Hobos in the depression used to use this technique to
know if they could find a meal or a bed and how
friendly the residents were to begging.  This showed
up on sladhdot in June.  It'll be interesting to see
what the parallel sign is for the Hobo sign
that representing a meal or bed if threatened. Can
you imagine threatening someone to get your wireless?
Another phenomenon is Internet connection sharing which is
freely available on most modern OSs.  It's a very easy way to
share a $6/24hour period wireless conneciton in the San Jose
airport among dozens of your favorite friends.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2197252.stm
http://www.blackbeltjones.com/warchalking/warchalking0_9.pdf
Friday, 16 August, 2002, 11:42 GMT 12:42 UK
FBI warns about wireless craze
Some FBI agents are worried about warchalking
Well-meaning wireless activists have caught the attention of the US Federal Bureau
of Investigation.
One of its agents has issued a warning about the popular practice of using chalk marks
to show the location of wireless networks.
The marks, or "warchalks", are cropping up in cities and suburbs across the world.
The FBI is now telling companies that, if they see the chalk marks outside their
offices, they should check the security of wireless networks and ensure they remain
closed to outsiders.
Top marks
The warchalking phenomena is only a couple of months old but it has generated a huge
amount of interest.
The idea behind warchalking is to use a standardised set of symbols to mark the
existence of wireless networks that anyone can use to go online.
Many community groups and local governments, and even some public-spirited
companies, are setting up wireless nodes that give people fast net access.
This symbol denotes a closed wireless node
The wireless networks replace computer cables with radio and are usually very easy to
set up and connect to.
Before now many curious hackers have gone on "wardriving" expeditions which
involve them driving around an area logging the location of the wireless networks.
Many companies using wireless do not do enough to make them secure and stop people
outside the organisation using them.
So the FBI is issuing advice to companies to be on the lookout for warchalk marks as a
pointer to the security of their wireless network.
"If you notice these symbols at your place of business, it is likely your network has
been identified publicly," warns the guidance from the FBI.
Scare stories?
The agent who circulated the warning in Pittsburgh said it was not an official FBI
advisory or policy but was information worth passing on.
He urged anyone using a wireless network to ensure that it was secure and used only by
those a company wants to access it.
Warchalkers have questioned the scare stories surrounding the phenomena, saying that
anyone with malicious intent is unlikely to publicly mark their target.
The phrases "wardriving" and "warchalking" derive from the early days of computer
hacking when curious users programmed their computers to search for all phone lines
that returned data tones. The exhaustive searching was known as "wardialling".
http://xent.com/mailman/listinfo/fork