Public WiFi Switchover
On Saturday, August 7 at 12-noon, we will no longer be requiring users to login or create accounts. Since usernames and passwords are no longer needed, there's no need for SSL. All you will see is our revised Acceptable Usage Guidelines. During the switchover, which only requires making a few small changes to each hotspot and the authentication server, there may be a disruption in wireless service.
For your convenience, the revised Guidelines are posted below. They will take effect August 7, 2010 at 12:00 P.M. All existing account data, including e-mail addresses, will be deleted shortly thereafter. Usage statistics, based on the old data, will be generated before the deletion and will not include any personally identifiable information.
NOTE: Registering for an account and requiring a username and password is no longer required.
Please read the following. Clicking “OK” signifies your agreement to our Acceptable Use Guidelines.
Guidelines for Public Wireless Internet Access
Iosco-Arenac District Library has open wireless Hot Spots for patrons that use laptop computers with wireless cards for Internet Access. All patrons using our Hot Spots are subject to the following guidelines. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in loss of access.
Access via a hot spot is to the Internet only. There is no content filtering. Any user that is connected to a Hot Spot at any of our branch libraries is authorized to be connected. Access to our other equipment for any purpose without prior authorization is not permitted.
There is no file sharing, print sharing, or other activity that involves Staff or Public Access Computers.
The patron is responsible for their own equipment. Windows users are strongly urged to have at minimum: A working firewall, Anti-virus protection that is updated daily and Anti-Malware protection that is updated monthly. Microsoft Update should be run at least monthly to ensure security patches are installed. We are not responsible for providing technical support, data loss or equipment failure. Our responsibility is to our own equipment and ends at the wireless Hot Spot.
No technical support is provided beyond help documents and help establishing wireless connections. We reserve the right to deny technical support.
Public wireless is not a guaranteed service; it may go down for any reason. Available bandwidth is throttled to a maximum of 256kbps to protect our mission-critical systems from connectivity loss and resource abuse.
Any abuse or tampering will result in a patron's MAC address being blocked.
Information about WiFi activity is limited to the following:
1.Location of Hot Spot used
2.MAC address (the hardware address of the network adapter used)
3.Time Connected
4.Time Spent Connected
5.Amount of data downloaded and uploaded
6.The above information is only kept for a period of 6 months and is used only for statistical purposes (Hot Spot performance and troubleshooting) and is not available to the public.
As the hot spot is an open system, no encryption is used. This system is not recommended by users that do banking or other activities that require confidential information, unless the connections themselves use SSL or are through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The WifiDog server itself receives regular security and software patches and utilizes a firewall and non-standard ports for certain applications.
Branch libraries may restrict wireless access to certain areas of the library. Users should not expect to have access to an outlet for plugging in their computer.
Comments or problems, please e-mail postmaster@ioscoarenaclibrary.org or abuse@ioscoarenaclibrary.org
REVISED July 14, 2010
Note: Yes, if you noticed the revision date, everything related to Public WiFi was ready to go back in mid-July.
So, why August 7?
As noted in previous blog entries, the hotspots shared the same physical network with our computers and printers, which posed a potential security risk if a wireless access point was simply left open without any kind of authentication system. That was one of the reasons why we tolerated the issues with validation e-mails not always getting through (which required us to manually validate a user), and confusion over SSL certificates.
With the prototype Network Box in Oscoda up and running, and the next-to-last Production Network Box being put into service tomorrow morning, security is much less of a concern than before. This is because the Network Boxes act as a barrier between wireless access to the Internet and a library's internal network.
For your convenience, the revised Guidelines are posted below. They will take effect August 7, 2010 at 12:00 P.M. All existing account data, including e-mail addresses, will be deleted shortly thereafter. Usage statistics, based on the old data, will be generated before the deletion and will not include any personally identifiable information.
NOTE: Registering for an account and requiring a username and password is no longer required.
Please read the following. Clicking “OK” signifies your agreement to our Acceptable Use Guidelines.
Guidelines for Public Wireless Internet Access
Iosco-Arenac District Library has open wireless Hot Spots for patrons that use laptop computers with wireless cards for Internet Access. All patrons using our Hot Spots are subject to the following guidelines. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in loss of access.
Access via a hot spot is to the Internet only. There is no content filtering. Any user that is connected to a Hot Spot at any of our branch libraries is authorized to be connected. Access to our other equipment for any purpose without prior authorization is not permitted.
There is no file sharing, print sharing, or other activity that involves Staff or Public Access Computers.
The patron is responsible for their own equipment. Windows users are strongly urged to have at minimum: A working firewall, Anti-virus protection that is updated daily and Anti-Malware protection that is updated monthly. Microsoft Update should be run at least monthly to ensure security patches are installed. We are not responsible for providing technical support, data loss or equipment failure. Our responsibility is to our own equipment and ends at the wireless Hot Spot.
No technical support is provided beyond help documents and help establishing wireless connections. We reserve the right to deny technical support.
Public wireless is not a guaranteed service; it may go down for any reason. Available bandwidth is throttled to a maximum of 256kbps to protect our mission-critical systems from connectivity loss and resource abuse.
Any abuse or tampering will result in a patron's MAC address being blocked.
Information about WiFi activity is limited to the following:
1.Location of Hot Spot used
2.MAC address (the hardware address of the network adapter used)
3.Time Connected
4.Time Spent Connected
5.Amount of data downloaded and uploaded
6.The above information is only kept for a period of 6 months and is used only for statistical purposes (Hot Spot performance and troubleshooting) and is not available to the public.
As the hot spot is an open system, no encryption is used. This system is not recommended by users that do banking or other activities that require confidential information, unless the connections themselves use SSL or are through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The WifiDog server itself receives regular security and software patches and utilizes a firewall and non-standard ports for certain applications.
Branch libraries may restrict wireless access to certain areas of the library. Users should not expect to have access to an outlet for plugging in their computer.
Comments or problems, please e-mail postmaster@ioscoarenaclibrary.org or abuse@ioscoarenaclibrary.org
REVISED July 14, 2010
Note: Yes, if you noticed the revision date, everything related to Public WiFi was ready to go back in mid-July.
So, why August 7?
As noted in previous blog entries, the hotspots shared the same physical network with our computers and printers, which posed a potential security risk if a wireless access point was simply left open without any kind of authentication system. That was one of the reasons why we tolerated the issues with validation e-mails not always getting through (which required us to manually validate a user), and confusion over SSL certificates.
With the prototype Network Box in Oscoda up and running, and the next-to-last Production Network Box being put into service tomorrow morning, security is much less of a concern than before. This is because the Network Boxes act as a barrier between wireless access to the Internet and a library's internal network.
posted by Technology Coordinator at 9:53 PM
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