[wplug] On the subject of wardriving...

[Michael Skowvron]

Bill Moran wrote:

> Answer me 1 question:
> 
> What is the _purpose_ of wardriving?
> 

It's been quite a discussion here on the list. There has been much 
good information and some very well written misinformation. It seems 
that we've agreed to disagree. For my part, I'll weigh in and say that 
I have logged data relating to WiFi stations. (I've inhaled!) I'll 
also state that I have no interest at all in accessing anyone's 
network. However, I find the explosive growth of this technology to be 
fascinating in many ways and I'd like to list a few.

Topics such as AP density, propagation charactaristics, channel usage 
patterns and co-channel interference are all interesting. So are 
throughput and backoff/retry characteristics in high density areas.

Statistics about how the usage of WEP has increased over the past 
three years are also interesting. As well as the increase in the 
number of networks that people are INTENTIONALLY leaving open.

It is also interesting to correlate WiFi density to popluation density 
and demographics; as well as to compare consumer and commercial 
adoption  of WiFi.

The data can show intersting information about the market penetration 
of various vendors and chipset manufacturers. And show how different 
parts of the country favor one over the other. Or how it varies 
between consumer and commercial users.

How quickly are users migrating to 5GHz and what areas are the first 
adopters? How is spectrum being utilized and what kind of forecasts 
can be made about it?

These are the types of things that interest me and none of it is 
illegal. The data that "wardrivers" collect can help to answer some of 
these questions. All of the data can be obtained passively without 
ever transmitting or actively engaging a STA.

Just because one can put a radio in the car and collect raw data does 
not automatically mean they are doing something illegal. Drew and 
others have tried to make this point repeatedly. The FBI have also 
been clear on this matter -- simply associating to an access point is 
not illegal.

In a similar way, I also think that the cellular companies have built 
some pretty amazing networks. If I had the time, I think it would be 
interesting the take a receiver or spectrum analyzer and drive around 
mapping the various cellular towers and their radiation patterns. It 
would be really interesting stuff and also completely legal. Yet it 
would be exactly like "wardriving."

According to the views of some on this list, if I told everyone where 
the Sprint towers were, it would be like giving them free reign to go 
terrorize them. Oh, wait, I can already look all that data up on the 
FCC website. So much for it being illegal to publish where radio 
transmitters are.

Yes, there are lines that can be crossed. Don't cross them. Just have fun.

Michael