[CWN-Summit] Re: CWN-Summit Digest, Vol 5, Issue 2

[Sascha Meinrath]

This is a really sad development.  Basically, it's an artificial limiting 
of the resources that would otherwise be available to network users. 
Basically eliminating the LAN aspects of a WAP.  Seems rather foolhardy to 
me, but then again, the whole pay-for-access business model is pretty 
silly.

But it is strange that Starbucks wants to shoot itself in the other foot 
-- spending time and money to make the service _less_ useful to customers.

--Sascha

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004, Michael Oh wrote:

>> Could Tmobile be doing something sinister here?  Have any of you come 
>> across similar stories in your cities?
>> 
>> Steveg
>> Tremont Wifi Neighborhood
>
> Something similar, but not directly related.  There was a time that Starbucks 
> had APs that would allow you to ping the broadcast address and then find 
> others on the network, presumably allowing you to file share and things, etc.
>
> Recently (i.e. in the last few months), Starbucks has increased their 
> security to include 802.1x as well, which I suspect means either new APs or 
> new firmware on their boxes.  At the same time, it looks like they do some 
> sort of blocking between wireless connections, so that even if you know the 
> other person's IP on wireless, you can't do anything - no file sharing, 
> pinging, nothing.  Sorry, guys, no more file sharing at Starbucks.
>
> [As a side note, the reason that we found this out was for a TV spot where 
> they wanted us to prove that Starbucks was just as insecure as other 
> networks.  Imagine our embarrassment.  Luckily, it made for bad TV, so that 
> section went on the cutting room floor.]
>
> It's possible that they're using enterprise technologies that do "block" 
> other APs - a la Airespace (I'm not sure how they do it), but I would think 
> it would be unlikely for you to even attach to an AP if that was the case.
>
> Short story: they're much more secure than you think they are, so it's 
> possible they're also a lot sneakier.
>
> Mike
>
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-- 
Sascha Meinrath
President                 *   Project Coordinator   *   Policy Analyst
Acorn Worker Collective  ***  CU Wireless Network  ***  Free Press
www.acorncollective.com   *   www.cuwireless.net    *   www.freepress.net