From jim at media.mit.edu Mon Dec 1 11:09:37 2003 From: jim at media.mit.edu (Jim Youll) Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 11:09:37 -0500 Subject: [Rooftops] First reported wardriving + child porn Message-ID: <200312011614.hB1GELDI026654@agentzero.net> Apparently a true story... that combination of good and evil that mom warned us about before we opened up our access points to anyone within range, has now been realized... from Risks Digest (http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/23.04.html) --------------- Man arrested wardriving child porn > Sat, 22 Nov 2003 11:57:04 -0600 (CST) In Toronto, Canada, this week: After pulling the man over, Sgt. Don Woods discovered the man was naked from the waist down as he downloaded images on a laptop computer of a young girl involved in a sex act with an adult. Investigation showed the man had hooked into a wireless computer network at a nearby house to gain access to a resident's Internet connection and download images from child pornography Web sites. http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2003/11/22/264890.html From jim at media.mit.edu Sat Dec 20 15:02:10 2003 From: jim at media.mit.edu (Jim Youll) Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 15:02:10 -0500 Subject: [Rooftops] Wifi News Message-ID: <656268BC-3327-11D8-BC99-000A95C54164@media.mit.edu> 1. Wireless grows, but profits don't (from Wired.com) The march to deploy Wi-Fi networks in all manner of locations is continuing at a rapid pace, even though it is doubtful that much money is being made from the service, a new survey concludes. The study, published Monday by research firm In-Stat/MDR, counted 40,000 wireless hotspots around the world in 2003, showing a rate of growth that surpassed analysts' expectations. This compares to just a few hundred in 2000. Researchers predict there will be around 180,000 hotspots worldwide enabled with Wi-Fi, the popular protocol for delivering high-speed wireless Internet service, by 2007. But despite the fact that Wi-Fi may now be found in coffee shops, bookstores, pubs, Laundromats, trains, gas stations, lakes and even entire California suburbs, the number of users is not impressive, says the survey's author, Amy Cravens. Cravens interviewed a group of business users about their use of so-called visitor-based networks -- wired or wireless services open to casual users either for free or for a fee. While more than half of the users had used such a network, the majority had done so only infrequently, less than six times a year. The average spent was $12.10 per month. In-Stat/MDR's findings concur with those of other analysts. Earlier this month, Jupiter Research published a report finding that 70 percent of online consumers are aware that Wi-Fi is available in public places, but just 15 percent have used it at all, with only 6 percent having done so in a public space. Furthermore, only 1 percent have paid for the service directly, with an additional 3 percent having paid indirectly (for instance, as part of their hotel bill). MORE... FULL STORY: http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,61618,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2 2. T-Mobile and iPass sign roaming agreement /www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1415865,00.asp "T-Mobile USA and iPass have announced a distribution agreement that will let business users have access to T-Mobile's HotSpot network through iPass's virtual network. Many IT managers already cater to their users' roaming needs by giving them iPass software clients; users then access online services through a mixture of wireless and dial-up links. The new agreement with T-Mobile adds that company's HotSpot network to the mix, which T-Mobile claims is the largest network of wireless hotspots in North America."