirPort, or any other base station, take some time and configure it correctly.
i work for an isp that resells several nationwide networks. most big networks, such as uunet, psi, c&w, etc all block port 25 traffic to all but allowed hosts. on uunet, we can unblock 25 traffic by sending radius attributes. but, in general, people who use our dialup service and need to send mail through their third party web hosting or mail hosting providers need to simply use our mail servers for outgoing. i recommend you tell your users to simply plug in mail.home.com, or whatever it is, as their outgoing mail server. all in all, this is less of a problem and more of a security issue.
Second!
It's times like this that I'm glad as a web hosting provider that I run a wonderful open sourced operating system and web server. If this isn't enough to want to make a company switch to Linux, BSD, whatever - I don't know what is. This topic gave me a wonderful idea for a document that should be written. I have a feeling too many NT people stick with it because they're comfortable with it, it does the job although not perfectly, and they're afraid of how hard it might be to switch. I don't know if it exists, but if not there should be a howto, FAQ, or book written with the NT person in mind on migrating to Linux or BSD.
Quite simply, I think the company has a product that they could, with various modifications, market as so many different things. These things have the power for word processing, integrated devices, audio/video applications, home automation, the list goes on. If I had such a nifty device, I'd try to use it more than just an internet access device, especially considering broadband will sweep the nation over the next few years, and I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck with something we marketed only as a 56k internet device.
This isn't really a 'hack'.. Using high gain antennas to boost ERP is a VERY VERY common thing. My wireless ISP goes some far distances using 100mw wireless equipment, simply because we use high gain yagi and parabolic antennas.
There are a handful of providers offering wireless internet access to home and business users. I'm one of them. You can usually get speeds in the 500kbps - 2mbps range on a wireless package, both upstream/downstream.. The only current disadvantage is that the setup cost is usually rather high, as wireless network cards are a bit pricey, and a tower is sometimes required, depending on the situation. I DO know that the linux kernel has support for the wireless card in it. You might want to call some local ISP's and ask if they offer wireless access. If they say "duh, whats that" - have them give us a call. :)
The FCC probably thinks that since every company is having a hissy fit about DeCSS, MP3's, yadda yadda, that it has to as well. If private companies are afraid that their stuff will be copied and reproduced, then they won't embrace the technology. Also, digital in the eyes of idiots (a.k.a. recording industry and broadcasters) means easier to duplicate and redistribute.. If someone records something on their VCR, they are probably going to keep it themselves or lend it out on occasions.. Not too many people will make a digital copy. However, if they have a digital stream and can download a crack/program that will copy it to their computer, instantly that user can share a perfect copy of whatnot with the world, no special hardware or time needed. While I don't think they have a right for all of this copy protection crap, I can at least understand where they are coming from.
This so far reminds me of the movie "Baseketball" - so even though it's a comedy, maybe there is something to be learned there?
I myself have tried to get on numerous host listing lists and be rated.. Unfortunately there reqirements often require 24 hour phone support, which a small web host like myself cannot afford. Also, many of the lists have a 'fee' associated with them... And I certainly don't believe in paying to be listed as a good service. Although I'm very small and have less than 100 domains hosted with me, I know most of my customers by first name, and there is no need for 24 hour tech support since the one or two tech support e-mails I get a week are taken care of promptly. I think the size of the hosting company should not be a determining factor in quality of the company.
As a small web host myself (less than 100 clients), I know how terrible situations like this can be. While I've never had this extreme, there have been many situations where lawyers and companies have contacted me saying that one of my clients is infringing on so and so's rights. In my opinion (and in our terms of service), all content of the site is property of the client, and therefore all responsibility of content is that of the client. I will take the material down either a) at the request of the client, or b) by court order. It's easy to get scared as a "little guy". If I had been in this small hosts' shoes, I think I probably would have removed the material too until I verified the legitimacy of the FBI's claims.
I personally see a difference between HTTP headers and software sending out specs on our machines. HTTP headers have different characteristics. For one, ANY website can get them. They aren't hidden, there is lots of documentation about them, and they can help for various things, such as allowing a website to display a different page based on the browser, language, etc. When a private piece of software "hides" features to send information about a specific computer, it is not documented, not public information, and the data collected will probably not be recorded. The information can be sold to hardware manufacturers as additional income, etc etc. And this is just the beginning. Sure it currently may only send info about the video card, but what about if this gets overlooked. id could take it a step further, thinking that they won't get into trouble since the first time around they didn't. Quake 4 could send info about software installed, competing games/products, mods, who knows what. I don't mind someone knowing what IP I'm from and what browser I'm using. I certainly don't want people knowing much more than that, and when a game, a browser, or ANYTHING starts peering into things they shouldn't without my knowledge, I will certainly discontinue its use. If id really wants to know what kind of video cards we're using, why don't they ask us?!