Subject: Re The latest in "Blue World" soup (Jonsson)(Howell).
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 110739 -0600
From: Roy Beavers
To: guru
--------------------------------------------------
........Response from EMF-L.......
Yes -- surveillance will be easier than ever..... No joke!!
......guru..... (Recall the message sent earlier on EMF-L:
ALL of our e-mail is PUBLIC......)
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: The latest in "Blue World" soup (Jonsson).
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 10:06:17 -0700
From: "Russell Howell"
To:
Guru,
In some circles this Blue World reference,". The
entire club is bathed in multimegabit Internet traffic, and laptops with
the proper equipment can snatch the data out of thin air." might be
viewed as surveillance with potential for harassment. The soup
thickens, (pun intended, he he).
Russ
-----Original Message-----
From: Roy Beavers
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Date: Monday, March 05, 2001 8:05 AM
Subject: The latest in "Blue World" soup (Jonsson).
>
>
>........From EMF-L.........
>
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: Boston Globe: Wireless public spaces
>Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 11:42:15 -0500
>From: azul@flash.net
>To: Roy Beavers
>
>Snatching data from thin air: Access goes unplugged
>
>Wireless networks may be next standard for computer users on go
>
>By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 3/4/2001
>The veteran travelers who belong to American Airlines' Admirals Club pay
>handsomely for the privilege, so they're entitled to a few extra perks
>in their private departure lounge at Boston's Logan International
>Airport.
>
>One of those perks is a high-speed Internet access service so advanced
>that customers don't even have to plug in their computers to get it. The
>entire club is bathed in multimegabit Internet traffic, and laptops with
>the proper equipment can snatch the data out of thin air.
>
>Someday soon, you won't have to be an Admirals Club member to get this
>service. Airports, hotels, and convention centers all over America are
>beginning to ''wire'' their public spaces with wireless data networks
>that'll give traveling computer users the same level of Internet access
>they would get back at the office.
>
>The most widely used system is called WiFi. It's not an especially
>catchy name, but better than the technology's original moniker, IEEE
>802.11.
>
>Phil Belanger, chairman of the computer industry association that backs
>WiFi, says the system is aimed at business travelers who need broadband
>data access wherever they go.
>
>''Our target is the business traveler, enterprise customers,'' Belanger
>said. ''WiFi is the standard in the enterprise.''
>
>But it may also become a standard in the millions of homes with more
>than one computer. Indeed, Belanger thinks WiFi will become dominant in
>the home, but he'll have to fight for the residential market against a
>less costly rival standard called HomeRF.
>
>WiFi is also fighting recent reports of the system's vulnerability to
>data thieves. WiFi automatically scrambles data transmissions so that
>network outsiders can't read them. But computer scientists at the
>University of California at Berkeley say they were able to defeat the
>system, enabling them to intercept private data sent over wireless
>networks.
>
>''There are several basic flaws with the standard. Any one of them could
>cause problems,'' said David Wagner, professor of computer science at
>Berkeley.
>
>Belanger said the companies using WiFi were aware of its security flaws
>months ago and are at work on a fix that should be completed by late
>summer. In the meantime, Belanger said, users with a need for tight
>security should install some additional software to protect data sent
>over a wireless network. For example, many companies use ''virtual
>private networking'' software to let workers access the corporate
>network via the Internet. The software adds an extra layer of encryption
>to prevent snooping.
>
>Concern over security isn't the only reason wireless networks won't
>catch on everywhere. After all, most businesses have already laid down
>Ethernet cables for their desktop workers. Besides, wired networks are
>still more robust and offer higher data transmission speeds. But the
>quality of wireless networking is catching up quickly, and the
>technology is ideal for the millions of workers who are constantly on
>the move.
>
>Wireless networking is an old idea that hasn't been practical until
>recently. By the late 1980s, computer networks were a fixture in
>corporate America, and it was already becoming obvious that they'd be
>even more useful if the data could be exchanged without the need for
>wires. So various companies offered a plethora of wireless network
>products. Each was incompatible with the others, and expensive as well;
>a wireless transceiver could cost $1,500 per computer, plus $3,500 for a
>base station to connect all the machines in an office. Besides, the data
>transmission rates were far slower than on a wired network - 1 million
>bits of data per second, tops.
