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Warchalking is the drawing of 
Having found a Wi-Fi node, the warchalker draws a special symbol on a nearby object, such as a wall, the pavement, or a lamp post. Those offering Wi-Fi service might also draw such a symbol to advertise the availability of their Wi-Fi location, whether commercial or personal.
Warchalking is the drawing of symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different con ...
s in public place
A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...
s to advertise an open Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network Communication protocol, protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital d ...
network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
.
Inspired by hobo symbols, the warchalking marks were conceived by a group of friends in June 2002 and publicised by Matt Jones who designed the set of icons and produced a downloadable document containing them. Within days of Jones publishing a blog entry about warchalking, articles appeared in dozens of publications and stories appeared on several major television news programs around the world.
The word is formed by analogy to ''wardriving
Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks, usually from a moving vehicle, using a laptop or smartphone. Software for wardriving is freely available on the internet.
Warbiking, warcycling, warwalking and similar use the sam ...
'', the practice of driving around an area in a car to detect open Wi-Fi nodes. That term in turn is based on '' wardialing'', the practice of dialing many phone numbers hoping to find a modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by modulating one or more carr ...
.
Having found a Wi-Fi node, the warchalker draws a special symbol on a nearby object, such as a wall, the pavement, or a lamp post. Those offering Wi-Fi service might also draw such a symbol to advertise the availability of their Wi-Fi location, whether commercial or personal.
See also
*Hotspot (Wi-Fi)
A hotspot is a physical location where people can obtain Internet access, typically using Wi-Fi technology, via a wireless local-area network (WLAN) using a router connected to an Internet service provider.
Public hotspots may be created by ...
* Mesh networking
A mesh network is a local area network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate wi ...
* SSID
* Wifi analyzer
* NetStumbler
NetStumbler (also known as Network Stumbler) was a tool for Windows that facilitates detection of Wireless LANs using the 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g WLAN standards. It runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 to Windows X ...
* Wardriving
Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks, usually from a moving vehicle, using a laptop or smartphone. Software for wardriving is freely available on the internet.
Warbiking, warcycling, warwalking and similar use the sam ...
* Hobo code
A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works.
E ...
References
External links
* {{cite news , last1=Langley , first1=Nick , title=The demise of the warchalkers , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222220520/http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/The-demise-of-the-warchalkers , access-date=10 May 2017 , work=ComputerWeekly , date=23 June 2003 Computer security exploits Wi-Fi Graffiti and unauthorised signage