The Null Device

Interesting rumour heard: You know those wireless networking devices (WaveLAN/802.11) that allow users to network their laptops anywhere within a building without cables? Well, apparently quite a few of them leak well out of their intended areas, and don't use any means to prevent outsiders who happen to have appropriately equipped computers at hand from connecting, looking around and accessing the wide open Internet. According to an anonymous anecdote seen on an unidentified mailing list:

I was riding the bus around downtown Stockholm to get home after a pretty late evening and I was too tired to read. I fired up my laptop and started to detect networks. I found six or seven... during 30 minutes. A week later a friend from Canada visited us. He stayed at a hotel in central Stockholm. He had a working network in some spots in his room. Apparently it belonged to a law firm.

Of course, unlike the golden age of hacking, the 1980s and earlier, such curious explorations are probably illegal these days, so Don't Do It, Kiddies.

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