Saturday, November 5, 2005

Unsecured Wi-Fi to Become Illegal?: News.com is carrying a story for a draft proposal for law in Westchester County in New York state that would outlaw unsecured wi-fi connections. Public internet access would require a network gateway server with a firewall and also require home/business office users to install firewalls to protect personal info, even if their connection is encrypted. Violations would carry fines of $250-$500. (Via Slashdot.) This is rather strange. It is supposed to decrease data and identity theft. But most net users are already vulnerable from running insecure machines at home, many of which are zombies (otherwise, my firewall would not record so many connection attempts from IP addresses at local ISPs). Also, the firewalls required by the proposed regulations do nothing to secure wireless connections. What helps is for users to configure their machines to use encrypted protocols for mail access, for example, which the proposal does not talk about. The regulation is unlikely to do much for improved security, but it could hurt small businesses that run open access points for their customers. Who could possibly want that? Certain large companies who would like their walled gardens to be the only option for users? 1:00:11 PM