(Sigh...)

It's like a religion, I tell you-this unshakable belief held by so many that open Wi-Fi is inherently dangerous to use for any sensitive purpose. As further evidence thereof, herewith this from a blogger over at Yahoo News recounting her baptism into the gospel of Thou Shalt Not Bank Whilst Thou Art Connected to a Router That Be Not Encrypted.

And now, once again, with apologies to ath64, A Brief Pause For the Facts.

As long as you are connected to a web page that properly implemets the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, it is perfectly safe for you to do anything you want on that particular page no matter how you're connected to it. In the case of an entire site such as that of a bank or credit card issuer, as long as all the pages on the site are so protected, you are too. The actual dangers the blogger saw demonstrated are, in fact, not specific to open Wi-Fi, but instead stem from two possible causes. The first is a website with an unencrypted login page (hard to imagine on a banking or other financial website in this day and age); the second is one whose owner either doesn't keep its certificates up to date (again hard to fathom for a truly responsible organization) or doesn't bother purchasing valid SSL certificates at all, opting instead to create its own self-signed ones.

Either of these last two situations should have given the author a browser warning about the certificates that she almost certainly ignored. SSL, after all, is designed to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks such as she described. But SSL, like any other security technology, isn't capable in most cases of protecting against what in less polite circles at least used to be referred to as a PEBCAK-a Problem that Exists Between the Computer And Keyboard.

And it is that sort of problem one must be the most on guard against. Once again, if the webpage you're logging into for any sensitive purpose has an URL that doesn't begin with "https://" don't log into it-on open Wi-Fi or anywhere else. If you still have an account with an institution whose website doesn't protect all of its pages with SSL, find another bank or take out someone else's credit card. How do you tell? Simple. Either look for "https://" at the start of the URL of each page or, better yet, set your browser to warn you when you're about to leave an encrypted page for one that isn't. If you see that warning when you shouldn't, take your business elsewhere and tell the institution you're leaving why.

Finally, do what ath64 famously reminded everyone to do-or more accurately, not to do-in this post some four years back decrying the KCK Public Library's then-closed network. If you get any message regarding a website's certificates, don't enter or access any sensitive information on that site afterward. Thankfully, you likely don't have to worry about anyone in an Afghan cave anymore, but the results of flouting this admonition could still be as bad as Guantanamo Bay-or worse.

Well, the evening wasn't a total loss.

After the lead on the southeast side yesterday afternoon failed to pan out, I headed north to catch the going-out-of-business sale of the Big Box Electronics Retailer Who Shall Not Be Named at their location across Barry Road from the Metro North Mall. Don't bother; all the good stuff's gone-and the store itself will be after Tuesday. Even sadder was my brief, nostalgic stop at Metro North itself. Less than a dozen stores left open in the whole place. Needless to say, no Wi-Fi-there'd hardly be anyone there to use it if there were. At least those wonderful hot-air balloons in the atrium are still there and, incredibly, still functioning. I hope they can be saved and set up somewhere else (Union Station, maybe?) before the inevitable day when the lights go out and the bulldozers roll in.

Enough tears shed over the past, however. Let's move on to finding out where you can still hook up to check in while feeding your face or perhaps meeting other needs in the neighborhood. Full disclosure: I didn't actually go into any of these locations except the first one-and I didn't boot up in any of them. Connection data is based solely on previous experience and what I saw with my finder, so take these hit-and-run reviews as what they are-merely evidence of the existence of an open router that appears intended for free public use.

McDonald's
150 NW Barry Road, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: attwifi or Wayport_Access

I went in and grabbed to go here, staying only long enough to whip out my finder to confirm this location as being among Mickey D's unwired. No visible power outlets anywhere, so charge up beforehand. The location faces south, so daylight should be LCD-friendly for the most part, except perhaps during the winter.

Great Clips
115 NW Barry Road, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: Great Clips Free WiFi

After striking out at another barber/beauty shop earlier in the day, there was no way I could resist verifying what my finder indicated from across the street while I was getting my hamburger fix. Again I didn't actually go in, so if one of you wants to provide more info re power availability or how easily you can read your screen in the daytime, feel free. With only north-facing storefront windows, the latter really shouldn't be a problem.

Mr. Goodcents
117 NW Barry Road, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: Mr Goodcents

Not long after I came on board this blog I stopped at this chain's Main Street location, but unlike tonight I hadn't come there from McDonald's, so I went in and stayed a bit. Anyone who wants to do so here is welcome to fill us in on any pertinent details missing from this rather cursory report. Like those of its neighbor just to the east, its storefront windows face north, which should help with daytime LCD viewability this time of year.

OK-we're trying here, folks. We REALLY are.

