Meanwhile, back to the east...

McDonald's
812 Minnesota Avenue, KCK

802.11g
SSID: Wayport_Access or attwifi

After the somewhat depressing results of my West Wyandotte expedition, and the even sadder news, delivered by the Kansas City Star earlier this week, that the YWCA has closed its coffeehouse a few blocks away from here which was reviewed in October by ath64, it's somewhat heartening to find that at least here in the most underserved part of the metro, Mickey D's is really coming through like we thought they would everywhere else upon joining the free world a year ago.

No power outlets, so charge up in advance or type and surf faster than you eat. Speaking of speed...has anyone here checked lately? An online test reported only around 300 kilobits per second down and merely one-third that up. Is that the best Ma Bell can do?

Let's hope not, and let's also hope more businesses that are still managing to thrive in this recession wil consider unwiring, to make up for the loss of some that aren't-such as Borders Books, which (bad pun alert) has turned the first page of Chapter 11 in case you haven't heard. As the KC Business Journal reports, the closeout sale is already under way at the one local store-in the Northland-closing as a result of the filing. And I didn't even realize that their 119th and Metcalf store, the subject of another ath64 review a couple of Christmases back, is already gone.

The confines are a bit more friendly, but...

Kansas City Kansas Public Library, West Wyandotte Library
1737 North 82nd Street, KCK

802.11g
SSID: KCKPLWEST



Well, in hopes that things had gotten a bit better since KCKPL effectively opened up their network to everyone, I sauntered out this way this afternoon-but sadly must report that should you do the same, you'll have to endure the same onerous filtering and port blocking I observed back in October at KCK's main branch, albeit in surroundings much better suited to laptop use. Take a gander, for instance, at this table, replete with a pair of convenient power outlets at the base of the lamp.



There are at least a couple of these here, along with armchairs incorporating swivel trays that could accomodate a laptop or netbook, similar to the chairs that at least used to be in the Miller Nichols Library at UMKC (haven't been there in a while and their laptop connectivity has been restricted to students, faculty and staff for some years now so I don't know if they're still there). And some of those armchairs are right next to power outlets in the floor.

In short, this place could show a few things to some libraries around town. Now, if KCKPL's administration would only take a few hints from them. Usability isn't all furniture and wiring, folks.

I ought not, but I'm going to (among other things).

Yes, I really shouldn't-but five years of waiting for these nice folks down here at Crown Center to get their Wi-Fi working consistently as it's supposed to is long enough.  Perhaps, on this Friday before we celebrate the life and achievements of that most Gandhi-like of Americans, it's time for a little not-so-civil disobedience.  

So...okay. For those of you who've come down here and run into the problems I did again tonight with not being able to go anywhere after connecting and wondered about my previous allusions to being able to get around the problem myself, here's what you do:  Manually configure your TCP/IP (look in help for whatever operating system you're running for how to do this) to give yourself an IP address somewhere around 192.168.2.100.  In other words, set it to not use DHCP and input the above address instead.  If it asks for a router or gateway try putting in the router's address of 192.168.2.1.  Don't mess with the netmask if it's there; the default setting should work.  For your computer's address I'd start with 192.168.2.100 and go up to maybe 110 or even higher depending on whether there are other users around who don't appear to be having problems.  By the way, for those who don't know, change only the last three digits.  Try surfing after each address change.  If five to ten tries don't get it, you probably need to also make an entry for a DNS server.  Google now offers a pair of these for free public use at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.  You can also try Open DNS at 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220.

Oh, I almost forgot-remember to change everything back to where it was originally just before you shut down to leave.  Generally this means simply re-enabling DHCP and deleting any DNS servers you entered.  Might make connecting again at home or work a tad easier.

And should anyone with Crown Center's management take exception to the above-well, bring on the dogs and fire hoses.  Better yet, do what your conscience ought to be telling you to do about right now-go hire a kid who can fix this network and keep it fixed.

And with that, on to tonight's hisses and cheers.  Cheers for Microsoft, who now gives you the option of setting Hotmail accounts so that they can be accessed with full, Firesheep-proof HTTPS-on-every-page protection if you try to access the login page that way.  It'd be better if they'd just do this by default, but at least it's a start.  Hisses however for Lycos and NetZero, both of whom are still way behind the curve on this.  Lycos seems to think there isn't a problem, while NetZero offers only a partially encrypted login page-to which you must specifically navigate-and nothing beyond that.  I guess there are going to have to be some high-profile Firesheep shearings before some people get the message.

The opposite side of the equator-and the wrong side of history as well?

Well gosh, I'd have made mention of Wi-Fi-related news closer to home than either New Zealand or California had there been any, but these two tidbits do make something of an interesting juxtaposition.

