Wired to wireless?

[Richard Chonak]

On 05/03/2010 06:45 AM, Scott Ehrlich wrote:
 > A question for the comm techies out there -
 >
 > You have a wired network via a major provider - comcast, verizon, rcn,
 > etc, at your home.
 >
 > Your neighbor (someone on your street) also subscribes to the same
 > provider.   Can they see your traffic?    Can you see theirs?
 >

Back in the 1990s, when I used Comcast cable-modem "service" in 
Cambridge, my Linux system regularly received broadcast packets from 
Windows PCs scanning for net-neighbors.   Most of these queries were 
routine and benign, but occasionally there were attempts at 
information-gathering or intrusion.   Conversely, those packets could 
have enabled me to gather info about their machines, if I'd been so 
inclined.

I don't know whether any changes to the cable-internet service 
infrastructure have prevented such exposures.  Any ideas?

--RC