Like macchanger under Linux since 20 years? Must be cool to have an Apple I guess.
Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
161–170 of 278 posts
Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Modern app bloat in one analogy: Business logic size: ~20 bytes Total app size: ~47 MB = 47,000,000 bytes Bloat factor: 47,000,000 / 20 = 2,350,000 Let’s scale this up and say the business logic is 1 pound. Then the whole app would weigh: 1 lb × 2,350,000 = 2,350,000 pounds What weighs ~2.35 million pounds? - A fully loaded Boeing 747-8: ~987,000 lbs - Another fully loaded 747-8: ~987,000 lbs - A blue whale: ~330,000…
This is an absurd way to think of this. Following this same train of thoughts for humans: The business logic for humans is a single reproductive cell. A single sperm weighs 2.3 x 10^-11 grams. If the average male weighs 75kg the. The bloat ratio for a human male is 3.2x10^15 Getting back to the app there is huge value in not needing to run the command yourself. Sure it’s wrapped in a UI that comes with “bloat” but ho…
Well, the apps often come bundled with a bunch of other stuff. Automatic updates, background workers, telemetry …
All of which sucks up your compute resources and battery. Repeat for every such little utility app you have on your Mac. Some may implement that random stuff inefficiently (eg very frequent telemetry), which sucks even more. Some of it may even be wrong, vibe coded, or copy pasted.
Personally, puts me off installing random utility apps, even if the single utility would be useful.
Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#163Or you could just comply with the terms you tacitly agree to when using these services. Use this stuff or don't, but if you do, you don't get to complain about GPL infringement anymore.
Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#164Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
200 bytes for the business logic. 47MB for the UI & boilerplate around the business logic. I get that this may be the easiest way to develop and publish an application today, but it's sad that this is the direction we have taken in recent years.
Yes but you need a space station OS (Unix) to enjoy the terseness of 47-200 bytes of business logic. ps: I love both space stations and Unix
I guess, but the OS is a fixed cost that you already have
Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#166Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
That won't circumvent the sms code requirement most free wifi services use.
I have never seen this before
I've only seen it once.
I was doing some work in a small-ish county jail/sheriff's office in the States. As part of that work, I needed some Internet access.
Because jail (thick, reinforced walls and lots of steel) the cell phone coverage was basically shit -- otherwise I'd have just used my phone like I would normally have done approximately anywhere else.
It was a fun dance: Requesting access via wifi, getting sent a code via SMS, and then going outside, turning off wifi to establish an actually-working network connection, retrieving the code (yay Google Voice), and then going back inside, turning on wifi, entering the code, and actually using it.
There was some other detail (perhaps relating to very short timeouts or re-registration issues or MAC randomization) at some stage of the operation that seemed extra-insulting, but my mind has forgotten whatever it was.
I have no idea what this song and dance was intended to provide, prevent, or enforce.
Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#168Alternatively, if you don't want to run the whole Electron app, the money is this line: sudo.exec("/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport en0 -z && ifconfig en0 ether `openssl rand -hex 6 | sed 's/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//'`",
200 bytes for the business logic. 47MB for the UI & boilerplate around the business logic. I get that this may be the easiest way to develop and publish an application today, but it's sad that this is the direction we have taken in recent years.
And notice the other abstraction too.
This is not 'an app to change MAC address' but an app to 'overcome WiFi time limits'.
Re: Airpass – Easily overcome WiFi time limits
#169The trivial defense against this is time limited passwords for Wifi access. Deny all access until a valid password is entered, only permit that password and MAC address pair for n minutes. Buy a coffee, get a new password, etc.
So "trivial" that this is how it was done years ago, but then coffee shops gave up on it because it turned it not to be so trivial after all. Their employees' time is more effectively spent making coffee than repeatedly providing low-level tech support for random password problems.
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