^{I welcome better key-wording here, both on tags and title.}

I'm trying to conceive a free, open and secure network environment that would work anywhere, from big enterprises to small home networks of just 1 machine.

I think since wireless Access Points are the most, if not only, true weak point of a Local Area Network (let's not consider every other security aspect of having internet) there would be basically two points to consider here:

• Having an open AP for anyone to use the internet through

• Leaving the whole LAN also open for guests to be able to easily read (only) files on it, and even a place to drop files on

Considering these two aspects, once everything is done properly...

What's the most secure option between having that, or having just an encrypted password-protected wifi?

Of course "both" would seem "more secure". But it shouldn't actually be anything substantial.

I've always had the feeling using any kind of the so called "wireless security" methods is actually a bad design. I'm talking mostly about encrypting and pass-phrasing (which are actually two different concepts), since I won't even consider hiding SSID and mac filtering.

I understand it's a natural way of thinking. With cable networking nobody can access the network unless they have access to the physical cable, so you're "secure" in the physical way. In a way, encrypting is for wireless what building walls is for the cables. And giving pass-phrases would be adding a door with a key.

So, what do you think?