> I would expect that from a public, open hotspot. I can > imagine that a for-pay hotspot; e.g. Starbucks, Boingo, etc.; > might allow it as they could track back the activity and > people paying for service expect better service. Regardless, > the owness is on the user to come up with a good way to send > mail that is divorced from the access provider.
I think you hit the nail on the head with that last comment. I would take it one step further and apply this rule to ALL traffic. The way to accomplish this is via encrypted vpn, which inherently solves numerous present day problems with public wifi access. Basically, if hotspot providers - free, pay or otherwise - began a norm of only allowing vpn tunnel access rather than all raw ip traffic, I believe everyone would benefit. Here are a few of the advantages- -Users have a greater degree of security and privacy for their data that doesn't rely on weak wep or other sketchy security schemes. As far as I can tell, current shipping 802.1x solutions still don't solve the 'rogue ap' problem. -Users are protected from each other on the same AP. (data xfer wise anyway, not from direct port hacks) -Access providers are protected from backhaul isp disconnects, lawsuits and other ills incurred by malintentioned users. Encryption essentially creates a double-blind user/provider relationship regarding data and acceptable use policy. Basically, if the access provider does not have any reasonable means of determining the content of the data being transferred, it isolates them from direct legal responsibility. In this scenario, wardriving spammers, hackers, copyright violators, kiddy porn downloaders, terrorists etc. who connect wirelessly are all beyond possible identification by the last-mile provider. This responsibility is kicked upstream to the vpn endpoint provider (VISP?). For instance, have any landline telco's been subpoenaed by the RIAA for harbouring downloaders? I can only assume current ISP's will be adopting this end-point role in an attempt to retain ownership of their current user base...hmmm Also, there are several decent wireless specific vpn products out in the market now based on SSL, TLS, etc. I have tested the Net Motion offering and am impressed with its ability to accommodate IP address changes on the fly without crashing applications. (Windows only unfortunately) Makes for great inter-hotspot roaming.. -- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
