3 ms·

I think you give way too much credit to the average person. It's easy to lose sight of how scary technical things are to normal people when you're in it day in

I think you give way too much credit to the average person. It's easy to lose sight of how scary technical things are to normal people when you're in it day in and day out, but to ask the average person to change something in their router is kind of like asking me to replace a cylinder in my car. There's a reason things like the Geek Squad are around and can charge as much as they do...

0xdeadbeefbabe 12y ago
I think you are complementing your own technical prowess. But the truth is, replacing a cylinder in a car is so much harder than reading and following these instructions, and even if you don't understand either task the car cylinder task takes longer, requires more tools, makes a mess, etc. An average person who has no intuition for passwords could just turn their router off when they aren't using it.
bradleysmith 12y ago
I agree with Oxdeadbeefbabe; you are complementing your own 'technical' (computer-related) ability, and overstating the task of configuring a router. Also, not to be pedantic, 'to replace a cylinder' hardly describes a task that can be undertaken on a motor. The variance in technical ability of the 'average person' nowadays is pretty wide. There are still pop-up clicking grandmothers on IE7 out there, but there are also plenty of baby-boomers with the ability to set the clock on their VCR's, which is a much more fair analogy to the task of router configuration. I think the important thing is getting the message out that such configuration is much more important than having the clock on your VCR right, which is probably how important the average person thinks router configuration is. As you said in another comment, routers are effectively shipping to average people broken. I think if this were more commonly known, people would take the time to learn and configure their networks. Not ALL people, but more average people than do today. The real problem is not that people are not technically capable of doing the task, but they do not know that it is a task that is really necessary; it's not common knowledge that a brand new router is a security risk.
- v_vonjesus 12y ago
  It is relatively easy to change a cylinder on a horizontally opposed air-cooled VW motor (think '60s beetle) or the Lycoming/Continental engines popular in light aircraft.
wmf 12y ago
If a random stranger can remotely hack your router, I wouldn't be confident that any settings change will secure it. The router is garbage and needs to be replaced, which is easily within the understanding of an average person.
- mcherm 12y ago
  That view is a bit naive. If the problem with a router is that the router is shipped by default with a known back-door or with insecure settings, that does not mean that "the router is garbage". It points to a deplorable lack of wisdom on the part of the vendor, but does not necessarily imply that the only solution is the pay for a replacement.
mcherm 12y ago
Writing simple instructions about how to configure the router safely will not produce a ready-made solution for EVERYONE, but it will certainly help for SOME PEOPLE. And the question was whether anything could be done to assist those "outside of our direct sphere of influence" (i.e. not friends and family). This clearly would help.

0xdeadbeefbabe 12y ago

I think you are complementing your own technical prowess. But the truth is, replacing a cylinder in a car is so much harder than reading and following these instructions, and even if you don't understand either task the car cylinder task takes longer, requires more tools, makes a mess, etc. An average person who has no intuition for passwords could just turn their router off when they aren't using it.

bradleysmith 12y ago

I agree with Oxdeadbeefbabe; you are complementing your own 'technical' (computer-related) ability, and overstating the task of configuring a router. Also, not to be pedantic, 'to replace a cylinder' hardly describes a task that can be undertaken on a motor. The variance in technical ability of the 'average person' nowadays is pretty wide. There are still pop-up clicking grandmothers on IE7 out there, but there are also plenty of baby-boomers with the ability to set the clock on their VCR's, which is a much more fair analogy to the task of router configuration. I think the important thing is getting the message out that such configuration is much more important than having the clock on your VCR right, which is probably how important the average person thinks router configuration is. As you said in another comment, routers are effectively shipping to average people broken. I think if this were more commonly known, people would take the time to learn and configure their networks. Not ALL people, but more average people than do today. The real problem is not that people are not technically capable of doing the task, but they do not know that it is a task that is really necessary; it's not common knowledge that a brand new router is a security risk.

v_vonjesus 12y ago
It is relatively easy to change a cylinder on a horizontally opposed air-cooled VW motor (think '60s beetle) or the Lycoming/Continental engines popular in light aircraft.

wmf 12y ago

If a random stranger can remotely hack your router, I wouldn't be confident that any settings change will secure it. The router is garbage and needs to be replaced, which is easily within the understanding of an average person.

mcherm 12y ago
That view is a bit naive. If the problem with a router is that the router is shipped by default with a known back-door or with insecure settings, that does not mean that "the router is garbage". It points to a deplorable lack of wisdom on the part of the vendor, but does not necessarily imply that the only solution is the pay for a replacement.

mcherm 12y ago

Writing simple instructions about how to configure the router safely will not produce a ready-made solution for EVERYONE, but it will certainly help for SOME PEOPLE. And the question was whether anything could be done to assist those "outside of our direct sphere of influence" (i.e. not friends and family). This clearly would help.