Ray Ozzie of Groove Networks and Lotus fame, chimes in on wifi sniffing. While the ramifications and techniques are no different then traditional wired sniffing, the access is. Wifi removes a simple, but effective, layer of security - physical boundaries. Walls, doors and wires are no longer deterrents.

Think about it. How long will it take before someone starts methodically wardriving in front of major politicians' or executives' homes, looking for open access points and sniffing interesting traffic by sitting in their car across the street each evening? Don't you think it's already happening?

In 1997, a cell phone conversation of Newt Gingrich was recorded by a scanner user and the tape was turned over to the media. This spawned bills HR1964 and HR2369 threatening to end scanning as a hobby. Would a major WiFi-catalyzed insider trading scandal, or political scandal cause new laws to be passed that might change the wireless data landscape as we know it? It seems like just a matter of time before we'll find out.

posted by mt at 10:50