>>>>> "Lin" == Lin Gale <[email protected]> writes:
Lin> I live in Multnomah Village, near the LUCKY LAB and I'd like to Lin> use the Internet Service and even get involved if you need help Lin> on a non-tech basis. I have always believed that Internet should Lin> be free or minimal cost and have been watching you since Portland Lin> lost Metro Wifi (enough said). You should recognize that the Internet is not free or minimal cost to the people who are providing it to you for free. It costs them at least as much as it would cost you to get it privately/individually. We think that it's nice to share, but we recognize that it still costs and that if people all just take and do not also give, we'll live in a collective poverty. If you appreciate people giving you free Internet, you should consider how you can get some of your own and give it away somewhere else. If that's not possible, try to think of some other way to give back. Lin> Since I don't understand how to connect to get Internet service Lin> from you AND also not sure how to add security levels on my end Lin> (I have a MacBook)--I was wondering what you could help me with. All of our nodes are "open". That is, the wireless network does not encrypt anything by itself. If you want to prevent those nearby from potentially hearing your private communications, you need to arrange that yourself by using encrypted protocols, like https (think e-commerce sites, banking sites, the little "lock" icon on your browser, etc.). Probably the biggest "insecurity" around in this regard is people logging in to check their email over pop3 or webmail systems. There are usually encrypted versions of these available from whoever is hosting your email (gmail, in your case). The other aspect of security you might be concerned about is what's called "host security", that is the potential vulnerability of your computer to other nearby computers connecting to yours and exploiting some vulnerable service. I am not an Apple user, so I will defer to others more knowledgable on what constitutes reasonable host security on an MacOS. If you'd like to get more intensive help, or want to help us do what we do, please consider coming to one of our meetings (Wednesday evenings, watch our calendar for times/places: http://wiki.personaltelco.net/PersonalTelco -- Russell Senior, Secretary [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ The Personal Telco Project - http://www.personaltelco.net/ Donate to PTP: http://www.personaltelco.net/donate Archives: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.network.wireless.portland.general/ Etiquette: http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MailingListEtiquette List information: http://lists.personaltelco.net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
