It seems like everyone has a waveLAN card these days. I have to admit they are pretty useful-- being able to hack while watching TV is very nice indeed. Of course the export-grade 40bit encryption is a bit pants, and having a single shared key (that everyone knows) is a nightmare. I was most amused to read the paper (mentioned on slashdot) analysing the Wired-Equivalent-Privacy(WEP) algorithm. They suggest some quite simple and pretty devastating attacks-- definitely worth a read.

It's really about time that people stopped plugging wireless routers directly into their backbone networks. They really ought to put the wavelan well outside their firewall and treat it with the suspicion it deserves. Perhaps it would help if the routers/bridges themselves weren't so plug-n-play (or perhaps that should be forget-n-regret?) As a bonus, people could one day co-operate and help each other (by routing packets?) rather than treating their neighbours (and their networks) as unwanted noise. After all, wasn't co-operation a founding principle of the internet?

*sigh* But it'll never happen...