Open Wifi, Closed Doors

In an ostensible effort to reduce instances of digital crime and identity theft, police around the globe have begun buying into a campaign known as “Operation Wardrive”, an initiative originating in Austin, TX, designed to increase global web security by going door-to-door and ordering residents to password-protect their networks. However, the stern words of law enforcement are ringing hollow in the ears of some astute citizens who have noticed there is no existing legal provision against maintaining an open network, as ill advised as that may be. Furthermore, complaints have been raised against the Austin PD by concerned individuals who feel that having their wireless connectivity status monitored and subsequently reprimanded is invasive and oversteps the legal authority of the precinct. The preferred police tactic for performing a search for Internet freeloader havens is cruising around in a squad car with a laptop looking for open networks, and then knocking on every door in a block radius in the immediate vicinity. While “security experts” working with the Queensland PD in Australia have said the project is “Fun, low cost, low impact, and will help to raise awareness of just how public unencrypted Wi-Fi really is,” one might consider the manpower, resources, and time needed to go block by block, house by house at dinnertime looking for people who aren’t doing anything outside of their personal freedoms.

One might also ask how effective a “secure” network is in preventing online interlopers from accessing personal data or monitoring web traffic. According to Theora Rice, Information Assurance Specialist at the University of Idaho, access to a local network is by no means required for a sufficiently competent operator to perform remote operations on your computer; there are several other methods for establishing invasive connectivity, including bouncing a connection off of other servers and/or inevitably establishing a root kit (the Hollywood “back door”) on your machine. Secondly, the method of securing your internet connection recommended by the Austin PD is to utilize basic WEP password protection, a function which can be cracked in under five minutes by using one of several easily downloadable applications which can be found as top hits on Google. In short, anyone who makes their living digging through your data won’t be deterred in the slightest by this new public safety stunt, and it may serve to lull people into a false sense of security.

Given that the program is at best grossly ineffectual and at worst dangerously misleading, with no established legal precedent, why then are we investing thousands of tax dollars to pay for useless state-run scare tactics? Surely, it has nothing to do with the recent violent upswing in campaign contributions from the major international ISP’s (the only real victims of internet freeloading) following the Citizen’s United corporate personhood debacle, allowing unlimited “donations” from companies to national, state, and local elections. ISP’s like Time Warner and Comcast are now spending upwards of twenty million dollars a year in lobbying, split almost evenly between both major parties across the country, with additional donations to individuals beginning around $15,000. Taking this kind of palm greasing into account, it becomes easy to see why there was so much congressional support for the recent international arrest and indefinite detention of Megavideo founders by US paramilitary forces, web hosters whose only crime was biting into the bottom line of copyright holders such as Time Warner.

Furthermore, revolving door personnel (high-ranking employees of corporations who also work in government regulatory agencies) in both the pentagon and these large “heavy hitter” corporate donors have recently gained control of Academi (formerly Xe Services, formerly Blackwater International), the private military corporation responsible for so much controversy over their brutality in the Middle East while contracted by the US government. This takeover is subtler than a simpler merger or acquisition, however; these corporate entities exert influence not by majority shares, but by participating in an interlocking directorate of board members and lobbyists who work for all involved parties and coordinate actions in the shared interest.

Of note, the revolving personnel between the boards and lobbying committees of Blackwater, it’s holding company, and Comcast/TW are John Ashcroft (former Attorney General under Clinton), Joseph Schmitz (Dept. Of Defense revolver for Blackwater), Victoria Clarke (works for both Comcast and the Dept of Defense) and Admiral Robert Inman, who sits on the boards of several companies owned by Comcast/Warner/Viacom. Comcast Board member Johnathan A. Rodgers also sit on the board of Proctor and Gamble, which is interlocked with the Monsanto Board via member Jon R. Moeller. Monsanto owns a large minority of Blackwater shares in concert with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, and has contracted the mercenary company before on several occasions. The Gates Foundation and Comcast also share a major lobbyist, Kerry Knott, and Comcast owns over 20% of the shares in the Foundation’s interests. Also on the Monsanto Board is Robert J. Stevens, who happens to be the CEO of Lockheed Martin, a major weapons and aircraft manufacturer/security contractor which has maintained a healthy business and R&D partnership with Blackwater for years, helping the smaller company establish it’s ties with the Department of Defense during the Bush administration. Similarly, Gred DeYonker, one of the board members for Blackwater’s holding company, is the ex-CEO of Lear Corp, another major aircraft and weapons manufacturer which was contracted to the Defense Dept. during his tenure.

Let’s examine that again: through a series of intermediaries and good ol’ boys, the leading members of large corporations which have proven willing and able to flex their financial biceps to “encourage” military action against competitors, have just bought a large amount of influence in a private army renowned for it’s savagery and willingness to perform covert operations. And we’re worried about the hackers doing dangerous things with our money and personal information…

All names checked against opensecrets.org, all boardmember info gathered from the personal biographies on the corporate websites.