[LINK] google misdeeds and Australia's Privacy Commissioner

[Craig Sanders]

On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 04:29:47PM +1000, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> At the physical layer, you're absolutely right. But a WiFi network is 
> not only Layer One - it's also the MAC layer, Layer Two. At the MAC 
> layer, the "network" is created by devices obeying the addressing rules 
> (among other things). 

can you see the danger inherent in taking (a specific small subset of)
current technical conventions and enshrining them in law?


ethernet isn't the only data link layer you can run on top of wifi. sure
it's the most common, and can be thought of as the de-facto standard -
but a) standards change and evolve(*) and b) it is not mandatory.



(*) the underlying core "standard" of the internet is - "rough consensus
and working code". with very few exceptions, everything else is just a
discussion paper (aka "Request For Comment") or proposal ("this is how i
think X should work. feel free to implement as follows").

ever wonder why IP lives on and OSI essentially died? it's because that
rough consensus and mutual co-operation model works better, and allows
for more innovation, than mandates from on high.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>