The chair of the Intelligence Subcommittee of Homeland Security is in the news for having an unsecured WiFi network. This implies that someone near her home with a laptop could snoop or eavesdrop on her computer activities. This came to light during investigations of the ‘inadvertent’ capturing of WiFi data by Google while recording video for their Street View maps.
This incident has set off a variety of discussions. People are wondering what Homeland Security secrets have been compromised. Some pundits have postulated that Google acted illegally while others claim Google’s actions were not only legal but desirable because Homeland Security will now exercise tighter security.
I hope this incident will answer the question raised by a court case not long where a person was criminally charged with hacking into a computer system because they used someone else’s unsecured wireless network. (Frankly, I see Google’s actions little different from a passerby overhearing two sentences of a loud argument emanating through the open windows of a home.)
I do know of individuals who intentionally do not use a password on their wireless network as an accommodation to people in the neighborhood who need temporary Internet access. Belkin sold a router that made this practical. There was one wireless connection that shared data between PCs and another that isolated PCs and only provided Internet access. Who knows? Maybe that is how the Homeland Security chairperson’s router was configured and her PC activities were not open after all.
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