War driving used to be fun – wherever* you go, you could find dozens of unprotected wireless networks to connect to. Technology was immature, standards still being shaped out, home network appliances buggy and people were not informed well about the dangers of unprotected networks.

Not any more. I live in a small town in the south of France called Antibes-Juan Les Pins about half way between Nice and Cannes. Few hundred meters from the sea, nice climate and surroundings, the city is a magnet for elderly to retire in. There are young people here of course, but not as many as is an average. Thus I was surprised to discover four to five other wireless networks when I booted up my laptop this morning. Note that I live in the small building and my bedroom (my new office ) faces north and looks into a large garden (so no other buildings around me, at least not close).

But even greater surprise was to find all four other networks on the screenshot protected while two of them were protected properly using WPA (the other two most likely used WEP which can be hacked, but works against free riders and encrypts the traffic). Apparently the awareness of the nature of the wireless networks protection as well as quality of home equipment has reached a level decent enough so that any consumer can set her network up properly.

Great for the wireless network owners, not so for those looking for free wireless Internet

*Assuming you are driving through a relatively urban area.