[LINK] Google's WiFi bungle

[Craig Sanders]

On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 11:31:07AM +1000, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> But - here's where I need a technologist to confirm my understanding - 
> changing channels is one of those things WiFi does. Isn't "frequency 
> hopping spread spectrum" in the definition?

yep.

> So what I suspect is the "changing channels five times a second" is just 
> blowing smoke to create a general fog to confuse the media. Or am I 
> horribly mistaken?

probably.

but then the whole issue's a stupid beat-up anyway.

google collected publicly available data that people were broadcasting
for anyone to see. so what? big deal.

the technically-correct fix is for the morons who had/have unsecured
& unencrypted wifi access points to actually get off their arses and
secure them.

but once the media have sensationalised the hell out of a bullshit
story, the solution is PR, not tech.

craig

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