when last we saw our hero (Monday, Jun 07, 2004), 
 Mike Ellsworth was madly tapping out:
> The most interesting thing I got from this article is T-Mobile's
> claim that it is more secure (and more reliable) than free hotspots.
> Anybody got any idea how they can claim that? I've used their
> service and it wasn't running any security as far as I could tell.

it's not just about link layer security.  when you put your traffic
onto an open hotspot from john doe you really don't know what they're
doing with your traffic.  it's not in the best interests of a t-mobile
or SP to harvest subscriber traffic for their nefarious applications. 

i'm not saying that tmobile and other SPs can't sniff your traffic.
but wifi with a branded hotspot probably isn't going to be snorting
all the traffic that goes by.  whereas you're more likely taking your 
chance with the freebies.

further, many reputable carriers have the ability to do things like
virus/worm mitigation in their access infrastructure.  that's nice if
someone jacks into the same segment and starts to hose you down with
the virus of the day.  such mechanisms would not be visible from the
users persepctive.

as with many things in life if you're going have unprotected packet
exchange,  you have risks.  if you'd like to mitigate those risks,
slather on the protection with copious amounts of crypto and f/ws.


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> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tcwug-list-bounces at tcwug.org [mailto:tcwug-list-bounces at tcwug.org] On
> Behalf Of Andy Warner
> Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 9:44 AM
> To: wireless at tc-unwired.net; tcwug-list at tcwug.org
> Subject: [TCWUG] Another point on the wifi hotspot business model curve..
> 
> Apologies in advance if this ends up being one of those
> "subscriber-only" pages that drops you through to a login screen;
> but the NYTimes carried the following article about the growth of
> free hot-spots, contrasted with the fortunes of pay-per-use hot
> spots; along with the struggle to find a sustainable business model
> for the pay-per-use carriers.
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/07/technology/07wifi.html?8hpib=&pagewanted=a
> ll&position= -- andyw at pobox.com

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-- 
steve ulrich                       sulrich at botwerks.org
PGP: 8D0B 0EE9 E700 A6CF ABA7  AE5F 4FD4 07C9 133B FAFC

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