[Novalug] Using Motel WiFi

Stuart Gathman stuart@gathman.org
Wed Jul 15 11:52:13 EDT 2015


On 07/13/2015 12:23 PM, Charles Richard Head via Novalug wrote:
>
> This leads me to ask two questions:
>
> 1. Why do so many motels use the approach described in #2 above? I find
>    it to be a truly irritating approach.
> 2. In cases where their web page doesn't open, is there a way to bypass
>    their security and get to the web?  My computer appears to show that
>    it is connected to the internet in such cases.
>
When sharing your internet connection, there are two non-technical 
problems to overcome.

First, your ISP has to be on board.  If you have an "unlimited" 
(unmetered) plan in your home, your ISP probably prohibits sharing 
(understandable).   So once you have purchased a metered plan, or 
negotiated an unmetered plan that allows sharing, you are good on that 
score.

Second, if a guest user does something nasty illegal on your network 
(child porn, distributing Britney Spears MP3s - a true hate crime), the 
Feds come after the ISP customer assigned to the IP involved - *you*.  
Businesses and individuals offering open WiFi usually protect themselves 
by requiring each device to "agree" to an AUP (Acceptable User Policy) - 
"I promise not to do anything illegal". This makes a strong case in 
court that the individual or business, a) shares their internet access, 
b) is manifestly and officially *not* condoning or assisting in whatever 
crime was committed.

I use scripts in /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/  to auto "login" 
(agree to terms) for various open Wifi spots I use.  I've heard of a 
script that tries to do this generally for any open hotspot, but haven't 
actually found it anywhere.



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