Unsecuring your internet is a good thing?

[psychopath]

What if everybody unsecured their wireless internet? What if everyone had long range unsecured wifi? Wouldn't that make us all anonymous, as you would never know who's connected, especially if it's in a city of people living close together? This has probably been thought of before but I don't know what it's called.

[LOON_ATTIC]

I've though of something like that before... shit would be cash. If we'd just have our own fucking internet owned by no one but everyone. No censorship, pain in the ass for the govt/anyone to shut down, and fucking free.

[Aya]

I could definately be wrong about this but I'm not sure unsecured wireless internet would be safer or less prone to censorship attacks then secured wireless. If anything it's easier to hack, which would put anyone who uses it at risk. And it is possible to find out who is using the unsecured internet because the admin can see what content each individual user is looking at. Including email, online shipping orders, and bank accounts.

There is a way to offer free secure internet to large groups of people. I just don't know how to verbalize it.

[Absnt]

Ayliana is on the mark. Unencrypted, open routers open people up to man in the middle attacks, and government spying. It's safer to keep people the fuck off your connection. There are ways to create large, free, and open networks like you are saying, but a lot of them come with their own security risks... Say, for instance, we have a MAN that spans a city... All the government would have to do to spy on people would be to talk to the company operating it, or secure individual hotspots on the network, or whatever.

My suggestion would be to create PIRATE ISP's and avoid large scale internet connection points, unless they are owned and operated by the pirate ISP itself, using known pirates or trusted individuals to operate the LAN's within the MAN, or having the LAN's be operated by personnel who work at the ISP... E.g. a large area network such as a MAN set up and operated by the pirate ISP... That way, we can rest assured that the government won't influence them... That would require those using the MAN to donate a lot though, which I wouldn't have a problem with.

[Bob Dole]

I leave my wireless open just because it's generally a nice thing to do. One of my neighbors are having internet problems? No problem, jack, just hop on mine. Just don't be torrenting too much stuff. Yes, it does open you up to MITM attacks. But if you are relying on your wireless router alone to secure your connection, you are doing it horribly, horribly wrong.

Also, plausible deniability. What's that? Some ruffian has been downloading illegally on my connection? Wasn't me, I keep my connection wide open, so anyone who needs it can use it. And who's to say that some random dude within 100m wasn't using it?

[Absnt]

Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere like me. The only "neighbors" that are gonna be siphoning off of my internet are sitting out by the road in a party van. I get what you're saying though...

[Efs]

I thought of this too...you could just get everyone to have free internet. But in the end, the host is paying for the internet AND every user is at risk..

But I agree with Absent, have like PiRATEISP's or something.