Michiel de Jong <[email protected]> Jul 05 10:13PM +0200 ^<?ui=2&view=bsp&ver=ohhl4rw8mbn4#130fcf50df13f45f_digest_top> this has some info http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15194360,00.html and this is relevant to the topic: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/04/open-wireless-movement so there are two problems with open wifi: - the wifi protocol does not have a safe way of being open. it is either encrypted and closed, or open and unencrypted. This means that open wifi routers suffer from poor security for all protocols except ones that are themselves secure, like vpn, ssh and https. - it is (at least in some countries) illegal to give connectivity to strangers, or at least, it makes you partly responsible for the behaviour of those strangers. this is absurd - it is like if you allow people to walk over your land, and a bank robber uses that path to get away, you become responsible for helping that bank robber get away over your land. Afaik such rules do not apply to when you allow people to use a path over your land, but it apparently does apply if you allow people a path over your router. Anyway, what i understand is that since Fon is a closed club of people (only Fon owners can use other Fon access points), it's like those cigar bars that evade the non-smoking policy because they are a 'members club' instead of a bar. Instead of blocking these efforts, governments should take an example from Estonia, a country that understood that universal wifi is a good thing for a civilized country - something like universal education, health care etcetera. http://news.cnet.com/Estonia-sets-shining-Wi-Fi-example/2010-7351_3-5924673.... HTH Michiel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens