The rise of passive-aggressive wi-fi names

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19760006

by jofo25 • 14 years ago

71 50 14 years ago

bbc.co.uk

Surprised the 'FBI Van' one wasn't mentioned as I've seen that more than a few times in the wild and posted around the internet.

duck• 14 years ago

I've never seen that one, but I always use FBI + some long random string of numbers. A while back I had a neighbor ask me if I knew anyone on the street that was with the FBI. :)

hellweaver666• 14 years ago

It was on the example pic about half way down.

nicholassmith2• 14 years ago

True, but as it's become a bit of a geek in joke I was surprised it wasn't mentioned during the article as well.

jeffool• 14 years ago

I found it funny they mentioned "I can hear you having sex" but not the reply "WeCanHearYouNotHavingSex".

hcrisp• 14 years ago

"FBI Surveillance van" wasn't directly mentioned, but it does partially appear in one of the photos.

francov882• 14 years ago

That person is a genius imo

wisty• 14 years ago

Does anyone else think that using the term "passive-agressive" is somewhat ... passive-agressive?

jofo25• 14 years ago

I seem to only hear it in "STOP BEING SO PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE ARGHHHH" sentences.

zerostar072• 14 years ago

Also most of the names are pretty direct, no passive aggressiveness there

rm999• 14 years ago

It's passive aggressive because the people aren't directly speaking to their neighbors. Kind of like the notes in passiveaggressivenotes.com - those notes are direct, but they avoid direct confrontation.

mouseroot• 14 years ago

this really isnt news I mean back when everyone left thier routers open be default alot of the network names where even more aggressive its funny they know howto change the sisd but not the damn password or encryption type lol

Nursie• 14 years ago

No 'Free Public Wifi' ?

Awesome windows virusy-thing that was...

christoph• 14 years ago

Actually not a virus, just a bug in Windows XP - http://www.npr.org/2010/10/09/130451369/the-zombie-network-b...

code_duck• 14 years ago

My favorite are the ones that leave you wondering what's going on where, such as "Make Out Party".

lewisflude• 14 years ago

Not linking back to the Reddit post (as far as I can see). This seems to be a bit of a trend recently. :)

lewispollard• 14 years ago

There's a trade-in electronics chain in the UK called CeX, and their WiFi hotspots are open and named 'Unprotected CeX' by default which I always found amusing.

jug6ernaut• 14 years ago

Am i the only one who doesn't broadcast their SSID?

travisp• 14 years ago

You're almost certainly not the "only one." But, most of us don't bother because it doesn't provide any additional security (and might mislead you into thinking you can make your network less secure).

See "Why Non-broadcast Networks are not a Security Feature" at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726942.aspx#EDA...

harshreality• 14 years ago

Doesn't it also make it more difficult for neighbors to check for channel conflicts?

rdwallis3• 14 years ago

It would be great if everyone just put their phone number as the SSID.

Phone numbers are unique and let others contact you if they want to use your wifi for some reason. Would probably help neighbors get hold of each other in emergencies as well.

alanctgardner2• 14 years ago

But then any random passerby could harvest phone numbers easily. And because of the nature of a) cell phones and b) wireless networks, there isn't really a good correlation from wifi-availability to geographic location to actual phone location. You might know all of your neighbours' phone numbers, but not which goes with whom, nor which ones are on your floor, or even in your building. And just imagine someone phoning them all to try to find out who's playing music at night.

rdwallis3• 14 years ago

Well yes, if you publish your phone number then people will be able to see it.

You're right about the flat number / street number situation though. It might be good to add that to the SSID as well.

Loud music seems like a perfect use case for the information.

br1• 14 years ago

Great idea. My in-laws have it backwards: the password is the street number... Changing it would break all devices that already store the password, so it stays.

francov882• 14 years ago

Does it make me a bad person if I find some of these really funny and creative?

eps• 14 years ago

I stick to "Honeypot".

pyre• 14 years ago

Not everyone knows what that is. They might just assume that you're a fan of Winnie the Pooh.

imgabe• 14 years ago

My favorite one in my neighborhood is "Hide Yo Kids Hide Yo WiFi"

vwoolf• 14 years ago

My favorite is "It's better when it's unprotected."

No password.

incision2• 14 years ago

I enjoyed an entrepreneurial one to the effect of:

"Pay 1711 10 bones for access"

sergiotapia• 14 years ago

Quick hypothetical scenario.

If I were to open a free wifi network and let anybody use it, say call it: "Free Internet!" and many people used it.

Could I intercept those users personal information suck as Facebook usernames, passwords, emails, etc?

How deep would me penetration go? Or will I only be able to intercept packets?

I always tell my wife to not use online banking etc when she visits a cafe with free internet, but it's just a hunch - not based on my actual knowledge on the matter. That's why I'm asking. Thanks!

incision2• 14 years ago

Well, if you own the AP you're going to have quite a bit of visibility, but that might not even be necessary...

Firesheep: Easy HTTP session hijacking from within Firefox

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1827928

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firesheep

joshAg• 14 years ago

> Could I intercept those users personal information suck as Facebook usernames, passwords, emails, etc?

Yes. You'd have to do a bit of work, since the info would be encrypted, but by being in-path you would get all the info you need to decrypt the messages.

> I always tell my wife to not use online banking etc when she visits a cafe with free internet, but it's just a hunch - not based on my actual knowledge on the matter. That's why I'm asking. Thanks!

Unless she does her web browsing over a secured vpn, then there's a chance that information could be seen by someone.

jiggy2011• 14 years ago

Not necessarily. Facebook now uses SSL for login and I'm assuming any sane Online banking service does the same.

On the other hand there things to watch out for like SSL strip.

http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/sslstrip/

So make sure that you are actually using the HTTPS version of any site.

If you are using standard HTTP (or another unencrypted protocol) then you can assume that the network owner can intercept everything you are doing.

keithpeter• 14 years ago

I've been using "just sit down and have a nice cup of tea" for some time. I use hyphens in the actual name. Alas, my neighbours still have SKY-some-large-number or the BT equivalent. They all do have wpa2 turned on however.

http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/exhibitions/current/?id=50

I think goto10 have automated the id string thing. I saw something like this in Birmingham some months ago, goto10 did a residence then.

quarterto• 14 years ago

A couple of years ago visible form my student house were "227 epic house" and "229 even more epic house".

Create• 14 years ago

Paper always works.

http://static-mb.minutebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/c...

mjn• 14 years ago

I've recently run across a handful of political messages in prominent locations. Taking the train from Tampere to Turku, Finland, for example, someone on the train was broadcasting a really long SSID that translates roughly to "Support tram construction in Tampere and Turku!"

dllthomas2• 14 years ago

I have two networks, a private one and a public one. The public one has no password, and the SSID is "My Address Guest". I've received thank-you notes. If overuse gets to be an issue, I'll throttle the public side, but it hasn't been so far.

thesloth• 14 years ago

And what if someone uses it for illegal activities? The buck would stop with you (or at least start there). I'd be very wary about an Open WiFi these days....

dllthomas2• 14 years ago

Having been stuck without access in the past, I think the benefit to others is worth the risk.

The rise of passive-aggressive wi-fi names

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