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Warchalking marks the Wi-Fi ‘hot spots’

Seventy years ago, during the Depression in the United States, hobos drew signs to
indicate to each other where they could get a meal. Now, across the Atlantic in
London, geeks are talking about using a similar system of chalk symbols to signal
where they can get a decent wireless Internet connection.

By Matt Loney
ZDNet (UK)

Warchalking, as the practice has been coined by founder Matt Jones, entails simply drawing a
chalk symbol on a wall or pavement to indicate the presence of a wireless networking node. If
you see one of these symbols, you should–in theory at least–be able to whip out your
notebook computer equipped with an 802.11 wireless networking card, and log on to the Net.

The idea of organized wireless hot spots, where people can log on at cafes, exhibition centers,
airports and the like, is nothing new. BT has ambitious plans to create a commercial network
of at least 400 high-speed wireless hot spots by next summer, and plans to have 20 up and
running by August.

BT’s vision, which entails
providing access only to
subscribers of its OpenZone
service, required a change in
the law to allow commercial
use of the 2.4GHz part of the
radio spectrum without a
Wireless Telegraphy Act
license.

But warchalking is
remarkable because it is
based on an ad hoc process
of people discovering Wi-Fi
nodes–whether commercial
or not–and signaling their
presence with chalk
symbols. It is also
remarkable for the reception
the idea has had.

"I’ve been a bit overawed by everything to be honest," said Matt Jones, who came up with the
idea after seeing students of the UK Architectural Association in what they called a "wireless
Internet performance". The students had chalked an office plan on the pavement of London’s
Bedford Square, and sat out in the virtual office with laptop computers hooked up to the Internet
over a Wi-Fi connection.

"I thought it seemed like a really nice idea," said Jones, who has an architectural background
himself. "I have only had a wireless networking card for two months myself, and was interested
in how it could change a city."

Several days later Jones was chatting to some friends, and someone mentioned the symbols
that hobos used to use. "These were all about making visible what might otherwise go
unnoticed," said Jones. After spending half an hour in Adobe Illustrator, Jones set up a Weblog
to publicize his idea, emailed the address to a few friends, and waited.

That was Sunday. By Tuesday, the popular Slashdot.org Weblog in the United States had
picked up on the story and the flood of emails began, including ideas to expand the basic set
of three symbols to include the direction of the node.

Devising the code
The first attempt at drawing up symbols resulted in three simple
designs: two semicircles back to back to indicate an open node, a
circle to indicate a closed node; and a circle with a W inside it to
indicate a WEP node, which will probably be inaccessible to the
public because such nodes use encryption for security. Each symbol
has a Service Set Identifier (SSID) at the top, which acts as a
password to the node. SSIDs are easily obtained using readily
available sniffing software. http://www.blackbeltjones.com/warchalking/warchalking0_9.pdf

"The idea of the warchalking blog was to put an imperfect idea out
there and see what happened," said Jones. "It has been interesting
to see how it has happened, but it has grown so fast it does not
really feel like my idea anymore. I feel more like the gardener than
the builder." Nevertheless, Jones hopes to finalize version one of the
runes by the end of this week.

The idea of the warchalk symbols, said Jones, is that they should
give just enough of a visual cue to indicate that it is worth firing up a notebook (or PDA). Some
suggestions have concentrated on touring the city with a notebook and GPS to find wireless
nodes, and then building an online database, but according to Jones this misses the point:
"Using chalk runes breaks the cycle, because otherwise you would have to fire up your
computer and log on anyway to find where the nodes are."

And the attraction of warchalking is its simplicity. Jones likens it to the apocryphal tale of how
NASA spent ten years and millions of pounds to make ballpoints work in space, only to send
its astronauts up with pencils. There are other attractions of the chalk approach too.

"Some people have asked why not use stickers or paint," said Jones. "But the idea of chalk
means that people have to go around and renew the symbols to the network is constantly
revalidating itself and checking its own integrity. Also, using chalk won’t piss too many people
off." By using chalk, warchalkers should be able to avoid the fate of IBM, which was famously
fined $100,000 (£70,000) for spray-painting its "Peace, Love and Linux" ad campaign over the
sidewalks of San Francisco last year.

There have been reports of sysadmins expressing concern at the idea of having their wireless
networks probed and exposed for all to see, but according to Jones there is a positive flipside
to this. "If someone chalks the fact that you’re exposed and you’re a sysadmin, you can see it.
You know you’re exposed, and then you can decide what you want to do. I have already had
emails from some sysadmins who said they love the idea. Several even said they will print the
symbols on a card and put it in their office windows."

However, the idea does not appear to be universally popular. The organizers of London-based
community wireless project consumer.net, for instance, do not appear to overly impressed. "I
am one of those people trying to seriously encourage community networking and if that activity
is seen to be some sort of cracker plot it will be damaged," wrote one consume.net member on
the Slashdot Weblog.

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