[geeks] Unsecured Wifi connections now illegal in part of India.

[nate at portents.com]

> I would argue that this law has a point, albeit a small point. It will
> likely have the effect of raising the technical requirements and a few
> (like a handful) low-level "bad guys" might get caught... Maybe. But
> that number is slightly bigger than the number that would be caught
> without this law...

Another approach that I wish the industry had taken a long time ago with
wireless access points would be to ship them with the highest wireless
security fully enabled out of the box - WPA/WEP, MAC address filtering,
and non-broadcast SSID.  Then, if a user wants to turn off any of the
security features, it's up to the customer to *learn* about them,
familiarize themselves with the security process, and open up their
wireless access point to the world.  Most people don't need an open access
point, and frankly are just lazy and/or not tech-security conscious.

As convenient as it may be for some people that there are unprotected
wireless access points all over the place, from urban to suburban to rural
areas in the US and I'm sure globally, I think we'd all be better off if
they weren't so prevalent.  On top of that, it really makes no practical
or economic sense from the consumer standpoint to run an open access
point.  The reason we got into this mess in the first place is because the
companies making and selling the access points didn't want to have to
create a high-quality manual that explains security concepts, deal with a
potential high rate of return, or deal with the additional support costs
of a product that people had to become more educated to use.

I don't think anyone on this list should be defending an aspect of the
industry which has effectively supported customer's ignorance for
corporate financial gain while indirectly creating a technological
infrastructure that could theoretically negatively affect a lot of people.

- Nate