Providing security for wireless community networks

This paper describes a new Internet access paradigm based on Lowest Cost Denominator Networking - the Public Access WiFi Service (PAWS) - that utilises the unused capacity of home broadband connections and provides users who are unable to afford paying for the service with Less-than-Best-Effort access to these resources. We identify the security and architectural challenges faced by the project and propose our solution that enables free internet connectivity to public services for the local community, in a secure and scalable manner.