Since I live here in the US, I'd really like to see a return to the US for manufacturing. We're still teetering on the brink, don't let day to day market-droid speak fool you.

The US is not anywhere near out of the woods yet.

So...I'd like to see my next gadget have "Assembled/Made in the USA" on it.

Just as I'd suspect anyone from another country would prefer their country to be the country of assembly for their next gadget.

Wright's Law: If something can go right, it will, for someone else.

Em's corrallary:

Usually, the bastard doesn't deserve it either.

How is not securing your wireless indicative of not being able to "operate" machinery properly?

If I leave my front door open and you steal from me, that doesn't mean you're not a thief does it?

If you don't know how to operate your equipment properly, maybe you shouldn't be using it. If you do, don't be surprised when it doesn't behave as you expect.

I personally DO know how to operate my equipment properly. I am not up in arms over this because it affects me personally, but because people who don't know any better.

As I said in an earlier post, my wifi is secured and hidden. Does that mean someone couldn't sniff the traffic coming from it and decrypt it? Of course not. Would it make it harder to do? Sure.

In your analogy, you're saying that if you connect to a web server and get a response, it's reasonable to assume you have permission to use that web server. Sure. But what if you do port scans and find an obscure port "reserved" for something other than http or https traffic and connect that way? Are you headed down a slippery slope there or is it just fine, even if the owner of the web server didn't intend for you to connect to that port?

(I'm just asking, I really don't have a horse in this race.)

Than you are a fool who doesn't know how these things work and why anyone would do anything.

It's THEN, not than. Be careful when calling someone a fool when your spelling is inaccurate.

Also, your analogy towards the end of your post is flawed and since you have the internet manners of a raving asshole, I won't bother to refute your asinine argument. Enjoy your weekend.

I have no idea what use snippets of unencrypted data from unsecured networks would be. There just isn't much there that isn't either blatantly illegal and/or terrible PR that you can't learn just by having one of the world's larger Ad networks.

I agree with you, I would imagine most of the data they picked up was of the syn/ack variety. But..with the technology that is available now, Open Source most of it even, you can get the SSIDs and mac addresses WITHOUT snooping any data at all.

I don't get the reasons for the software they used.

Also, for the record, this doesn't affect me personally, as when they mapped my street I didn't live there and I secure my wireless :-) But thanks for the response.

Thanks for the information. I didn't realize they were tying that into google maps. It does make sense from that approach.

Interesting that they ask you for your permission to send your location data to them....but I don't remember reading anything where they said they were going to harvest SSIDs and mac addresses during the initial street mapping.

(I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just not something that people were made aware of...to my knowledge. Not that the people who have unsecured wireless routers probably would have changed anything)

Something I've had a hard time understanding through all this is WHY they thought it was a good idea to record SSIDs and other information while doing a street mapping.

I don't understand what they were hoping to gain from this information?

According to our research, 72.438% of people don't secure their wireless.

According to our research, (I'm assuming they got mac addresses too, right?) 83.4% of all wireless consumer routers in Germany are Linksys routers.

WTF does that have ANYTHING AT ALL to do with mapping streets?

Oh, and for the people getting all up in arms because "people are shouting this information freely and anyone can hear it"...that's patently FALSE. There's maybe 1% of the population that has the know-how or the desire to do that. It is NOT AT ALL event remotely the same as standing in the middle of the street yelling at someone where anyone can hear you. You have no choice but to over hear if you happen to be in the area. You do, however, have a choice in downloading packet-sniffing software and using it on someone's wireless network, unsecured or not.

Agreed, it isn't hard to use at all for anyone with any real exposure to the OS.

But...if you really want to UNDERSTAND why things are the way they are, then manuals like these are very good for the noob to intermediate level person.

LOL.

When you see politicians in Alabama claiming their opponents aren't real creationists or biblical literalists, it tends to reinforce the stereotypes about the South.

No, it tends to reinforce my opinion that all politicians are assholes and will do or say anything to get elected.

You say "they're fighting over teaching evolution" and see it as a bad thing; I see it as a good thing, they're ACTIVELY FIGHTING OVER IT. Not just shoving it through due to their religious beliefs, people are having debates and legislative battles over these things.

You say you think civil rights would be marginalized, I say they would not. Neither of us will ever know, as we're headed for a giant FUBAR no matter which way we turn. The stereotype that the south is filled with a bunch of bible thumping idiots gets my blood boiling, because the South is SO MUCH MORE than that, but since it gets press and gives "Northerners" something to feel good about themselves about, it keeps getting perpetuated.

No, I'd have to say you're the one that's wrong.

What you hear about and read about are the extremely vocal (and completely stupid) minority. Yes, there are stupid people down here, there are also stupid people where you live too.

The difference is, the South is looked down upon by a lot of other people because it's "easy to do". If you dig a little deeper, you'll see it isn't any different anywhere else.

In fact, where do you live now? I'll go pull up a list of completely retarded laws that are on the books where you are now just to prove it.

So you'd be okay if the south brought back slavery?

Having lived in "the South" my entire life, every time I see someone ask this question it makes me want to scream.

What the fuck do you think is keeping people "down here" from keeping slaves? Laws? Bullshit. How about it's morally extremely disfuckingtasteful and something that is a stain on the history of our country?

How about that people and their morals change?

How about common decency and respect exist down here in the "backwards as shit" south that a lot of people seem to think is one step away from becoming a bunch of drooling breeding idiots? Christ, people, WE'RE THE SAME AS EVERYONE ELSE. WTF?

"Feature" like Microsoft's "features"?

Holy hell, that's amazing. Just a giant almost perfect circular hole in the middle of the city. Amazing.

Yeah, I put mine right next to my Jump to Conclusions mat.

flamebait?

Moderator, please go play a game of hide and go fuck yourself.

-1 flamebait doesn't mean I disagree with you.