Invention's Mother

Earlier today, as I was skimming the list of updates on freshmeat, I saw the entry for ping tunnel:

Ping Tunnel is a tool for reliably tunneling TCP connections over ICMP echo request and reply packets (commonly known as ping requests and replies). It is useful for evading firewalls that, for whatever reason, prevent outgoing TCP connections, but allow in- and outgoing ICMP packets.

I thought to myself: clearly this was a tool developed by someone just because they could. I could not fathom ever being in a situation where such a tool might be useful.

Sitting in a Caribou Coffee shop later in the evening, I was pleased to see that they offered WiFi access. I saw no outward displays of such access, but my laptop happily reported that it was connected to a base station. I could even ping Yahoo!

I fired up my browser, to see what was going on in the world, and was greeted by an SBC captive portal page informing me that I needed to pay $3 for two hours of internet connectivity. Sod that! I can go to Cup O’ Joe and get as much free internet access as I want.

I’m half-tempted to install Ping Tunnel and go back to Caribou Coffee … and circumvent their for-pay system just because I can.