Leech my wi-fi? No way! (and messy rack)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which we debate the pros and cons of open-access Wi-Fi. Not to mention a really messy server rack...

Bruce Schneier raised eyebrows with this:

I run an open wireless network at home. There's no password. There's no encryption ... To me, it's basic politeness ... But to some observers, it's both wrong and dangerous ... Security is always a trade-off. I know people who rarely lock their front door, who drive in the rain (and, while using a cellphone) and who talk to strangers. [more]

Paul McNamara included:

Schneier ... argues that the risks are minimal - both to the network and legally - and that those risks are easily outweighed by the benefits of an open net. Reasonable people can disagree. But it's on the point of ISP terms of service that I believe Schneier's case falls ... The reason ISP terms of service forbid customers from sharing bandwidth with neighbors is as much or more about the provider's need to turn a buck as it is the finite nature of the product. [more]

Glenn Fleishman, too:

Schneier is a security savant, and I usually admire his writing. In this case, he wrote something quite stupid ... I don’t advise opening your home network because securing your desktop computers and even laptops is so much of a hassle most of the time, that simply disabling local network access—over which more attacks can be launched because many firewalls consider the local network a trusted network and lower their defenses—is the lowest-hanging fruit for average users’ protection. [more]

And Karl Bode:

Schneier ... runs through the traditional list of reasons why you should lock down access at home (child pornographers parked in your driveway, the RIAA suing you for your neighbor's piracy), and insists that the risks aren't all that great ... Of course if you've got a neighbor who's using your connection to trade film torrents 24/7, or if you just don't want those dirty techno-hippies using your connection, keeping your access point locked down is probably your best bet. [more]

But Tim Lee thinks Bruce is right on:

When I wrote something similar a couple of years ago, I caught a lot of flack from people who said that I was opening myself up to security risks, either from people downloading child pornography with my connection or from people hacking into my home computers and stealing my data. But as Schneier points out, neither of these risks is unique to your home wireless network ... If perfect security is your standard, you shouldn't connect to the Internet at all. [more]

Oh my, Joyce Carpenter agrees:

I have an open wireless at my house. Now I learn what good company I'm in. If it's good enough for Bruce Schneier, it's good enough for me. Our reasoning is a little different, though, and his is easier to use ... I don't have a DHCP server running, so anyone who wants to use my wireless needs to configure a static address on the correct subnet. I'm happy to do this for guests who don't know how, but drive-bys are strictly on the do-it-yourself system. [more]

Cory Doctorow, too:

I've run open wireless networks since the late 1990s (in five cities in three countries) and I've never encountered the problems that everyone says are inevitable -- network contention, crap from my ISP, busts for the child-porn my neighbors are downloading from my network. Instead, I've provided network access to innumerable people -- people like me: I can't count the number of times I've had my ass saved by an open wireless network at the right moment. [more]

But this Anonymous Coward has a cautionary tale:

If "Something Bad" were to happen from your IP address, there -will- be a knock at your front door in the early morning. Trust me. "Something" happened to my personal email server several years ago, and I had federal agents at my front door at 1am. I don't know what the heck happened - they wouldn't give me any details - but they seized my email server, and every computer in my household ... Cost me thousands of dollars in a retainer fee to a lawyer ... Talk about miserable. [more]

And finally...

• The worst cable mess ever

Buffer overflow:

• 4sysops - Will cloud computing render IT administrators jobless?
• How to Change the World: The Art of the Signup Page
• Karl, dslreports: Network Solutions Holding Domain Names Ransom
• Good Morning Silicon Valley: The iPhone story: Score one for the irresistible force
• Nate Anderson: FiOS tops satisfaction survey; worth moving for?
• Kees Leune: Establishing an incident response team
• Pete Lindstrom: Five Immutable Laws of Virtualization Security

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Ken Gagne: Do androids dream of electric Apples?
• Preston Gralla: Deadbeat FBI can't pay its phone bills, so telcos kill wiretaps
• Ian Lamont: The rise of online video: Looking beyond the strike
• Eric Lai: Who is the Lone Server? Funny Microsoft video
• Robert L. Mitchell: Mac by the numbers
• Mark Hall: Lawyers lasso IT staff
• Shark Tank: Fast service - maybe a little TOO fast
• Douglas Schweitzer: Hurry and report infectious disease ASAP. Then, wait....

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 22 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend...

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• OLPC reboots into Windows (and Ginger roadtrip)
• FCC to quiz Comcast on Bittorrent hoo-hah (and filmtypos)
• Gates' last hurrah at CES (and try-try-try again)