El Movimiento sent me their cute wireless router for free, and I am wondering what to do with it. The idea is to form a community of people who share their Internet connection with strangers. If the community grows large enough, you can find a FONspot wherever you go. FON as a company can make a profit by charging non-members for access to the grid.

List of obvious concerns:

• Security: I do not mind sharing my bandwidth, but I would not want strangers on my home network. The router solves this problem by sending out two separate signals, a public one and a private one. I assume that the two networks are not bridged in any way.
• Security: Apparently, the device periodically phones home and downloads patches from a central server. In addition to that, FON can at all times login to it. Tin foil hat catches fire here.
• Legal issue: If someone commits a crime using my Internet connection, I might be liable in some way. At the very least, you might end up with a funny profile file at some law enforcement or royalty collection agency. Big Brother does not not know that it is not you he is watching.
• Legal issue: Sharing your Internet with FON might very well violate your ISP service agreement.
• Practical issue: I am not sure what good a FONspot on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building would do. It could probably only be accessed from other residents here, and they all have Internet already.

On the other hand, privacy on the Internet is an illusion anyway, and security concerns are not too relevant currently, as the only WiFi-enabled device we have right now is the Wii, and Nintendo makes sure that whatever information it may contain (pictures? save games?) is very difficult to access in the first place. FON also has a collaboration with its capital partner Skype ( another one is Google) to provide Skype calls using VoIP phones, no need for a computer, which is quite intriguing for oversees travel (if it works).