[OpenWireless Tech] greetings! seeking open wireless projects

[Björn Smedman]

On Jul 19, 2013 11:27 PM, "Dan Auerbach" <dan at eff.org> wrote:
> We at EFF are writing up a taxonomy of existing "open wireless"
> commercial or non-commercial projects that have launched and would love
> input from folks on this list.

Have you seen Anyfi.net [1]? It's perhaps more of a
technology/solution than a project, but firmware images are
available [2] and inspiration-wise I think it should definitely make
the list. (But I'm a co-founder - so take with the usual grain of salt.)

Very briefly put Anyfi.net is a dynamic split-mac architecture [3] that
lets everybody stay connected to their own favorite Wi-Fi networks
wherever they go. You just connect as usual at home and from then on
your device will connect automatically on the go, through a Wi-Fi over
IP tunnel, whenever you come close to another Anyfi.net enabled access
point. From an end-user perspective it works exactly as if you were at
home; your device sees the home SSID and just connects.

It has a lot of desirable properties, e.g.: universal device support
[4], end-user familiarity [5], seamless user experience [6], spectrum
aware traffic prioritization [7], decentralized authentication [8] and
end-to-end security [9].

We usually include traffic traceability [10] in that list, but I can
see how openwireless.org could have another view on the desirability
of that. I think you may want to reconsider though, e.g. the EFF
doesn't recommend that you run a Tor exit node on your home broadband
connection... I'm not sure you can crack the "IP address as suspect
identifier" notion and still get widespread user uptake. And there are
other approaches to anonymity, e.g. distributing a "Tor Anonymous
Internet" SSID through all routers and terminating that traffic on the
Tor network [11].

Currently we only distribute binaries [12], but we're looking at open
source licensing options and would love to sort that out in dialog with
the community.

Cheers,

Björn

1. http://anyfi.net

2. OpenWrt based firmware images for some popular Wi-Fi routers:
http://carrierwrt.org#download. Integration is on GitHub:
http://github.com/carrierwrt/carrierwrt/pull/1.

3. http://anyfi.net/documentation#architecture

4. Anyfi.net just tunnels the Wi-Fi protocol over UDP/IP, so if your
device can connect locally it should be able to connect remotely.

5. Most people are familiar with and know how to use secure home Wi-Fi
(WPA/WPA2-PSK). For those that don't there's a social support
infrastructure in place; kids help their parents and so on.

6. Connecting on the go works exactly like at home; your device will
just connect automatically, and authenticate using the security
credentials already stored in the device.

7. Since our software integrates with the Wi-Fi chipset in the
"visited" access point on a low level (sending and receiving raw
frames on a monitor interface) we've also gone through the trouble of
implementing spectrum based traffic prioritization. You can think of
it as "unfair airtime fairness"; the home user is prioritized over all
guests. (We of course prioritize on the wired side as well.)

8. Devices authenticate against their home networks using the standard
IEEE 802.11i security mechanism (PSK or EAP), so there is no central
store of authentication information or encryption keys.

9. Since the Wi-Fi protocol is tunneled over UDP/IP the connection is
protected end-to-end by the IEEE 802.11 AES/TKIP encryption, i.e. the
encryption keys are only available to the mobile device and the home
network - not in the "visited" access point. You can think of it as
an automatic Wi-Fi based VPN.

10. The home network assigns IP addresses and routes mobile device
traffic to the Internet. Everybody retains their home IP address,
even as they roam seamlessly from AP to AP.

11. The platform can also support centrally terminated networks (even
with multiple termination points). You can combine seamless mobility
for everybody that has an Anyfi.net enabled router with distribution of
a centrally terminated network for those that don't:
http://anyfi.net/how-to-create-a-self-spreading-community-wifi-network.