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Comment on Has ethernet become illegitimate? A librarian flipped out after spotting me using ethernet

coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

Well, you were trying to bypass one of their security measures.

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.

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chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.

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- coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  So the protected class they are discriminating against here is “doesn’t want to use wifi”?
  
  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.
  
  You had the means to access the Internet, you chose not to use them.
  
  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.
  
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  - chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.
    
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    coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    I guarantee that a librarian would have helped you if you told them you didn’t have your phone on you.
    
    I did tell the librarian I did not have a phone. It’s what led up to green lighting my request to plugin.
    
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  - deweydecibel@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.
    
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    coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I answered this in another reply. The PC room was closed. In my area the PCs are closed part of the day for some reason (in several libraries), when the library is open for books and wifi.
    
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deweydecibel@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.

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- coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  Why are you even in the library to begin with if you’re so opposed to how they manage their network?
  
  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?
  
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  - null@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    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.
    
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red@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.

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- coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.
  
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  - red@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.
    
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    coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    You can’t claim shit about equality for all and access without materials, when discussing byod. Make up your mind.
    
    There is PC access, and then there is byod access. It’s a false dichotomy to demand choosing one or the other, and harmful to people’s rights if you simultaneously argue that one replaces the other. They are different services for different purposes. Don’t let the fact that some tasks can be achieved with both services cause you to lose sight of the fact that some use-cases cannot.
    
    Everyone has access
    
    Everyone has PC access. Not everyone has BYoD WAN service.
    
    byod is covered for 99% as extra convenience.
    
    It’s not just convenience. It’s controlling your own applications. If the public PC doesn’t have a screen reader and you are blind, the PC is no good to you and you are better served with BYoD service.
    
    You aren’t being treated poorly, instead, you have unreasonable expectations.
    
    This remains to be supported. I do not believe it’s reasonable to only serve people with phones. Thus I consider it a reasonable expectation that people without a subscribed mobile phone still get BYoD WAN service.
    
    Data persists both in the cloud, or on a memory stick. Free options exist.
    
    The PCs will not execute apps that you bring on a USB stick. Also some library branches disallow USB sticks entirely.
    
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null@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.

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- coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨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.
  
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  - null@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨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?
    
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  - null@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨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…
    
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  - null@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Stop modifying your comment and answer my response.
    
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    coffeeClean@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s a new post so of course I’m going to edit it a few times in the span of the first minute or two as I compose my answer.
    
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  - null@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨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?
    
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