FSP 1.1

War chalking

None dare call it modemspotting.
A set of easy-to-draw symbols to identify the nearby presence of wireless
networks for laptop and palmtop users.

Matt Jones, a London-based information architect and designer, posted the
idea on his Weblog, and it stimulated online discussions and even a Web
address devoted to the cause: www.warchalking.org.

An initial set of symbols was offered for users to mark (and describe)
networks they had found, and for network operators, free or for a fee,
to advertise accessibility. In the spirit of Internet time, baroque
renditions by site visitors quickly transformed Mr. Jones's simple symbols
into three-dimensional locators with other details.

War chalking derives from "war driving," a pastime of discovering wireless
networks using widely available data-sniffing software that identifies
open and restricted wireless nodes in homes and businesses. (War
driving, in turn, comes from war dialing, modem-era hacker attempts
to dial number after number to find modems.) [nyt.com]