Dear Palo Alto Freenet Supporters,

Because of ongoing abuse of the Freenet by folks running P2P
(peer-to-peer) applications, I've decided to move to a tiered based
access system. I am still a firm believer in providing a free Wi-Fi
connection that 'just works', but it's becoming increasingly difficult
to do so.

I am always frustrated when I am out of range of the Freenet and I
try to use my Wi-Fi enabled devices only to be confronted with some
portal page wanting me to register or give up personal information
just to use a Wi-Fi connection for a few minutes. I do not believe
this to be in the spirit of open Wi-Fi access, however experience is
teaching me that it's difficult just to leave a strong Wi-Fi
connection wide open.

Starting today, connecting to the Freenet will only allow Internet
access on the following ports:

22 (Secure Shell)
53 (DNS to our ISP's DNS servers)
80 (HTTP)
110 (POP3)
143 (IMAP)
443 (Secure HTTP)
587 (Alternate SMTP port)
993 (Secure IMAP)
995 (Secure POP3)

I hope in time to expand this access as I get feedback on what
protocols most folks use by default on their wireless devices.

This will allow access to most websites and e-mail services. If you
need further access, please send me a short e-mail with the MAC
address of your wireless card, and I will add it to the allowed MAC
list for full access. Also, if you have a device like a SIP adapter,
send that MAC address along as well.

In the future I intend to provide a simple web based method of adding
and updating your MAC addresses.

The MAC address is often on the bottom of the device or wireless card
and looks something like this:

00:60:B3:2E:01:6C

Please be warned however, that if your MAC address is found saturating
the Freenet with P2P traffic it will be removed without notice.

Thanks for your understanding and please feel free to e-mail me with
your comments, concerns, and suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you.

paul
palo alto