The Fonera "Wifi Ads Protest" Lake
Posted by coldtobi | 25 Jun, 2007, 20:27
Day after day, the protest against the security problems actions of fon get stronger. Now, it seems that some people are showing their protest against the
promotion, the fon community is on strike.
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La Fonera | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
FON: Yesterdays' Experiment. Followup
Posted by coldtobi | 20 Jun, 2007, 11:17Just a quick followup:
Today, roughly 12 hours after my experiment, I checked the offical log of my Acces Point, at my personal page @ fon. It's empty. So my 15-minute-surfing-experiment was completly anonymous. My log is empty. Completly empty. See yourself:
La Fonera, my 2 cents | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
FON has security problems with their 15 minutes for 30 seconds promotion
Posted by coldtobi | 19 Jun, 2007, 19:16
The above Logo/Image is used by fon advertising the 15-minutes-for-30-seconds campaign. Screenshot taken by me, as doing the experiment. Author is, of course, fon.com. To get the free 15 minutes, one has to click the logo.
I've subscribed a RSS-Fead to the fon blog. This is way I stumpled apon this comments: A user noticed, that on his hotspot were several people with obviously automated generated logins. The other comment tells, that he knows, that the email addresses entered into for the 15-minuts trial weren't checked. FON admitted that. They that they have some other protectition active, but in the same contextthey use "security by obscurity". So no way to tell, how they work, if they work or if they are efficient.
Well, this is really hot stuff. Anonymous access to your hot spot. A bad minded guy can bring you in real trouble, even in only 15 minutes. But if FON'd really care ... well, this is my very own personal opionion.
To verify, we'll do an experiment. In this I'll show, that it is true, that they do not verify user data, and that you can easily bypass the 15 minutes limit:
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FON and 15 minutes of security
Posted by coldtobi | 13 Jun, 2007, 22:23At the moment, Fon advertises that by watching an ad video, a guest can surf 15 minutes. (See here: english, german). Reading the FAQs reveals some interesting infos:
How many times can users see a WiFi ad and get a free trial?
Answer
All users will only be able to get a free trial once a day per user and device. [Quote from Fon's FAQs]
well, nice promotional idea, but not really compatible with their own securiy policy:
La Fonera | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
How to disable La Fonera
Posted by coldtobi | 13 Jun, 2007, 11:10Due the recent security problems, here's a short how-to disable the public FON Access Point without interferring with the private network.
Note: A this is probably considered as breach of the agreement you made with FON, this is on your own risk. You probably want to suspend roaming as well while your fonera is crippled.
Just unplugging the antenna is not a good solution, as it might destroy some electronics in the La Fonera.
Disclaimer: DO NOT BRICK YOUR FONERA. BY MODIFING THE FONERA THORUGH SSH, IT IS POSSIBLE TO BRICK IT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. ALSO THIS HOWTO CAN CONTAIN ERRORS. IF IT BREAKS IT, IT IS YOUR PROBLEM, NOT MINE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! (However, a factory reset should always be possible, at least you did not screw it up completly.)
La Fonera | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)
FON and the wind
Posted by coldtobi | 12 Jun, 2007, 18:39FON (www.fon.com) recenetly changed it mind. Up to yesterday, you had to be linus or pay for free internet access abroad. "Bills", the members decided to make money out of the sharing, would also have to pay for access out of his own hotspot.
But these days are gone. Now, even Bills can get internet for free. They also encourage Linuses to change their profiles to Bills.
Well, there is at least one question which arose instantly: Why is FON doing this?
Read on for some speculations and why to be cautionous.
(just a disclaimer: the article is also placed in "my two cent" on purpose , therefore representing my very own opinon. Everyone of another opionin is invited to either mail me the opionion or post a comments. Comments must pass the anti-spam measures.)
La Fonera, my 2 cents | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Safe Updating La Fonera to 0.7.1.3
Posted by coldtobi | 15 Apr, 2007, 12:13Now, fon released another update for "La Fonera": The Company tries to auto-update to 0.7.1.3
In this article, I'll try give a more in-depth look at the changes in the upgraded firmware, and show how to safely update to this version.
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