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November 11, 2005WiFi? Say whaaaaat?
I forgot to mention it in my post a little earlier, but I discovered that somebody in my immediate area has WiFi--which is how I'm typing up this post from my couch.
It makes no sense. It's like something out of a William Gibson cyberpunk novel, where the basics of decent living have been ignored, but everybody's wired for full internet access. My floors squeak and I have to wade out to my car when it rains, but I can get connect at 11Mbps anywhere in my apartment? Surreal...
And who the hell in this complex has WiFi, anyway? Is there some kindred spirit, similarly locked away in his or her unit for fear/contempt of the neighbors. If only I'd known. We could have wailed and gnashed our teeth together.
Posted by patrick at November 11, 2005 11:03 PM
CommentsIt is surreal. Especially when you consider how dangerous it is to leave a wireless connection open like that. Unprotected signals, which take 30 seconds to encrypt with WEP mind you, are accidents waiting to happen. All you need is some idiot sharing your connection to surf child porn or troll the chat rooms for underage liasons. Don't be surprised if the FBI comes a-knocking. After all, they traced the pedophile's IP back to YOUR router. (PS: Alter your blog settings to allow carraige returns in comments. This paragraph is screaming for proper formatting!)
This may just be a little cyber-fear mongering, but there is a risk. Especially when it comes to your personal information on your computer. Open connections make it stupid-easy to hack.
Weena and I have five juicy connections to choose from in our neighborhood. FIVE succulent unprotected signals. Time to fire up Kazaa and download as much music/movies as I can before the RIAA vans start patrolling the streets.
Posted by: James at November 13, 2005 01:53 PM
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