Then it still takes nothing away in terms of responsibility for the person that does the shooting. It may mean you yourself are open to prosecution if you broke a law though I suppose.
Google admits wi-fi data collection blunder
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What about "war-drivers"?
You can snoop around and recieve packets but then it's up to you if you want to break a law (if there is such a thing) and try break into the secured network.
Is there a difference between logging packets and doing nothing with it and if anything, not storing or deleting them and then actually going out of your way to decrypt and/or access the network/store data for later use? I think there is.
It's like owning a gun and deciding to;
1:Use it for sport
or
2: Kill people
Maybe a bad analogy!
You can snoop around and recieve packets but then it's up to you if you want to break a law (if there is such a thing) and try break into the secured network.
Is there a difference between logging packets and doing nothing with it and if anything, not storing or deleting them and then actually going out of your way to decrypt and/or access the network/store data for later use? I think there is.
It's like owning a gun and deciding to;
1:Use it for sport
or
2: Kill people
Maybe a bad analogy!
that's simply ridiculous. that's so far detached from the scope of this argument that I can't even comprehend where you think the parallels may be!
Their legal responsibility is not diminished in any way at all. They are entirely responsible for using a system that specifically sniffs and records unsecured packets in an illegal manner. Whether those packets could have been secured is utterly irrelevant to the responsibility of the lawbreaker.
So let me get this straight.
If I am using some WiFi service like the cloud or Bt openzone or something.
And I sign up on their service for an hour so and check my email on their WiFi.
Does that mean my details can be snooped by anyone on that same network?
If I am using some WiFi service like the cloud or Bt openzone or something.
And I sign up on their service for an hour so and check my email on their WiFi.
Does that mean my details can be snooped by anyone on that same network?
no - those sorts of systems routes all your traffic through a SSL secure tunnel meaning all your data is encrypted, even though the network itself isn't.
Yes. You should not use public wifi services for anything confidential. End of. (unless you do application-layer security, like ssl, vpn, ssh).
Bt openzone is secured by the way, there's significantly reduced risk with that.
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Ooh golly. Didnt realise!
But the key is that the "snooper" (is that the right terminology for someone who is receiving data like this?), must have access to the router in question.
Does that mean if a user who does not pay for a WiFi service (e.g 1 hour or so), will not be able to snoop users ont he same network?
(now Im beginning to see the fuss over this Google hooha as I didnt realise at first what the fuss was !)
You don't need access to the router no. As Aod said, the commercial versions of public wifi i.e trains and bt openzone style stuff are fine to use. Even if you have they key, its unique to each user so you're fine.
It's things like coffee shops, home wifi and random hotspots you need to be careful with. Where anyone can pull your data out the air.
So usually with BT openzone or the like, you use a password (not the WiFi key) to log onto their main website in order to access the web etc.
But in this instance, surely once you are on the web and on that router, you potentially can gain access to other PCs on that same router? (is my understanding flawed here?)
I.e. I sign up for on hour and there are another 10 users on the same router already signed up, theoretically I can now snoops all the data going over that wifi?
Or is the data for each user somehow encrypted further? I.e. so that no two users can snoop each others data?
(sorry for the million questions guys but I am GENUINELY interested in all of this!)
Yer my understanding is that each user authenticates via a RADIUS server, then they each get their own encrypted tunnel which are isolated from each other at the router. So in the context of BT openzone, to compromise the traffic of other users you would need to compromise/hack the router firmware, or crack the encrypted traffic. It's very different to the risks associated with (poor-mans) public wifi, and no where near as trivial to snoop on data.
I see! Ok many thanks tntcoder (and everyone else who helped with responses!)
So generally speaking. Dont browse content sensitive stuff like Bank Accounts/Email etc on public WiFis that are not well established.
But big name providers like T-mobile/Orange/BT Openzone/The Cloud (howabout Mcdonalds the cloud?)
Should be ok?
Can you prove it in court though.
The only thing unintentional was getting caught and it going public....
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Google stole your unprotected data
And there was me thinking streetview was harmless.
Didn't realise they were scraping data from unsecured WIFI as well, and recording it onto hard drive just like an unauthorised phone tap
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10278068.stm
And there was me thinking streetview was harmless.
Didn't realise they were scraping data from unsecured WIFI as well, and recording it onto hard drive just like an unauthorised phone tap
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10278068.stm