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Rethinking Warchalking

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This blog post is over 21 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

21 Jan 2003

When the warchalking meme hit, I remember wondering what the big deal was. I understand the allure of wireless networking—I’ve been wireless in my home since the days of slow, proprietary systems—but I didn’t understand why warchalking would be useful. Sit down someplace, open up NetStumbler, and if there’s an open hotspot, you’re connected.

But today, walking through downtown Sacramento on a lunch break from jury duty, it dawned on me. I’ve been wondering if there are any Wi-Fi hotspots in the area, and so far, the only one’s I’ve found with NetStumbler are protected by WEP. (Even though WEP is almost trivial to crack, I figure that someone would only use WEP if they didn’t want random people connecting to the network, so I stay out.)

As I walked past a Starbucks with a T-Mobile sign in the window, I suddenly had a rush of understanding. Warchalks are just like that T-Mobile sign. They are advertising an available hotspot to anyone who wanders by. To find hotspots with NetStumber, I have to be wandering around, laptop in hand. That’s impractical at best, especially when walking in the rain.

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