Beware of Free Wi-Fi
I’m reporting in from Madrid, where I’ve ventured for a big international press event being held by Acer. On my way here, I had a brief layover in Chicago at O’Hare Airport. I popped open my notebook to get on Wi-Fi and check e-mail. As usual, my notebook picked up a bunch of open networks with tempting names like “Free Wi-Fi.” As usual, I knew to ignore them–they were ad-hoc networks (ie, they originated on other notebooks in the vicinity, not from a router) and clearly fishy, although I didn’t know exactly what the story was. When I did connect to O’Hare’s Wi-Fi network, I got something new–a pop-up message warning me to be careful about all those “Free Wi-Fi” networks.