Wednesday 5 December 2007

Bruce Schneier interviewed on Freakonomics blog

From the article:

Q: Is there any benefit to password protecting your home Wifi network? I have IT friends that say the only real benefit is that multiple users can slow down the connection, but they state that there is no security reason. Is this correct?

A: I run an open wireless network at home. There’s no password, and there’s no encryption. Honestly, I think it’s just polite. Why should I care if someone on the block steals wireless access from me? When my wireless router broke last month, I used a neighbor’s access until I replaced it.

2 comments:

CPL said...

Open-access wi-fi in a nice idea, unless you happen to live in a 3rd-world backwater like New Zealand, where dinosaurs still roam, and data caps thrive in the damp, warm earth underneath Telecom's bloated mass.

Andrew Doull said...

Good to see a fellow NZ'er. Have you found the New Zealand Easter Egg in Unangband yet?

I agree on the capping problem being downright criminal. I've come from the UK on an all you can eat plan down to Australia, where you cannot buy an uncapped plan for love nor money.

That's why I'm still relying on external hosting (Blogspot, Berlios etc) as opposed to running everything 'in-house'.