[ale] heads up - warning - you could be sharing comcast wifi without knowing it

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

I like the don't let them in my house solution.  Wouldn't the ammo can 
1) burn out the wifi circuit and 2) cause overheating due to lack of 
cooling?  I had actually thought of wrapping aluminum foil around the 
gateway.  At the moment, I have the old style modem, so this is 
hypothetical.

Ron


On 6/11/2013 11:43 PM, George Allen wrote:
> Easy solution for the technically savy: 
> https://www.google.com/search?q=5.56+steel+ammo+can
> Give it some nice RF shielding, then use your own router.
> On Jun 11, 2013 9:48 PM, "David Tomaschik" <david at systemoverlord.com 
> <mailto:david at systemoverlord.com>> wrote:
>
>     On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 5:17 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE)
>     <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
>     <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com>> wrote:
>     > Hi guys,
>     >
>     > I thought you'd like to know about this.  I heard the host on
>     the Tech News
>     > Today podcast ( http://twit.tv/tnt ) say something similar to
>     the following:
>     > Comcast will be expanding its wifi network by putting wifi
>     gateways in
>     > Xfinity users homes. ... Comcast users will get free access. ...
>     Guests get
>     > two free accesses. ... If you don't want to participate, you
>     have to opt
>     > out.
>     >
>     <snip>
>     >
>     > Supposedly, they replace your cable modem with this new wifi
>     gateway device.
>     > It broadcasts two wifi signals.  You log into one of them and
>     use YOUR
>     > service as normal.  Guests login into the other, for free if
>     they are
>     > Comcast Xfinity customers, and get two free accesses if they're
>     not Xfinity
>     > customers.  SUPPOSEDLY, the 2nd connection is independent of the
>     main one,
>     > and it doesn't reduce your bandwidth.  Yeah, I believe that.
>      The APPARENT
>     > plan is to replace all the gateways and enable this internet
>     sharing without
>     > the customer's knowledge.  That's got to be against the law somehow.
>
>     Don't see how it would be against the law.  They're going to replace a
>     device they own connected to a service they own with another device
>     they own connected to a service they own?
>
>     > Now, I know some people willingly share their wifi.  I'm not one
>     of them.  I
>     > have my wfi encrypted with long ugly passwords.  There are 3
>     main reasons.
>     > 1) Any other user on my modem is a potential security risk.
>
>     I don't know how they have implemented this, but it would be trivial
>     to assign a 2nd public IP (or even NAT through a single
>     neighborhood-wifi-network IP) for the 2nd hotspot and route all
>     traffic over that.  In that case, a user connected to that has the
>     same amount of access as anyone else on the internet.
>
>     > 2) It does
>     > reduce my bandwidth and performance.
>
>     Citation needed.  The biggest limitation to your bandwidth is the
>     traffic shaping comcast performs at their head end unit.  If the
>     "public" hotspot is shaped separately, then I don't see how it would
>     impact your bandwidth.  *Maybe* you could make an argument regarding
>     wifi interference, but a 2nd hotspot on your device won't be any
>     different from a 2nd device somewhere nearby.
>
>     > 3)  If someone else does something
>     > illegal while connected to your wifi, the police can ( and HAVE
>     ) showed up
>     > at your door and arrest you.  You then have to prove you didn't
>     do it and
>     > it's a royal mess.
>
>     Actually, no, the prosecution still has to prove you did it (at least,
>     legally), but yes, I suppose it could cause some headaches, unless
>     they can look at wifi hotspot vs private network.  Not sure how that
>     would work.
>
>     > Regardless, no ISP should be able to enable this type of access
>     without the
>     > user's knowledge and consent.
>
>     On this, I agree.  This should be with the user's consent, but I don't
>     see it as a big bad threat.
>
>
>     --
>     David Tomaschik
>     OpenPGP: 0x5DEA789B
>     http://systemoverlord.com
>     david at systemoverlord.com <mailto:david at systemoverlord.com>
>


-- 

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Ron Frazier
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linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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