No sooner does ath64 proclaim a crusade to root out and publicize hotspots in the metro's most underserved areas than we get a lead on one that really sounds intriguing-a combination barber/beauty shop not far from the KCMO Southeast Branch Library. Frankly, I haven't heard of any other hair emporiums that have unwired, despite their seeming to be a natural location for it. And anything that would take the pressure off Southeast's beleaguered network would be most welcome as well.

Don't bother.

The network is locked down, making it off limits as far as this blog is concerned. And what's worse is that it's locked down with WEP, which anyone with a criminal bent and modest hacking skills who wanted to break in would overcome in mere seconds, if not minutes. And what's worst is that it appears no one there knows why it's locked down in the first place.

A kindly reminder to our valued and highly appreciated tipsters: "Free and open" means just that-you don't have to ask for anything in order to connect to the network. Those are the only networks we review and publicize here, because accessing any other kind without prior authorization is against the law. All right-everyone got that?

And a gentle nudge to the proprietors of the above-mentioned establishment, along with others who are at least trying to bridge the digital divide: If you don't know why you're doing something, that's probably a good reason not to do it. There's a reason the routers at the Southeast and Bluford library branches aren't encrypted. It's the same reason yours shouldn't be either.

Speak of the devil, and...

Kansas City Star:  Google starts hanging the fiber.

All right, we'll treat this project like the proverbial watched pot from here on out-until it goes live.  Katie bar the door once it does.

Giga-Fi? I'll buy THAT, but...

Interesting story in today's Kansas City Star concerning the latest wrinkle in the coming of Google Gigabit to the metro.  Seems that someone shared the concern I expressed in my original post on the subject that Wi-Fi speeds were-and still are-far too slow to make truly practical use of that much bandwidth, at least compared to a wired connection.

So now I suppose we can attribute the fact that, at least as far as I know or have heard, there's no actual construction underway anywhere yet to Google's concentration on developing and arranging for licensing and production of these new high-speed interface devices. 

Well, pardon me for a moment, but if this is the case, the cart just might be getting in front of the horse here.  We're coming up on a year since the big announcement and no one's gigabitting yet-wired or otherwise.  Maybe whoever is in charge of this decision ought to stop and remember how long it took 802.11n to go from draft to final adopted standard, and then ask himself or herself whether taking the chance of Big Telecom, Colossal Cable or the Goliaths who own the power grid stealing a march on Google are worth it.

Besides, although achieving gigabit Wi-Fi within a reasonable time sounds plausible, that executive might want to consider the experiences of someone I know who's occasionally pulling the Internet in over Bluetooth right now.  If that someone's reports of its speeds (or lack thereof) are to be believed, Gigatooth may be a slightly more daunting proposition.

Sit, sup and surf while the dining room's open-but be careful otherwise

McDonald's
6406 Troost, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID:  attwifi or Wayport_Access

In the interest of public service-since it's now obvious Google won't be able to ride to the rescue of those still on the wrong side of the digital divide as early as had been hoped-we've resolved to make an effort to find hotspots in the affected areas that we may have missed up until now.  Feel free to let us know of any you're aware of and we'll check them out as we go.

Anyway...this one's pretty much a standard local McDonald's, Wi-Fi wise-i.e., plenty of comfortable seating but no power outlets, so charge up before you come.  You also might want to take a seat towards the interior early in the day, as the building faces east and has the standard big unshaded windows.

Oh, and one more thing.   This, unfortunately, is the location where this happened, so I'll reiterate my admonition, hinted at in the title, that perhaps you shouldn't hang around the parking lot during drive-through-only hours-especially with a laptop out.

Oh, so THAT'S why they don't have power outlets.

Barnes and Noble
19120 East 39th Street, Independence

802.11g
SSID:  attwifi

Full disclosure:  I'm not posting this from there.  Instead I'm reporting what I found when I dropped in yesterday while I was in the neighborhood (sales taxes are a little less in that part of the metro, which is important when you're buying your biggest gift) and decided not only to see if B&N had dropped their onerous two-hours-at-one-whack limit which I discovered when I reviewed their Country Club Plaza location a couple of years back, but also to find out if someone constrained to use a VPN, as I am when using my work laptop, could actually connect and...well, you know, work.  I am pleased to confirm that the answer is yes on both counts.  Too bad I also have to confirm that you'll need to charge up your laptop before leaving work, because there appear to be no power outlets in the cafe, which has the only convenient seating in the place. 

And I'm not sure if we should really take heart at this news, but mine was the only laptop evident there.  Seems as if everyone else was busying themselves with-dare I say it?-books.  You remember books, don't you?  Those things made up of leaves of paper with printed words on them?  That don't require external power or an Internet connection?  That you have to operate by hand and actually engage your brain to use?  Yeah, that's right, those.  Hmmm...maybe the era of movable type isn't as dead as some would have us think. 

Something to contemplate, at least.  Season's greetings, everyone!