OPT: Re: Open 802.11b wireless access points and remailers

[Jim Choate]

http://einstein.ssz.com/hangar18

Come join the Plan 9 party...(anybody got 16-bit ISA EIDE Controllers for
sale? I've got two boxes I'll donate to the cause. One process, one file. 
I just can't find the #!*-]#@ controllers local).

The PC-104 format is something I highly recommend if you want something
specific like this. In particular,

http://www.emjembedded.com

1-800-548-2319

Slap it in a NEMA box and you're a happy camper.

It's one of the reasons I used 'small world networks' for my "Igor"
remailer (Perl on Plan 9).

In passing, if anyone is in Austin Thu. nite there is a key signing party
at the Austin Linux Group,

http://austinlug.org

On Tue, 24 Jul 2001 gbroiles at speakeasy.org wrote:

> Several years ago, there was discussion on the list about creating headless 
> or throwaway remailers (likely hidden in some institution where they could 
> get power and net access for a long time until they were discovered)- I 
> didn't spend a lot of time thinking about that, because I thought that the 
> necessary Ethernet (or other network) connection which would be made 
> between the hidden machine and the host network would make it easy enough 
> to detect and disable that it wasn't a productive direction for 
> exploration. (There are also any number of legal issues related to 
> trespass, unauthorized network use, etc., which may apply.)
> 
> However, that limitation may be withering away, with the spread of 802.11b 
> (or similar) wireless networks - the attached email describes a 
> Seattle-area system apparently set up by Microsoft in a shopping mall 
> providing free network access to people within the reach of its radio units.
> 
> An old laptop, a solar panel, some auxiliary batteries, and an 802.11 
> network card might be able to stay
> online for a long, long time in that sort of environment.
> 
> This also sounds like a good way to get casual, anonymous network access to 
> upload or download email - once upon a time, bad people who wanted to send 
> forbidden emails or browse hidden sites did that by going to public 
> terminals in libraries or web cafes or [...] - now perhaps they'll do that 
> at Starbucks or the mall, either for free or having paid cash for 
> short-term access via 802.11b wireless.
> 
> And, if you're the sort that's worried about permission, etc., the nice 
> thing is that these networks are explicitly intended for the use of guests 
> on the premises, so at least the first level of concerns about trespass or 
> unauthorized use are addressed.
> 
> These days, remailers aren't as exciting as they once were - perhaps the 
> next important tools are going to be Freenet or Mojo Nation nodes - but the 
> combination of wireless access plus anonymous access provides an 
> interesting opportunity for network participants which are physically 
> within a jurisdiction yet unavailable for punishment.
> 
> >To: seasigi-list at eskimo.com
> >Cc: decentralization at yahoogroups.com
> >From: Todd Boyle <tboyle at rosehill.net>
> >Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 15:24:14 +0200
> >Subject: [decentralization] Free wireless access at Crossroads
> >
> >Somehow I view this with the same sense of foreboding as the
> >spread of two different species of africanized honeybees.
> >
> >In business school we were taught that the incumbent in a
> >market generally wants to wait for upstarts to expend their
> >capital to deploy in specific places then, go to those
> >places and compete.   Drawing on billions of reserves
> >from product X, the larger vendor can give away product Y
> >for free.
> >
> >Todd
> >
> >
> >
> >From: "Michael Codanti" <michael at civis.com>
> >To: <dev at seattlewireless.net>, <ptp at lists.spack.org>
> >Subject: Crossroads Mall in Bellevue
> >Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 11:36:13 -0700
> >Organization: CIVIS Consulting
> >
> >I just thought I would drop a note to the lists about the Crossroads mall in
> >Bellevue, WA.  This is the one that Micro$oft has installed their test
> >MSChoice network.  We were on our way back from a trip to Canada and stopped
> >in at the mall.  Within seconds we were on the ChoiceNet network and
> >according to my tests we had a full T1 to ourselves. (1132k down/1250k up)
> >They have 4 Cisco APs and coverage appeard to be very good.  Their site says
> >you have to use the PANS client on Windows 2000, but I was using Windows XP
> >RC1 and it ever even asked me to authentidicate...  The most interesting
> >thing is that the StarBucks in the mall has their MobileStar AP up, but
> >signal strength sucked. (I was fairly close to StarBucks)  And considering
> >that ChoiceNet is free, and MobileStar wants $12/hour I don't know how much
> >business they will get...
> >
> >    Michael
>