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I have to laugh about them making this out to be a teen thing. Messing with people who have insecure settings is a cornerstone of hacker culture. I'd do this al

I have to laugh about them making this out to be a teen thing. Messing with people who have insecure settings is a cornerstone of hacker culture. I'd do this all the time if I had an iPhone. I haven't been a teen for 20 years.

JeremyBanks 7y ago
Do you think they're incorrect to frame this activity as predominantly performed by teens?
- NikolaeVarius 7y ago
  Yes.
keanebean86 7y ago
A few years ago I would name my phone Satan and try to pair with other phones during church. Phones these days aren't visible by default so it's rarely possibly anymore.
- dillonmckay 7y ago
  This is amusing on several levels.
- komali2 7y ago
  Hah, awesome. Well, you still have some options. Having a tethered WiFi hotspot open at all times with a silly name - it almost seems to have turned into a sort of contest on Caltrain who can have the most absurd hotspot name.
  - keanebean86 7y ago
    Haha that's pretty good. I also considered connecting to unsecured wifi and renaming it (since 99% of the time it uses default creds) to something like "Brother Tim's porn server" but that is probably too far.
bt3 7y ago
Shortly after WiFi hotspots via mobile phones (or those stand alone devices) became a thing, I found that airports usually had the best collection of ad-hoc WiFi networks. A usual citing on my network list was "Yell Penis for Password". I've also had people, more deviously change their network name to "Galaxy Note 7" while in the airport or in-flight to stir frenzy after they were banned at airports.
- myself248 7y ago
  I've heard SO many stories of people setting their ESSID to "FBI Surveillance Van #16" or something, and watching the reactions. I used to attempt Bluetooth pairing around the office with my phone set to "TURN OFF YOUR DAMN BLUETOOTH". The number of visible devices did decrease after a while! In the early days of coffee-shop wifi, I used to browse around Network Neighborhood looking for people's shared MP3 folders. If they had stuff I liked, and their share was writable, I'd leave 'em something in return, along with a little thanks.txt :)
  - dngray 7y ago
    > people setting their ESSID to "FBI Surveillance Van #16" or something, and watching the reactions. I wonder what reaction you'd get making your ESSID a penis 𓂸 https://boingboing.net/2018/10/31/can-you-see-the-penis-characte.html https://boingboing.net/2018/10/31/can-you-see-the-penis-char...
at-fates-hands 7y ago
I recently switched back to using an iphone and my friends told me about how people do this all the time on BART as a funny prank. In March I went to FLA for vacation and my flight was delayed and I was able to pass the time doing this. It was harmless fun sending funny memes back and forth with strangers who were all trapped in an airline terminal. The hardest part was trying to keep a straight face when you saw some teenagers reaction when you sent them a sloth meme about leaving their airdrop open.
LeftTurnSignal 7y ago
Many years ago (early 2000s maybe), I lived on the road for work and stayed at a lot of hotels. I would find random shares open on people's machines, then fill their entire hard drive with cat pictures. I usually left a few GB so they could save documents or whatever because I wasn't that much of an asshole.

JeremyBanks 7y ago

Do you think they're incorrect to frame this activity as predominantly performed by teens?

NikolaeVarius 7y ago
Yes.

keanebean86 7y ago

A few years ago I would name my phone Satan and try to pair with other phones during church. Phones these days aren't visible by default so it's rarely possibly anymore.

dillonmckay 7y ago
This is amusing on several levels.
komali2 7y ago
Hah, awesome. Well, you still have some options. Having a tethered WiFi hotspot open at all times with a silly name - it almost seems to have turned into a sort of contest on Caltrain who can have the most absurd hotspot name.
- keanebean86 7y ago
  Haha that's pretty good. I also considered connecting to unsecured wifi and renaming it (since 99% of the time it uses default creds) to something like "Brother Tim's porn server" but that is probably too far.

bt3 7y ago

Shortly after WiFi hotspots via mobile phones (or those stand alone devices) became a thing, I found that airports usually had the best collection of ad-hoc WiFi networks. A usual citing on my network list was "Yell Penis for Password". I've also had people, more deviously change their network name to "Galaxy Note 7" while in the airport or in-flight to stir frenzy after they were banned at airports.

myself248 7y ago
I've heard SO many stories of people setting their ESSID to "FBI Surveillance Van #16" or something, and watching the reactions. I used to attempt Bluetooth pairing around the office with my phone set to "TURN OFF YOUR DAMN BLUETOOTH". The number of visible devices did decrease after a while! In the early days of coffee-shop wifi, I used to browse around Network Neighborhood looking for people's shared MP3 folders. If they had stuff I liked, and their share was writable, I'd leave 'em something in return, along with a little thanks.txt :)
- dngray 7y ago
  > people setting their ESSID to "FBI Surveillance Van #16" or something, and watching the reactions. I wonder what reaction you'd get making your ESSID a penis 𓂸 https://boingboing.net/2018/10/31/can-you-see-the-penis-characte.html https://boingboing.net/2018/10/31/can-you-see-the-penis-char...

at-fates-hands 7y ago

I recently switched back to using an iphone and my friends told me about how people do this all the time on BART as a funny prank. In March I went to FLA for vacation and my flight was delayed and I was able to pass the time doing this. It was harmless fun sending funny memes back and forth with strangers who were all trapped in an airline terminal. The hardest part was trying to keep a straight face when you saw some teenagers reaction when you sent them a sloth meme about leaving their airdrop open.

LeftTurnSignal 7y ago

Many years ago (early 2000s maybe), I lived on the road for work and stayed at a lot of hotels. I would find random shares open on people's machines, then fill their entire hard drive with cat pictures. I usually left a few GB so they could save documents or whatever because I wasn't that much of an asshole.