[Tfug] Why would *anyone* leave a door open?

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Zack,

> > There are advantages to wired connections...  :-(
> 
> Exactly.  If you can wire, do it.

A note from my bank encouraging me to sign up for "on-line
banking"  (saves *them* the cost of printing and mailing me
a paper statement -- but what does it *get* me??!).

In essence, they want to scare me into thinking some guy is 
going to drive down my street on *the* day when that bank 
statement is placed in my mailbox *after* the postal carrier
has delivered it and *before* I have retrieved it from the box.
I.e., "you are at risk for identity theft!!!!!"

Of course, they fail to point out how having my account
information on-line makes that window of opportunity much
wider (i.e., any time day or night you have access to those
statements) *and* allows anyone ANYWHERE to go poking around
(instead of forcing that thief to have deliberately targeted
*my* street/mailbox).

> The worst part of this is the stupid "oh yeah, we support WiFi"
> printers, game consoles (I'm looking at you Nintendo DS), etc. that
> support either unencrypted or WEP only...   Way to encourage bad
> behavior.

Exactly.  I keep my WAP turned off unless I absolutely need
it.  Most of the time, I connect my laptop with a cable at a
nearby jack (I have something like 27 drops around the house).
If push comes to shove, I'll drag a 50 foot cable out so I can
avoid going wireless.

*Or*, use a PLC modem (vulnerable but not nearly as much so as a
wifi card!).

People get used to using a certain type of technology and
eventually forget the cautions *against* using it.  So, "good
practices" quickly become risky ones.  :-/