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Warchalking Working the web: Warchalking
The simple technology of chalk marks is solving the problem of wireless internet access, finds Ben Hammersley Ben Hammersley Thursday July 4, 2002 The Guardian The strange popping noise you heard this time last week was the sound of an idea taking off. A week after Online discussed community wireless networks, Matt Jones, a London-based information architect, came up with an elegant solution to one of the biggest problems facing the open wireless user: how to find a wireless access point if you can't get online initially. Inspired by the signs hobos left each other in the depression-era United States, Jones has developed a set of marks to be chalked on to walls and pavements by the owners or users of wireless networks. Passers-by can then see that the area is covered by an access point, and get online. It's a simple solution to a difficult problem, and one that has grabbed the attention of the geek world with a frenzy. A day after releasing his first draft, Jones's site had been linked to by everyone from Slashdot to the New York Times, a speedy fame brought by the old-school elegance of the idea, and its cool name - "warchalking". Warchalking's rise to infamy has even been given an air of governmental legitimacy, at least in the US: the state of Utah is planning on using the warchalking symbols on 250 government buildings. As Phillip Windley, the state's chief information officer, wrote on his weblog, just two days into the idea: "My organization networks over 250 buildings for 22,000 employees. We're also in the planning phase of deploying Wi-Fi access points at places where cops hang out so they can connect to the net during their shift (they use CDPD for low bandwidth ops, but need a high bandwidth option sometimes). In this kind of environment, warchalking has some important uses beyond finding a free net. I'm hoping to use warchalking icons to alert employees to the existence of wireless nets in conference rooms and other places." Warchalking derives from the old cracker term, wardialling. A wardialler sets his computer up to sequentially dial every telephone number within a range, listening for the tell-tale whistling of another computer. In the pre-internet days, when companies had banks of modems to allow remote workers to log in, this provided many opportunities for crackers to try their hand. So, from wardialling, we have wardriving and warwalking, where wireless laptop-equipped crackers wander the city looking for open corporate networks. Warchalking could, it seems, have a dark side, and some are worried it will be used as a tool for crackers, alerting the criminally minded to networks with less than perfect security. This is a danger: at worst, an unprotected wireless network could give access to confidential internal files, something companies and governmental organisations could do without. The unwary could also have their bandwidth used for unscrupulous activities. Drive-by spamming is one. For spammers, or the senders of unsoliticited commercial email in bulk, retaining one's internet service provider is a hard task. No one wants his ISP to be the cause of email evil, and an ISP that permits spam may find itself blacklisted, with none of its email getting through to anyone. But a spammer loading a car with a laptop running a mail server can drive around looking for open wireless networks and use the bandwidth they find to fire off a million emails before driving away. The end result? More spam for you and me, and law-abiding companies being blacklisted from their ISP. Clever system administrators know these threats, and configure against them. If you're in charge of a large network, such things should be second nature. But if you are running a home wireless network and do not want to have it used by the public, consult the manual and turn on the security settings. They're not perfect, but they will stop the warchalkers from finding you. Meanwhile, of course, many of us want people to use our networks, and have warchalked our neighbourhoods to this effect. You might like to do it yourself. Head to www.warchalking.org, print out the symbols, grab a piece of chalk, and draw one on your wall. If the idea of chalk-based, "it'll wash off in the rain" graffiti bothers you, there is a printout generator, too. Spread the word about your generosity, allow people online and connect with them. The internet will love you, even if the neighbours won't. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk...99,00.html Sounds like a great plan IMO.  | |
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