Another WiFi Sharing System from Spain

Michael writes:

"You guys should check this out."

Basically, Whisher (as its called) is an interesting new system for people to share their WiFi connections at home -- quite a bit like FON, but maybe a little bit more open and less profit-driven.

Gotta wonder how well it will work, though, if they don't actually control their Internet connections -- I read the story, and the guy thye interviewed had some media spin story about how "it depends if you believe users control their connections or Internet providers control their connections"...

I'm kind of inclined to believe that whoever owns the Internet connection is who controls that connection, at least in practice most of the time. "Whisher" will face the same problem FON does -- most ISPs have no interest in giving any control over their lines or customers to anyone else. In the end, that's all they've got, and that's how they plan to make their money -- why would they give it away?

Quite explicitly, most Internet service providers prohibit connection sharing in their user agreements, and don't hesitate to shut people down if they feel that something a user is doing threatens their revenue stream.

In contrast, Wireless Nomad is set up to actually own its Internet connections, not just the WiFi LAN side of things. Of course, we're lucky here in Canada that the CRTC makes this possible, unlike in the United States, where independent ISPs were basically erased at the stroke of a pen a couple of years ago.

Thanks, Michael!

LINK

Net Neutrality: A Public Discussion on the Future of the Internet in Canada

I wish I could make it to Ottawa for this, but not likely to find the time.

Anyone in Ottawa wanna go and report back?

----------------------------------------
Net Neutrality: A Public Discussion on the Future of the Internet in Canada

February 6, 2007, 7 pm
Admission: Free
Ottawa Public Library Auditorium
120 Metcalfe St.

Moderated by Pippa Lawson, Executive Director, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) at the University of Ottawa

Panelists:
* Ren Bucholz: Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy Coordinator, Americas
* Andrew Clement: Professor, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto; Principal Investigator, Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking
* Michael Geist: Professor of Law, Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce Law, University of Ottawa
* Bill St.Arnaud from CANARIE will also be speaking about the proposed construction of a fiber optic network in Ottawa.

Copynight in Toronto this Tuesday Evening

"CopyNight is a monthly social gathering of people interested in restoring balance in copyright law. We meet over drinks once a month in many cities to discuss new developments and build social ties between artists, engineers, filmmakers, academics, lawyers, and many others."

In Toronto, it's hosted by Ren Bucholz, who I worked for at the EFF as an intern a few years back. Come out Tuesday if you're interested!

-----------------------------------------
Toronto, Ontario COPYNIGHT

Fourth Tuesday of each month, 7:00 pm

This month at:
Lot 16, 1136 Queen St West ([Special location for community wifi event: http://tinyurl.com/yzurtb) (map)

Hosted by Ren Bucholz, toronto (at) copynight.org


http://copynight.org/

Live Technical Support!

Finally, Wireless Nomad will have some live technical support and membership support times!

Karina, a member and volunteer, will be answering the phones on:

Wednesday nights between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Saturday mornings between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

This week will be a beta test -- we tried everything last week, and it worked, but nothing substitutes for real-world use. If you have any questions or just want to talk to somebody, give us a call. Remember that Karina is a volunteer and new at this, so be nice to her!

Again, the number to call is 647-722-2094.

WiFi login update

Well, the WiFi login has worked basically all weekend -- the way it is supposed to!

Steve has been tracking down problems,and to main ones came up --

1. LDAP optimization -- the number of nodes and accounts has been growing, and things were getting slow on the server, so some people were not able to login as their session was timing out. Fixed.

2. Another horrible glitch left over from that terrible server software patch last November-- login data was being truncated, so things weren't cleaning out and it's for being left all over the place, causing all sorts of problems for accounts not been able to login. Found and fixed.

10:45 AM Weds: WIFi OK

10:45 AM Weds: WIFi OK.

Hopefully it holds this time.
-Damien

WiFi problems (again)

good evening, everyone!

Yes, tragically, the WiFi authentication is not working again. It was broken yesterday as well, but Steve spent three hours fixing it last night, and it worked perfectly when we tested it around 10 p.m.

10 o'clock this morning, no go again. Not even sure exactly why -- on top of that, all the servers logs indicate that when people try to log in, they are logging in successfully. However, on the user's end, they do not log in successfully. A technical problem compounded by incorrect technical error reporting on the server -- just for things to be extra difficult!

That said:

1. Steve and I and Ron know the wireless authentication is not working. This is affecting almost every node, often intermittently, meaning that sometimes it is possible login, but not other times. Very frustrating.

2. DSL is still working. If you can reach your router, you can plug-in with an ethernet cable and get online. Inconvenient, but effective. In fact, it's exactly what people are paying $45 a month to Bell and Rogers to have (of course, we want to do better).

3. Please do not call the technical support line to report wireless problems for the next week or so. We know there is a problem, it is affecting almost everybody, and we have a few people already working on troubleshooting, so additional reports are not needed. I'm volunteering my time to make this work, and 20 voice mails about wireless networking does not make it easier. I know people are concerned, and you want to let us know, but rest assured, we know.

4. The people that have already called the technical support line, at least those who have called for wireless authentication not working, thank you for letting us know rather than just being frustrated. Generally, we really appreciate when people call to report problems, as it helps with troubleshooting.