I've come across rumblings from the New Zealand town of Nelson before about the local public library offering-horrors!-free and open Wi-Fi for everyone, which doesn't set well with at least one local businessman who's apparently still able to sell play-for-pay sessions for $4 (I assume that's in New Zealand dollars; I have no idea of the current exchange rate). Now, according to a local newspaper over there, he's steamed that operators of tour buses cruising through town make a point of advising laptop-toting backpackers of the library's access. Like they'd cram into his place to fork over for his overpriced sessions instead, rather than find another free venue run by a true competitor of his. Yeah, right.

As for why the town government should perhaps listen to him with a jaundiced ear, consider the following newspaper item from Lodi, California. While I personally would feel a bit better if a person in the protagonist's situation were a bit more inclined to use the library's access as a means toward getting out of it, it is heartening to know that free and open Wi-Fi is, at least in this one case, really helping to narrow the digital divide.

Oh, I almost forgot-Happy New Year!

This is worse.

Disturbing story from the Kansas City Star about a homicide last summer.  Apparently the victim was sitting in his car in a restaurant parking lot using the establishment's Wi-Fi (either after hours or while only the drive-through was open) when he was accosted by a robber apparently attracted by the glow of his laptop's screen.  The victim resisted and was fatally shot; the stolen computer was eventually tracked down and suspects arrested.

While my sympathies are totally with the victim and his loved ones, I feel this should serve as a cautionary tale.  If you wouldn't feel safe walking alone or stopping your car somewhere at a certain time, you probably shouldn't whip out a laptop then and there either.  I imagine this poor fellow didn't have access at home for some reason, which is why he was out and about at that hour.  Anyone else in that same situation ought to consider that cheap dialup (or free dialup from NetZero, if you're running Windows and can get by with ten hours a month) is still around and can serve as a stopgap for your at-home hours.  Don't have a landline phone at home anymore?  Check with your cellular provider to see what they offer with regard to getting either your phone or both it and your laptop online, or perhaps look into the growing number of prepaid/pay-as-you-go mobile broadband options.

Incidentally, I can't think of any 24-hour venues that are unwired and offer inside service around the clock, which may be safer from a crime-prevention standpoint.  Can anyone else?

This is bad.

Burning off a few vacation days gave me the chance this morning to catch financial guru Clark Howard's somewhat belated take on the Firesheep/sidejacking situation.  As has been his wont, unfortunately, he showed once again that, just like a lot of other people when it comes to issues involving open Wi-Fi, he doesn't grasp what the real danger is-in this case, sites that use cookies for authentication and then transport them in the clear because all their pages aren't SSL-encrypted.  He again spouted his outdated "don't bank or shop when you're connected to open Wi-Fi" nonsense, a clear indication he doesn't understand that it's sites which don't collect or transmit sensitive financial information-mostly social networking venues like Facebook-that are susceptible to this exploit.  Any site that does in this day and age is going to have all its pages fully protected-or it won't have insurance coverage.

You've got to wonder-has anyone ever taught Howard how to use a search engine?  Try looking up "Firesheep," Clark.  Pay particular attention to its author's explanations of how it works and his motivations for creating it.  I think you may find them somewhat enlightening.  

Not on Uncle Sam's dime, you don't.

Given our disdain for getting entangled in politics here, I'd been pretty much ignoring the furor over the Wikileaks disclosures...until one of my periodic searches for Wi-Fi related news came across this report from Library Journal that the Library of Congress-which I didn't realize offered what is apparently free and open wireless access to its visitors- is completely blocking access to the entire Wikileaks site on that connection as well as on its own staff computers, giving this rationale on its blog.

Hmmm...interesting. Clearly the library is on solid ground as far as its own machines and staff-who, it should be remembered, are government employees-are concerned. However, a government agency's imposition of a prior restraint against published works not by preventing their publication but by prohibiting the public from reading them is somewhat troubling.

Can we expect a push in the new Congress to expand the Children's Internet Protection Act to unambiguously cover Internet access provided to patron-owned devices in public libraries receiving relevant federal funding and modify the categories of prohibited content just to handle this sort of situation? One certainly hopes not. It's bad enough that the Rehnquist Supreme Court sanctioned this kind of Chinese-style "we can't stop them from publishing it but we can stop you from reading it" form of censorship when it upheld CIPA in the first place. Granted, CIPA at present only covers (for the most part) material that doesn't enjoy First Amendment protection (I'm still not convinced that its definition of material "harmful to minors" won't eventually prove to be unconstitutionally vague). However, if we aren't careful, we could easily find ourselves on a steep and very slippery slope.

What's that, you say? Classified material, once leaked, isn't protected by the First Amendment? Well, what do you know? That's just what Rehnquist argued as an assistant attorney general when the Pentagon Papers were published. Too bad for him that the Supreme Court-then still presided over by his predecessor as Chief Justice, Warren Burger-didn't see it that way.