:-) I can barely believe I'm reading some of that stuff on a Linux users' group, where computer literacy (and beyond) is exceptionally high. I remember a decade ago when "news" anchors were caviling about, "Who's running this internet?!? Who's in charge of this?!?" OMG, the sky was falling, ya know. This reminds me of that. - Vara On 3/20/2017 2:47 PM, Anon Anon wrote: > Vara has cool opinions. I like Vara. Keep keepin it real. > > On Mar 20, 2017 14:43, "Vara La Fey" > wrote: > > Nuh uh. Open hotspots is one of the great things about the > internet, and from time to time everyone needs one - sometimes in > the middle of the night or during holidays when lobbies with keys > posted aren't available. Open hotspots are also a good way to > maintain anonymity for dissidents, whistle-blowers, LGBT who are > not "out", etc. When I have my own routers, I often run them open > for all these reasons, and I always will. > > I sometimes educate family and friends about PGP, and one of these > days I will run a Tor node as well, with all the > censor-circumvention tools available. The more that censors and > anti-anonymity Orwellianists don't like it, the more everybody > should do it. > > I don't give .001% of a damn whether actual criminals use hotspots > or anything else, in exactly the same ways I don't give .001% of a > damn if they use guns, cars, roads, kitchen knives - or anything else. > > Instead of desiring safety over the animating quest for freedom, > why don't you suggest educating people to use https? As it is, the > Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org ) > recently reported that https use is up to 40%, IIRC. > > - Vara > > > On 3/20/2017 12:29 PM, Victor Odhner wrote: >> I’m really annoyed that so many companies offer open WIFI when it >> would be so easy to secure those hot spots. >> >> Restaurants, hotels, and the waiting rooms of auto dealerships >> are almost 100% open. >> >> I am not one to say “there ought to be a law” because we have too >> many doggone laws, and I’m not that into a lot of demonstrating >> and yelling. But I would love to help educate companies on why >> they should secure their routers. >> >> If I were a progressive type, I’d suggest putting stickers on >> those venues saying: >> >> We don’t have passwords on our WIFI >> because OUR WIFI (and YOUR passwords) >> should be available to everybody >> with no effort! >> >> But being more right-wing, I’d much rather recognize that they’d >> be happy to do the right thing if we could explain it to the >> right people. >> >> I’ve repeatedly thanked the mechanic shop I use (C&R Tire on >> Tatum) because they have a key posted and I can feel sort of safe >> going online while I wait for an oil change. But all the places >> that have open routers are corporate owned so it does no good to >> gripe to the folks behind the desk. >> >> Any ideas on this? >> >> Thanks, >> Victor >> >> >> >> >> >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list -PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >> >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> > --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss > mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, > unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss