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Idiocy indeed. While you may run this for altruistic reasons, and I think it's good to teach people about the dangers of unprotected browsing, running a script

Idiocy indeed. While you may run this for altruistic reasons, and I think it's good to teach people about the dangers of unprotected browsing, running a script to automatically hijack and post to the Twitter accounts of everyone around officially makes you an asshole, IMHO. The fact that someone isn't wearing a belt doesn't mean they deserve a pantsing.

rosser 16y ago
The fact that someone isn't wearing a belt doesn't mean they deserve a pantsing. Perhaps not, but, to stretch your metaphor a bit, if someone's fly is open, they might appreciate having it pointed out to them.
- hugh3 16y ago
  And how do you point it out to them? As discreetly as possible, or by shouting it to all their friends?
  - lotharbot 16y ago
    If half of their friends also have their fly open, shouting it might be a better option.
    - tertius 16y ago
      You can see their friends' flies open? That's one ninja technique that I didn't want to know about. Point is, you don't know, so don't assume.
      - Groxx 16y ago
        To continue the metaphor... They walked into a glass building (unencrypted wifi location), unzipped their flies, sat down, and are totally unaware they did so. Someone would have noticed eventually - would they rather be potentially gawked at behind the one-way mirror that's always been there but they never noticed (WireShark), or told, allowing them to cookie-block the ones who do so? As to the volume of the telling, what if near enough to everyone were doing this? You would probably become the crazy person at the intersection, telling everyone the end of privacy is near, repent and use SSL. But at least this way you can demonstrate that yes, their flies are down, in a way they can see, rather than having to take your word on it.
    - astine 16y ago
      If everyone's flies are open, you've wandered onto the set of a gay porno.
    - dandelany 16y ago
      I'm missing the logic here. If few people make a mistake, they should be informed privately, but if many people make a mistake, they should be shamed publicly? No. And to be honest, I'm getting slightly tired of the community's tendency to stretch metaphors way beyond their applicability. Mine was mostly meant to add a touch of humor. Pants, flies, and underwear aside, auto-hijacking the Twitter accounts of everyone on your network is just dickish (no pun intended). Especially when the belt store is closed to everyone except the pants-manufacturers ;)
      - btilly 16y ago
        Random public shaming may not be fair, but it is a fast way to get the message out to lots of people. And I've seen it be an effective way to drive behavior change.
      - jontywareing 16y ago
        I do not think this can really be considered "shaming" as it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Regarding private/public notification; Posting to your own account is an easily understandable visible demonstration of what's possible and why you should care - a DM from another account, or an @ just won't have the same effect on the user. (I have said this elsewhere in the thread, so apologies for repetition) I have been informed that it's possible to send a DM to yourself, so I'll add that as an option shortly as a nice alternative.
        ChRoss 16y ago
        I understand the intention is to warn people. But IMO, there are plenty ways of warning or educating them, e.g. blogs, tweets etc. There's no need to 'prove' it just to make awareness. I did tell my friends and family that a tool (Firesheep) has been released and what is the impact in layman language, and inform them to be careful when browsing through open wifi networks.
      - regularfry 16y ago
        Metaphors are less effort to bike-shed than the underlying concept. Witness the undying car analogy, or the "C is a hammer" nonsense from a couple of days ago. Yes, it's boring; yes, it's intellectually lazy and useless. No, it's not going away.

rosser 16y ago

The fact that someone isn't wearing a belt doesn't mean they deserve a pantsing. Perhaps not, but, to stretch your metaphor a bit, if someone's fly is open, they might appreciate having it pointed out to them.

hugh3 16y ago
And how do you point it out to them? As discreetly as possible, or by shouting it to all their friends?
- lotharbot 16y ago
  If half of their friends also have their fly open, shouting it might be a better option.
  - tertius 16y ago
    You can see their friends' flies open? That's one ninja technique that I didn't want to know about. Point is, you don't know, so don't assume.
    - Groxx 16y ago
      To continue the metaphor... They walked into a glass building (unencrypted wifi location), unzipped their flies, sat down, and are totally unaware they did so. Someone would have noticed eventually - would they rather be potentially gawked at behind the one-way mirror that's always been there but they never noticed (WireShark), or told, allowing them to cookie-block the ones who do so? As to the volume of the telling, what if near enough to everyone were doing this? You would probably become the crazy person at the intersection, telling everyone the end of privacy is near, repent and use SSL. But at least this way you can demonstrate that yes, their flies are down, in a way they can see, rather than having to take your word on it.
  - astine 16y ago
    If everyone's flies are open, you've wandered onto the set of a gay porno.
  - dandelany 16y ago
    I'm missing the logic here. If few people make a mistake, they should be informed privately, but if many people make a mistake, they should be shamed publicly? No. And to be honest, I'm getting slightly tired of the community's tendency to stretch metaphors way beyond their applicability. Mine was mostly meant to add a touch of humor. Pants, flies, and underwear aside, auto-hijacking the Twitter accounts of everyone on your network is just dickish (no pun intended). Especially when the belt store is closed to everyone except the pants-manufacturers ;)
    - btilly 16y ago
      Random public shaming may not be fair, but it is a fast way to get the message out to lots of people. And I've seen it be an effective way to drive behavior change.
    - jontywareing 16y ago
      I do not think this can really be considered "shaming" as it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Regarding private/public notification; Posting to your own account is an easily understandable visible demonstration of what's possible and why you should care - a DM from another account, or an @ just won't have the same effect on the user. (I have said this elsewhere in the thread, so apologies for repetition) I have been informed that it's possible to send a DM to yourself, so I'll add that as an option shortly as a nice alternative.
      - ChRoss 16y ago
        I understand the intention is to warn people. But IMO, there are plenty ways of warning or educating them, e.g. blogs, tweets etc. There's no need to 'prove' it just to make awareness. I did tell my friends and family that a tool (Firesheep) has been released and what is the impact in layman language, and inform them to be careful when browsing through open wifi networks.
    - regularfry 16y ago
      Metaphors are less effort to bike-shed than the underlying concept. Witness the undying car analogy, or the "C is a hammer" nonsense from a couple of days ago. Yes, it's boring; yes, it's intellectually lazy and useless. No, it's not going away.