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[ NNSquad ] Re: Wi-Fi owner flips images for unwanted neighbors


Ethics? In whose favor - the sociopath or the accidental passerby?

An open access point is a beacon pulling in connections (IANAL but it might be an attractive hazard). Take some responsibility and be a mensch. Of course all traffic should be encrypted to protect against sociopaths who view everyone else as prey. In the present regimen you can lock down your access points but if you don’t you better hope the guy you hack is not a lawyer or a bored ambulance chaser.

If I walk across your lawn you don't have a right to trip me or scramble any pictures I'm looking at or splash paint onto my suit. If I’m on your porch and ask for directions you don’t have the right to lie to me just because I’m trespassing.

Stealing communications? How 19th century. Next you'll say I'm stealing light from your porch light and you'll flicker it to punish epileptics who walk by? Or maybe you'll hack your phone so that dialing 911 gets them to the laugh line in case someone happens to use the phone in your backyard in an emergency?

(Texas may be different and you may be legally obligated to shoot anyone who visits your propertyL).

This is not a zero sum game you should share your bounty with an open access point or second SSID that doesn’t expose your systems. Maybe someone will return the favor.

-----Original Message-----
From: nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org [mailto:nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org] On Behalf Of Joe Baptista
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 22:50
To: Lauren Weinstein
Cc: nnsquad@nnsquad.org
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: Wi-Fi owner flips images for unwanted neighbors

 

 

I think you over analyzed this. With a little modification you could capture

data just like a man in the middle attack.

 

The ethics here are clearly in his favor. If your on my network illegally I

have every right to investigate as well as interfere with your access. I get

the point though. With some modification to the hack you could really get to

know your neighbors off the data harvested.

 

But I get your point. People could get nasty and do something like transfer

the wifi pirates bank accounts could end up donated to charity of the local

library computer. Police have no time to investigate cybercrime. They don't

even know where to start. Police departments that do have specialized

cybercrime units don't have the time to investigate something like that.

They are too busy chasing child porn.

 

The police don't care either. Our police are too busy chasing criminals and

donut hopping. I can see someone using a modification of the hack to capture

all the users data to find out where the evil villain lives on the block.

Essentially all the proof required to get the police to act on it and charge

the neighbor. After all It is a crime to steal communications. I can see

some anal retentive fool without a sense of humor using this to "charge"

their neighbors with a crime.

 

I'm going to use the hack myself to redirect all wifi users to a dead end

page page that says "sorry you have reached the end of the Internet - please

restart your computer".

 

So yes - it could be abused - but the hack itself show us the author has a

good sense of humor. The blur function is neat.

 

regards

joe baptista

 

Come on Lauren - its funny. One could have fun this hack.

 

   [ Like I said, it's a cute hack.  But as you also note above, there

     are all sorts of ways abuse could creep in.  This seems like a

     rather binary decision to me.  If you want to run an open Wi-Fi

     with your eyes also wide open to the associated issues, that's

     fine, great in fact.

 

     But, if you don't want to provide an access service to random

     people who are getting onto your Wi-Fi, close it with access

     control.  To leave it open and then play mind games with

     users who connect strikes me as being a bit akin to aiming the

     sun through a magnifying glass at bugs on the sidewalk.  Not my

     personal concept of responsible fun.

 

           -- Lauren Weinstein

              NNSquad Moderator ]

 

 

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:34 PM, Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com> wrote:

 

> 

> Wi-Fi owner flips images for unwanted neighbors

> 

> http://bit.ly/9KKy3S  (ex-parrot.com) ["Pining for the fjords?"]

> 

> While this is undeniably a seriously cute hack, the ethics of

> modifying data in this way (even in such an obvious manner)

> strike me as being somewhat nebulous at best.  Seems much more

> appropriate to turn on WPA2 and just be done with it, rather than

> tamper with the actual data.

> 

> Also, perhaps this guy has proof that the neighbors are consciously

> using his network without permission, but I've seen *many* cases

> of neighbors locked onto the wrong Wi-Fi network for very long

> periods without even realizing it.  Of course upside-down images

> would be a clue that something was amiss, but it still seems

> a bit questionable as a tactic.

> 

> --Lauren--

> NNSquad Moderator

>