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more on Unsecured Wi-Fi would be outlawed by N.Y. county
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2005 12:12:21 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Date: November 5, 2005 8:21:13 PM EST To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>Subject: [Dewayne-Net] re: Unsecured Wi-Fi would be outlawed by N.Y. county
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com [Note: This comment comes from reader Thomas Leavitt. DLH]
From: Thomas Leavitt <thomas () thomasleavitt org> Date: November 5, 2005 4:48:56 PM PST To: dewayne () warpspeed comSubject: Re: [Dewayne-Net] Unsecured Wi-Fi would be outlawed by N.Y. countyGah. Next, they'll make it illegal to leave your door unlocked. We need a Constitutional amendment along the lines of "Congress shall make no law regarding technology without having a clue."Or perhaps a law requiring that an appropriate private sector standardsbody should vet all laws related to the Internet prior to introduction... With regards to this particular example of stupidity: people should be free to implement the security measures they feel are appropriate - afirewall may or may not be necessary (although I certainly would ratherbe running one). Tort liability for negligent administration of confidential personal information is the proper means of addressing the problem.Mandating that people install a "network gateway server" equipped with a"firewall" is stupid, on many levels - technically, the presence of a"firewall" means little or nothing, passage of such a law will encouragethe that folks have taken care of potential security problems by installing one. A firewall is useless if it isn't configured properly,and often requires holes be punched in it for the network to be useable(which defeats much of the original purpose of installing one).Furthermore, there are security models that don't put a "network gatewayserver" and a "firewall" on the same box... are companies that haveimplemented such going to have to throw away thousands of dollars worth of equipment because it is in technical non-compliance? What about folks who run firewalls on individual servers without a centralized firewall?Or who run ZoneAlarm on their PCs? Does a Windows box running Windows Firewall and offering Internet Connection Sharing qualify? How do you define "firewall" anyway? Is a NAT box a "firewall"? Further, it doesn't serve the end it is intended to: the vast majority of security breaches and privacy protection violations occur *behind* the firewall (or where a firewall might be).And the idea that people would have to put up signs saying, essentially:"we've put a security precaution in place, but it may very well be utterly pointless, so please be careful" is hilarious... although theidea of having to "register" Internet connections with the government isNOT funny at all. Regards, Thomas Leavitt
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- more on Unsecured Wi-Fi would be outlawed by N.Y. county David Farber (Nov 06)