>
>In order to build a coherent wireless standard, the Institute of
>Electrical and Electronics Engineers intervened in 1990 to create an
>industry standard, IEEE 802.11. Yet it took seven years to nail down the
>standard, and still longer to make the technology cheap enough to become
>popular.
>
>The original standard allowed for transmission speeds of just 2
>megabits, over distances of about 300 feet, an area large enough for a
>good-sized home or office. Since then, 802.11 has gotten faster, with a
>top speed of 11 megabits. That's slightly faster than the early
>10-megabit standard for wire-based Ethernet.
>
>The breakthrough moment for wireless networking came on a New York stage
>in 1999. There stood Steve Jobs, CEO of a resurgent Apple Computer Inc.,
>demonstrating a new Macintosh laptop computer with built-in wireless
>networking. Apple's 802.11-compatible AirPort system cost $99 for each
>computer. Suddenly, a home computer user could set up a high-speed
>network in minutes.
>
>So far, IBM Corp. is the only maker of PC-compatible laptops to offer
>machines with built-in wireless networking. But a number of companies,
>including 3Com Corp. and Boston-based Zoom Telephonics Inc., now sell
>relatively inexpensive WiFi cards that plug into existing desktop and
>laptop machines. For around $150, any standard computer can now get a
>high-speed wireless connection.
>
>A connection to what? Most places frequented by business travelers still
>don't offer wireless data. But that's changing Already major hotels and
>airports are beginning to install wireless systems in their buildings,
>with the aid of wireless data providers like Austin, Texas-based Wayport
>Inc., where Belanger serves as vice president of wireless business
>development.
>
>A rival company, MobileStar Network Corp. of Richardson, Texas, runs the
>wireless service in the Admirals Club at Logan. A visitor with a
>WiFi-equipped computer just turns it on and opens up his browser. The
>WiFi card automatically detects the presence of a wireless network and
>displays a log-on window.
>
>The MobileStar service isn't free to Admirals Club members. MobileStar
>charges $2.50 for 15 minutes and 10 cents a minute thereafter. Frequent
>fliers can purchase monthly plans ranging from $19.95 for 200 minutes of
>use to $59.95 for unlimited access.
>
>The rollout of wireless service in airports hasn't been free from
>controversy. Airports in Baltimore and Seattle have delayed the
>deployment of such systems. For one thing, they want more research to
>ensure that wireless transmission won't interfere with critical air
>traffic control radios or navigation beacons. But the airports are also
>interested in getting a slice of the revenues generated by wireless
>networks.
>
>WiFi will work perfectly well for home users, but Wayne Caswell is
>betting it won't catch on there.
>
>''The networked home is quite different from the networked office,''
>said Caswell, communications chairman of the HomeRF Working Group.
>
>For instance, the same frequency band used by WiFi is also used by many
>home communication devices, such as cordless phones and baby monitors.
>HomeRF also uses this frequency band, but it employs a technology called
>''frequency-hopping'' that constantly shifts the exact frequency used by
>the networking system. Frequency-hopping, say Caswell, makes HomeRF much
>less susceptible to interference than WiFi and more secure against
>eavesdropping.
>
>Besides, HomeRF products are a little cheaper. Intel Corp. makes HomeRF
>networking gear that plugs into a computer's USB port and costs $99 per
>computer, about $50 less than the price of WiFi products.
>
>On the other hand, HomeRF currently runs at only 1.6 megabits, far
>slower than WiFi. Caswell says the next generation of HomeRF, with
>10-megabit speed, will hit the market this year.
>
>Meanwhile, WiFi also is getting faster. Over the next two years, new
>WiFi products will offer 54-megabit speed, with a later bump to 100
>megabits. That's fast enough for transmission of full-motion video
>images and crystal-clear sound, all without having to plug in anything
>except, perhaps, a power cord.
>
>So in a couple of years, weary travelers may be able to watch their
>favorite films and TV shows, beamed wirelessly to their laptops. And
>they won't even have to join the Admirals Club.
>
>Hiawatha Bray can be reached by e-mail at bray@globe.com.
>
>This story ran on page 01 of the Boston Globe on 3/4/2001.
>© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com