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

[Barry Keeney]

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009, der Mouse wrote:

> > You've got it backwards, the "bad guys" went to a neighborhood and
> > used, say, your insecure home WiFi hotspot to send emails, when the
> > Gov't tracked the IP address to your home, they assumed YOU were the
> > terrorist, and acted accordingly.
> 
> > If your home hotspot was "secure" they would have avoided that
> > confusion, since the "bad guy" couldn't use your Internet connection.
> 
> No, if it were secure that would be the case.  If it were "secure"
> (which is the best that wifi can do without current-research
> technology), it would actually be worse, because then when the bad guys
> crack your WEP or whatever you use and leech your connectivity, the
> government becomes much surer it's you doing it.  

  Well I'd say you're both right.... and wrong.

  Doesn't matter if your WiFi is "secure" or not, they're going to 
assume you're(*) the "bad guy". 

  If you've got logs (from your local WiFi/router/network) of devices 
that connected to the WiFi at the time of whatever caused them to start 
looking, they're still going to think it's you who did it. You might 
hope they are smart/skilled enough to figure out it wasn't you but that
will take time. Just about anything you or they could find that might
show it wasn't you could be faked. MAC addresses can be changed or
copied/cloned, logs can be changed. Even if you can prove you were out
of town when it happened you still could have access your network 
remotely so they can't completely rule you out until they have someone
else in hand.

  They've got you and they're going to make your life hell until they 
find a reason to direct their efforts elsewhere. 

  As you're on this list, there is a *very* good chance they'll still
believe you could have done it and are trying to hide your tracks
(badly maybe). And if you have *anything* that "normal" users
wouldn't have (large external antenna(s) or cantenna, software
for wardriving/breaking WEP/WPA/etc) they might not look for 
someone else. 

  I'd be *totally* screwed, except I might be able to convince them 
I'm smart/skilled enough *NOT* to do it from my home WiFi network. Maybe,
if I'm luckly.. Wait we're talking law enforcement/Goverment right? 

  Nope I'd be *so* screwed..... 

  One BIG reason I don't use WiFi, only wired, on my home network.

(*) someone in your house, work, etc where the hotspot is located.

Barry Keeney
Chaos Consulting
email barryk at at@chaoscon.com

"Rap is Square Dancing gone terribly, terribly Wrong...."