Techdirt flags another inaccurate and alarmist story about the dangers of allowing others to borrow your WiFi connection:
To demonstrate the danger, trouble shooters from Data Doctors take us “War Driving”. It’s where hackers drive around neighborhoods, and for the sport of it, record the address of unsecured networks and map them out on the Internet.
James Chandler, Data Doctors: “It’s strictly a game to them, but they provide a tool for anybody who is interested in the malicious, the criminal intent.”
And after war driving for just a few minutes, we find dozens of open home networks, some even registered in the family name.
James Chandler, Data Doctors: “They’re basically telling you, ‘I’m free, I’m not secure, connect to me.’ All I have to do is click a button and I’m ready to connect.”
And from the car, they could access everything sent across the signal–account numbers, passwords, business documents. If that’s not enough, they can make you criminally liable by downloading illegal material, using your computer’s Internet address.
The article makes the unsupported assumption that anyone seeking a WiFi connection must have criminal intent. In point of fact, a lot of wardrivers are just looking for a convenient place to check their email. Mike also points out that a hacker can only access traffic that’s not encrypted, and nowadays encryption is a standard feature of any website that deals with sensitive data.
As I wrote back in March, the increasing ubiquity of free wireless networks is a generally positive development. While we can and should educate users about the possible risks and how to lock down their network if they choose to do so, we should also recognize that if done properly, the risk of sharing your WiFi is quite small, and the potential to make the world a more helpful place is significant.
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