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CAVEAT:
This article is one of a series of editorial articles that express personal
opinions and views. They are written with no pretensions to be error free. I
will gladly correct substantial errors of fact. My opinions can change,
depending upon my awareness and understanding of changes in factual
information. It is my intent to remain focused on specific public issues,
regarding the personalities involved. For all I know, all the characters are
saints, concerning their private lives and other public business...
Changes may be requested by e-mailing the details to pmarkham@manistique.org 01/13/09 The following was my public comment at the Manistique City Council meeting, last night. Though I intended to, I did not include the phrase in parentheses. No one at the council meeting offered any relevant response. "I am happy to see, that, for a month or so, the public wireless water plant network has been working well. As a successful proof of concept, with what I assume is a relative slow 256 Kbps dsl service, perhaps the city is considering a higher speed wireless system to serve the city from the municipal water tower. As one who has appreciated the use of the pilot project, after all the deception and lies surrounding my last inquiry, perhaps the city would be a little more forthcoming concerning an upgrade that would serve more than a few lucky individuals aware of its existence. As I do not know that the current use of the internet access point by the public, water plant, and city government personnel is considered fair use i.a.w. the service provider contract, I would appreciate a little more insight than what the city offered the last time I touched upon this subject. Does anyone wish to inform the public of what is going on, or is the subject still little more than some contrived terrorism based secret (of ignorant self-serving city employees)?" For those without an understanding of the content of my comments, either the city has an open public internet access point wireless network, purchased with public tax money, or it has an open access private city infrastructure network, open to any and every "script kiddy", "hacker", and computer savvy evil-doer. This morning, using a public wireless network and internet access point, named "waterplant", I can check my email and browse the far corners of the world, from my living room easy chair. Consequently, filled with the milk of human kindness due to my serendipitous discovery, I thought I might share my good fortune with others that help pay the bill for what I have every reason to believe is a public tax paid wireless network and internet access point. Assuming readers understand the Microsoft Windows operating environment, I offer the following public access point information to share in the secret good fortune of city employees for which every city tax-payer is held hostage. Please keep in mind, taxpayer access to the taxpayer owned internet access point, is liable to be revoked in an instant, in secret, without public notice, in the same fashion by which it was created. SSID: waterplant MAC: 00:12:0E::A6:54:F6 Network Authentication: Open Data Encryption: Disabled Channel: 6 Wireless Technology: 802.11b 2.4 GHz ISM band Likely data source: Land line telephone 256 Kbps DSL service No doubt, because of the deliberate limitations built into the choice and configuration of the current public network hardware, some folks may find it difficult, if not impossible, to gain access to the public internet wireless access network they fund. I suggest that those who fail to gain value from their public investment should contact their elected representative, or the Manistique City Manager, to inquire why they should be denied wireless broadband internet access, provided at their expense, to the self-serving interests of others. At the same time, if you care about those that pillage your wallet, you might ask why those responsible chose to ignore the issue, last night. If you have any inkling of the consequences of violating computer wireless network security protocol, you might ask for the details of that which has been denied me, twice. From the lack of response, last night, assuming that the "waterplant" network is not a public network, I have no reason to believe that any city council person, or administration employee, understands, or cares about, the likely consequences of irresponsible Manistique government computer security policy. In the mean time, I will enjoy my unique good fortune at others' expense, while the city government and administration pretends it doesn't exist. 04/15/09 About a month ago, during the public comments period of a Manistique City Council meeting, I expressed my thanks, again, for my good fortune regarding the public access "Waterplant" wireless network. No one at the meeting responded. The following day, while conversing with an "informant", I was told that the City of Manistique had claimed to have conducted a computer security audit, weeks ago, and found no public access leaks attributable to any Manistique government related network. Why City Manager Aldrich did not respond to my public comments the night before, I can only guess. Perhaps it was because the unsecured network was owned by a city employee, who may have been flaunting his ignorance concerning the liability of irresponsible behavior that might impact city infrastructure security, far beyond my public inquiries concerning a new water tower telemetry antenna. Two days after my public comments, Director of Manistique Public Safety, Ken Golat, paid me a courtesy call to fill in the details ignored at the city council meeting. He verified what I had been told the previous day. When I asked him why no one spoke up at the council meeting, he smiled as he told me of his conversation with the city employee, regarding the liability of his privately owned open home wireless network. I could only conclude that no one associated with city government wanted to admit knowing of a city employee who considered it great fun to reel me in, with an open access wireless network identified as "waterplant", in the vicinity of city hall. Oh, well, it's not the first time that I appeared foolish to some, for well articulated reasons, and it will not be the last time someone reels me in when I take the hook of apparent broken public business, that no one wishes to acknowledge. This time, the business was the private business of a public employee, that I could not verify without risking potential liability for false felonious charges related to "wardriving". My apologies for intruding upon your fun, and beneficence Lonne. Just call me "Tuna!" as my tariff for the free internet service you provide me. © 2009 Manistique.org |