The Open Wireless Movement is a vision aiming for a future with ubiquitous open Internet access. This movement advocates for a world, particularly in urban environments, where dozens of open networks are readily available.

Core Principles and Goals

The Open Wireless Movement promotes several societal changes and technological advancements:

1. Ubiquitous Access: The goal is for devices like tablets and smartwatches to automatically join available open networks.

2. Sharing Norms: It seeks to establish a societal expectation of sharing wireless capacity, leading to more efficient use of the Internet.

3. Privacy Enhancement: By utilizing shared networks, the movement aims to eliminate the false notion that an IP address serves as a sole identifier, thereby creating a norm that enhances privacy.

4. Advocacy: The movement works with advocates to change how individuals and businesses approach Internet service, encouraging users to open their wireless networks, often via guest networking features to preserve their protected private network.

Key Benefits

Proponents of Open Wireless highlight numerous benefits:

• Innovation: Ubiquitous, cheap connectivity will foster a new era of innovation by making new technologies possible without requiring expensive 3G/4G mobile data plans or permission from phone companies. This could lead to practical devices like phones that only use Skype, smartwatches that always show Internet-derived information, or quadcopters navigating by WiFi.

• Economic Development: Open wireless is beneficial for small businesses (like cafés and bookstores) as it attracts customers and serves as an important community service. Municipalities also benefit, as reliable connectivity can enhance tourism and development.

• User Privacy: The reliance on shared open networks could replace current systems where smartphones act as "spy phones" that continuously broadcast location and communications to single carriers for advertising or other purposes.

• Emergency Services: Open networks have been shown to aid rescue workers during crises, such as the Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse and an earthquake in Italy.

• Resource Conservation: Open wireless conserves scarce radio spectrum because wireless devices send signals over shorter distances and at lower power compared to cellular towers, thereby avoiding congestion on cellular networks.

• Bridging the Digital Divide: Open networks extend the benefits of the Internet to populations lacking access to broadband.

Implementation and Legal Considerations

• Participation: Users are encouraged to open their networks (often utilizing a router's guest feature) and spread the word, potentially by naming their open network "openwireless.org".

• Security: Advocates emphasize that opening a network is generally safe, especially if a separate guest network or wireless isolation is used. Strong security technologies like HTTPS Everywhere or VPNs are recommended. The security loss from moving to an open network is considered less significant than sometimes perceived, especially since transport layer encryption (like TLS/HTTPS) is the gold standard for security.

• Liability: While complex, the belief is that significant legal protections already applying to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) also apply to open wireless operators in the United States, greatly reducing the risk of liability for the illegal actions (like copyright infringement) of neighbors or passersby. To obtain additional protection, operators can adopt and implement the Open Wireless Movement's repeat infringer policy, often by using the SSID "openwireless.org".

Status Update

It is important to note that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is not currently working on promoting the Open Wireless Movement, as of 2024.