[OpenWireless Tech] No problem with Open Wireless

[John Gilmore]

> Brad> How many people are willing to be the Kent State victims...
> 
> Brad> Feel free to put your money where your mouth is and actively go
> Brad> out and seek UC Davis or Kent State type experiences and then
> Brad> report back to us how well this works for you to encourage
> Brad> others to do the same.  We'll wait.

No need to wait.  I've been running one or more open wireless networks
on and in my house for many years.  I had one on my roof back when it
was called "802.11b" instead of WiFi -- when you could actually hear a
signal from blocks away.  (Now there's so much other WiFi traffic
nearby that I can't see my access points from more than a few houses
away.)

So far nobody has sued me, broken into my house, tried to shut down
my internet access, etc.  Of course, I exercise discretion in choosing
my ISPs - I'm not on one that claims I can't run servers or access
points.

I've also run or helped with an open wireless network at Burning Man
for a decade, starting with satellite backhaul.  Last year we had a
40-megabit microwave backhaul to a nearby mountaintop tower.  Dozens
of theme camps connected to our secured wireless backbone, and offered
the public open WiFi access.  No problems there, either.

I regularly find open wireless networks as I roam around, though many
that claim to be open end up having those "portal pages" for logging
in, or otherwise agreeing to somebody's one-sided terms and
conditions, before they drop their firewall.  I often notice this only
because my https web accesses don't work after I connect.  I would not
advocate that we design something that requires a man-in-the-middle
portal with a checkbox to force people to run a web browser and click.
Any device should be able to connect without authorization, and
immediately pass real, unfiltered Internet traffic.  If your pedometer
wants to report your jogging time, or your camera wants to upload the
three pictures you took before you wandered into open WiFi range, it
should work.  These apps should all be supported without manual
intervention.

I think we should put our attention on solving some of the real
problems in open access wireless, such as its susceptibility to
radio-link wiretapping, its lack of ease of configuration, and do some
negotiation with ISPs to improve their terms.  Forcing every open
wireless node down a VPN strikes me as a lot of work that somebody
else could do later, or "maybe never".  For example, it would require
protocol changes in every client device.  Real "open wireless" would
work with unmodified client devices.

	John