[AusNOG] Wifi Security and Interception

[Bevan Slattery]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Newton [mailto:newton at internode.com.au] 
>
> Just to make sure you understand where I'm coming from, and 
> where the confusion is:  Here's an article from 2009 
> describing something that the Queensland Police think is on 
> the "right" side of right-and-wrong:
> http://www.itnews.com.au/News/150387,queensland-police-plans-w
> ardriving-mission.aspx
> Why aren't they being investigated by the AFP?  Why weren't 
> you posting messages to AusNOG last year about how terrible 
> this was?  Why is it so awful for Google to capture 
> unencrypted WiFi packets as an unintended side-effect of 
> their main aim (geolocation), yet completely okay for THE 
> FRIGGIN' POLICE to deliberately go out of their way to do 
> exactly the same thing?

Sorry.  But from my understanding of the article they were not
intercepting payload data, but merely seeking open networks then walking
visiting the home owners in the area to let them know that they have an
unsecured network.  As stated in the article:

"It is a simple campaign, much like past police campaigns in which
officers walk around railway station checking cars have been locked. If
you leave your car unlocked, you come back and find a note from the
Police warning you of the dangers involved with leaving your car
unsecured," Hay told iTnews.  We pick out small geographic locations,
scan the environment and promote it through the media - highlighting the
significance of problem and how to take corrective steps," he said.

Yeah.  So the law enforcement agency undertook a program where they
didn't take payload data (as far as I'm aware) for the sole purpose of
educating users and assisting them so they can protect their networks.

Sorry.  You're just reaching.

> There's your "creepy" right there, IMHO.  Given a choice 
> between trusting Google and trusting the target of the 
> Fitzgerald Enquiry, I know where I'd invest my faith.

There's a term for that.  It's called Blind Faith.

[b]