Comment on Has ethernet become illegitimate? A librarian flipped out after spotting me using ethernet
ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Well, you were trying to bypass one of their security measures. They require SMS verification so that they can track you in case you break their rules. Presumably this is why they also block other means of anonymizing yourself.
coffeeClean@infosec.pub 8 months ago
I was not carrying my phone. Thus bypassing the reckless policy of a tax-funded public resource to exclusively serve people who entered the private marketplace to obtain mobile phone service, in violation of article 21¶2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
So the protected class they are discriminating against here is “doesn’t want to use wifi”?
You had the means to access the Internet, you choose not to use them.
coffeeClean@infosec.pub 8 months ago
The UDHR specifically protects people from discrimination on the basis of property. You cannot treat someone different under the UDHR for owning less property than someone else. Only serving people who bought a mobile phone and paid for a subscription violates that provision.
I did not have a mobile phone on me. I could have gone home to fetch my phone because incidentally I happened to have a phone with service. But I would not have had time to return to the library and complete my task before it closed. I’ve gone over 6 months with no phone service at all sometimes. If I were in one of those time periods, connecting would have been impossible. My phone access is touch and go. I let my service die whenever nothing critical comes up that demands it for a period of time.
chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
I guarantee that a librarian would have helped you if you told them you didn’t have your phone on you.
I don’t buy your story because you’re trying to paint yourself as a victim of some nefarious scheme when in reality you wanted to use a free service in a way the provider doesn’t allow.
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Did the library have the desktop set up for public use, as libraries all have nowadays?
Then they were providing you equal access to their internet connection, they just weren’t going to let you do it on your computer unless your computer connected to their internet connection by satisfying their security requirements.
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Why are you even in the library to begin with if you’re so opposed to how they manage their network?
If you want to complain, complain. Write to the city, start a petition, whatever.
But regardless of how it’s supposed to work legally, the day that you were in the library, there was a network security setting that was blocking you. You sought to get around that, and you’re not going to get any sympathy for trying to do so.
Just because it’s a public resource doesn’t mean you can break in after hours, and just because you don’t have a phone doesn’t give you permission to sidestep their security policies.
coffeeClean@infosec.pub 8 months ago
How does one know how they manage their network before entering the library? The libraries that have ethernet /never/ advertise it. Only wi-fi is ever advertised. I have never seen a library elaborate on their wifi preconditions (which periodically change). This info is also not in OSMand, so if you are on the move and look for the closest library on the map, the map won’t be much help apart from a possible boolean for wifi. Some libraries have a captive portal and some do not. Among those with captive portals, some require a mobile phone with SMS verification and some do not. But for all of them, the brochure only shows the wifi symbol. You might say “call and ask”, but there are two problems with that: you need a phone with credit loaded. But even if you have that, it’s useful to know whether ethernet is available and the receptionist is unlikely to reliably have that info. Much easier to walk in and see the situation. Then when you ask what will be blocked after you get connected, that’s another futile effort that wastes time on the phone. It really is easier and faster to pop in and scope out the situation. Your device will gives reliable answers than the staff. But I have to wonder, what is your objection to entering a library to reliably discover how it’s managed in person?
null@slrpnk.net 8 months ago
red@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Everyone has access, phone or not, just not when the PC room sometimes is closed due reasons.
You don’t have 24/7 access rights as far as I’m aware.
coffeeClean@infosec.pub 8 months ago
That’s not equal access. Everyone has equal access to the PCs, but not everyone has equal access to BYoD internet service.
Is someone claiming we only need PC access? If so, then you won’t mind if we scrap wifi altogether, right? BYoD internet service enables people to keep a data store with them which then connects periodically. That’s a different public service for difference purposes than a shared PC where your data does not persist.
red@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
You can’t claim shit about equality for all and access without materials, when discussing byod. Make up your mind.
Everyone has access, byod is covered for 99% as extra convenience.
You aren’t being treated poorly, instead, you have unreasonable expectations. You need to adjust those. You are not a victim, nor were you rights violated.
You tried to circumvent security when the computer room was closed.
The librarians education most likely doesn’t cover anything more than turning things off and on, he/she isn’t likely to understand what you were doing, and the equipment isn’t maintained by the librarians - it’s simply located there.
null@slrpnk.net 8 months ago
Please cite the definition of public service that includes all the things you’ve described; access to the internet via Ethernet on a personal machine running the various software you mentioned.
Quote the passage that outlines those details.
coffeeClean@infosec.pub 8 months ago
The proof is not in law; it’s in the money trail. If the library’s funding traces to a tax-funded government, it is a public service that encompasses all services offered by that institution.
null@slrpnk.net 8 months ago
null@slrpnk.net 8 months ago
Still waiting on an answer about evidence you couldn’t find and feel would be pointless, and for you to actually prove your bold, human rights violation claim…
null@slrpnk.net 8 months ago
Stop modifying your comment and answer my response.
null@slrpnk.net 8 months ago
So quote the specifics of what was funded as is relevant to your case.
Again, if they don’t run that line to my house, are they violating my human rights? Or are there boundaries around what defines the service?