The rise of passive-aggressive wi-fi names | Hacker News Reader

The rise of passive-aggressive wi-fi names

bbc.co.uk

71 pointsjofo2550 comments

There's a trade-in electronics chain in the UK called CeX, and their WiFi hotspots are open and named 'Unprotected CeX' by default which I always found amusing.

It would be great if everyone just put their phone number as the SSID.

Phone numbers are unique and let others contact you if they want to use your wifi for some reason. Would probably help neighbors get hold of each other in emergencies as well.

But then any random passerby could harvest phone numbers easily. And because of the nature of a) cell phones and b) wireless networks, there isn't really a good correlation from wifi-availability to geographic location to actual phone location. You might know all of your neighbours' phone numbers, but not which goes with whom, nor which ones are on your floor, or even in your building. And just imagine someone phoning them all to try to find out who's playing music at night.

Well yes, if you publish your phone number then people will be able to see it.

You're right about the flat number / street number situation though. It might be good to add that to the SSID as well.

Loud music seems like a perfect use case for the information.

When I lived in an apartment building our SSID was "internet-304". 304 being my apartment number.

No one ever showed up at my door or anything, but it was there. Seems like the most obvious and succinct way to tie the access point to a physical location, which seems the most obvious way to open communications.

Yes, I've had my phone number as SSID for the past three years and have yet to have anyone call it.

I think it'll need to hit a critical mass before it's useful. People don't expect SSID's to have useful information so they don't look for it there.

Great idea. My in-laws have it backwards: the password is the street number... Changing it would break all devices that already store the password, so it stays.

Does anyone else think that using the term "passive-agressive" is somewhat ... passive-agressive?

Also most of the names are pretty direct, no passive aggressiveness there

It's passive aggressive because the people aren't directly speaking to their neighbors. Kind of like the notes in passiveaggressivenotes.com - those notes are direct, but they avoid direct confrontation.

Then all notes are passive by nature of not being face to face, and they should just be called "aggressive notes." Except many of these aren't aggressive in that they're not deliberately hostile or vengeful, just plain directives that some readers take as personal attacks for some reason.

No, not all notes are passive, because they are not transmitted as a wi-fi name.

That's what makes them passive in this instance. They are relayed without actively delivering them.

That site is a misuse of the term. Passiveaggressiveness is not about being assertive

I seem to only hear it in "STOP BEING SO PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE ARGHHHH" sentences.

My favorite one in my neighborhood is "Hide Yo Kids Hide Yo WiFi"

I enjoyed an entrepreneurial one to the effect of:

"Pay 1711 10 bones for access"

My favorite is "It's better when it's unprotected."

No password.

Not linking back to the Reddit post (as far as I can see). This seems to be a bit of a trend recently. :)

I have two networks, a private one and a public one. The public one has no password, and the SSID is "My Address Guest". I've received thank-you notes. If overuse gets to be an issue, I'll throttle the public side, but it hasn't been so far.

And what if someone uses it for illegal activities? The buck would stop with you (or at least start there). I'd be very wary about an Open WiFi these days....

Having been stuck without access in the past, I think the benefit to others is worth the risk.