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If you throw a signal into the public, you don't then get to decide how people use it

Depends… I can only speak for my own country (Denmark) where we do have rules about what information others are allowed to record and permanently store. Similar to there also being rules about when video surveillance is allowed, and if allowed, who can have access to the tapes and for how long these are allowed to be stored.

Most people don't know they are throwing a signal into the public. They are just setting up a tool to check email, Facebook, and talk on Skype. It's not immediately obvious to them what exactly is happening.

And please don't blame the consumers for their lack of knowledge in this. You don't need to know how a car works to drive, nor how a DVD player works to watch movies, nor is it essential to know how a computer works to use it.

What's the threat if someone has your MAC address?

> It's only 1:1 MAC:House if you're the only wifi network and house in a reasonable range.

I suspect it would be possible to triangulate the position of a wifi network in an urban environment.

Maybe you can set Tomato to vary the router radio's power output :)