5. Unfortunately, it is not possible to call everybody who has reported a wireless authentication problem by leaving a message on the voicemail line. 10 minutes to call times 30 calls is the better part of five or six hours. It is simply not possible, especially this week.

6. However, if you have a problem with something else -- need to update billing information, the DSL is not working, etc.please do e-mail or call. The e-mails and calls are getting through, and ones that are not related to wireless authentication are being looked after by myself.

That's all for now -- as soon as I/we know more, you all will be the first to know. Updates will be posted to this blog, which of course is also visible on the Wireless Nomad homepage.

have a good night,
-Damien

Some WiFi login troubles-- Steve and Ron are on it

Some intermittent WiFi login troubles-- Steve and Ron are on it!

Thanks to everyone who reported any issues-- it really helps for troubleshooting.

-Damien

That famous penguin... now in Bricks!

LINK

New copyright laws? This is bad news, and it's important.

This is bad news, and it's important.

Harper's Conservative government is getting ready to whack Canadians with changes to the Copyright Act-- changes that can lock out competition, limit free expression, take money from your pockets and put it in the hands of industry lobby groups, and co-opt your ISP to spy on your Internet connection.

Nearly 10 years ago, the United States got a similar new copyright law that tried to legislate copy-proof bits. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now, and in between, programmers were jailed, academics silenced, consumers ripped off, and competitors locked out of fair competition in markets from music players to garage door openers.

Computers and the Internet are really great at copying bits of information and sending them anywhere, fast and cheap. Every copyright law that tries to stop all that copying and sending makes computers and the Internet less useful and less valuable. It puts a lock on innovation and creativity, instead propping up the current way of doing things at the expense of people with new ideas, new technologies and new ways of making music, movies, and money.

Right now, Canadians have ‘fair dealing’ rights, which means they are allowed to copy all sorts of things -without any permission- for all sorts of reasons, like reporting the news, for example. This help keeps speech free, encourages technical and innovation, and helps disrupt the monopolies that copyright creates.

There are a lot of people out there, however, that would like to charge you every time you listen to a song, even if you already bought the CD. They would like to make it so you can't play your new DVD on any computer except the ones they say you can. They would REALLY like to make it so Internet providers are forced to act like their own private police, to spy on their subscribers to see if any copying is happening unless these people say so, even if Canadian copyright law already gives you the right to make that copy. This is not an idle threat: they have been pushing for this for years, and have spent millions of dollars lobbying governments, buying off politicians, and getting their spin into the media.

If you like what Wireless Nomad is doing, and you want to keep your Internet provider and your Internet connection from the clutches of the American recording industry, and don't want to have your rights as a citizen and Internet user taken away, let your elected representative or local newspaper editor know! If you feel even more ambitious, and have a few bucks to spare, join
Online Rights Canada(onlinerights.ca), the organization created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the University of Ottawa to fight for free electronic speech and fair electronic copyright.

The fight for control of our Internet is far from over, and this is a battle we can win. If we all sit by and just watch it happen, though, it's a battle we can easily lose.


LINK to BoingBoing story and other links

How to choose a good password

"Bruce Schneier on how to choose a secure password -- forget taking a common word, substiting some numbers for letters, and sticking a year with some punctuation on the end. Not good enough..."

(From BoingBoing)

LINK

Reminder: January Monthly Meeting Tomorrow!

January Monthly Meeting

A casual meeting for anyone interested in helping with the co-op in any way!

When:
Wednesday, January 10, 2007, 7:00 PM-9:00PM

Where:
Linux Caffe
326 Harbord Street
Toronto , ON M6G 3A4
416-534-2116


Note: A full membership meeting is also to be scheduled in the next month.

GTALUG + CCC + WN fun summer memories...

Summer memories...

GTALUG + CCC + WN in the park next to Linux Caffe.


Flikr Pics

Brazil ISP blocks YouTube after court decision on sex video

From the 'Boing:

A "court decision in Brazil [has] "shut down" YouTube over an unathorized celebrity sex video.. "

Another example of what some company will do to its subscribers-- and what we can chose not to do, 'cause we've got our own internet connections thru WN.


LINK

Wireless Forensics: Part One - Tapping the Air

"Part one of this article focuses on the technical details and challenges for traffic acquisition, and provides design requirements and best practices for wireless forensics tools. The second part will address the main considerations and challenges for wireless traffic analysis, including advanced anti-forensic techniques and some legal aspects associated with this discipline.

The reader should note that for simplicity, all practical examples and specific technical details covered in the article use Linux and open-source tools."



LINK

Commentary: Is 2007 the year for mobile WiMAX?

From MuniWireless.com:

"There’s certainly been a lot of news about the deployment of mobile WiMAX solutions. Vendors are claiming that products certified for compliance with the 802.16e-2005 standard will be available in Q1 2007, and carriers, such as Clearwire and NextWave, plan to launch mobile WiMAX systems throughout 2007. These announcements make the situation look good for mobile WiMAX in 2007..."


LINK

January Monthly Meeting

A casual meeting for anyone interested in helping with the co-op in any way!

When:
Wednesday, January 10, 2007, 7:00 PM-9:00PM

Where:
Linux Caffe
326 Harbord Street
Toronto , ON M6G 3A4
416-534-2116


Note: A full membership meeting is also to be scheduled in the next month.