Posted on 01/07/2008 10:46:22 AM PST by SubGeniusX
Still apples & oranges.
Better example: You saw your neighbor hired a contractor to install a fence, and you offered him an extention cord before he asked for one. ... then you called the police when your breaker tripped.
Well, then maybe you should stop offering free Wi-Fi access to the world, eh? If your SSID is being broadcast, and anyone can connect, then it’s not their fault they didn’t know you had a bandwidth limit. Stop broadcasting the SSID, turn on WEP, or use MAC screening.
I disagree. My daily activities require frequent downloads from the SVN repository on a computer on the east coast. That occurs over a secured VPN connection that employs the bandwidth of my DSL line. That download time is part of my billable hours to the customer. If someone is stealing my bandwidth, the download time will be extended. The time billed to my customer goes up. The bandwidth thief is indirectly raising the costs of my services to my customer. My customer is directly the victim of monetary theft by the WiFi thief. When someone is stealing WiFi bandwidth, is it not reasonable to assume it is harmless.
Sorry, reading too fast.
If you don't ask him to order more or leave, yes.
At that point its up to the business. When he sits out in the car and leeches the people who pay for the bandwidth dont have a say do they?
The contractor trespassed onto my property and connected an electrical his own electrical cord to my power socket.
If a water tanker truck pulled up in front of your hose, connector a hose to your faucet and made off with 10,000 gallons of water, would that be theft? After all, it is just a path for water to go from the aquifer to the truck.
ping for bookmark
If a water tanker truck pulled up in front of your hose, connected a hose to your faucet and made off with 10,000 gallons of water, would that be theft? After all, it is just a path for water to go from the aquifer to the truck.
What about watching pr0n flicks at the drive-in from a hill outside the fence? Was that stealing, I mean, would it have been stealing, if I, er, someone, actually did it?
I see this more akin to cooling off by standing on the public sidewalk outside your neighbor’s house and waiting until the sprinkler goes by.
You open another argument: Wouldn’t it be legal to snoop on all of your neighbor’s traffic if he’s using your WiFi without your permission? After all, you have no agreement with him, and you are only sniffing traffic on your own personal network.
Mr. Bangeman is right about one thing: using an unprotected WiFi network is not stealing. It is, however, unauthorized trespass and potentially fraud, if the connection is used to access other networks.
The funny thing is that Mr. Bangeman is comparing a private resource (a wireless network connection) to public resources (radio and television broadcasts).
If your neighbor runs his sprinkler and accidentally waters your yard, do you owe him money?
If your neighbor leaves his door open, does that mean it's okay for you to go in and raid his fridge?
(This does not excuse the stupidity of the resident who leaves his door wide open and unsecured.)
. . . . .
Somehow, I think Mr. Bangeman will sing a different tune when someone (using a spoofed MAC address) hacks into his home's access point and downloads child pornography. The Feds will, of course, come knocking on his door.
I’m WPA secured, thanks. That doesn’t change the fact the fact that unauthorized use of my connection would be theft, not trespass.
I am amazed at the number of networks out there...many within my own neighborhood...that are named "Linksys", "DLink" and "Netgear". These people have simply plugged these units in and turned them on...without even reading the stinking manual.
Nodes behind the gateway have private, non-routable IP addresses and will appear to the public Internet using the IP address of the gateway.
If it is the wireless router that is "seen" as the IP address, who gets the responsibility for illegal actions, like downloading illegal music or pictures?
The point of contact for the connection, or in other words, if you are subscribing to a cable Internet or DSL and pay the bills, you are legally responsible.
And, with the recent RIAA insanity, it appears that the point of contact will be held liable for any illegalities that occur, regardless of whether he or she committed the act in question.
Yup. But, in general, you only need to be a step faster than your slowest neighbor.
When I turn on my laptop, I get my own Wifi connection, plus 4 of my neighbors.
My setup is totally secure. Neighbors' are not. Which one do you think a hacker will check out?
The one setup that I could ID - I mentioned to the guy. HE said 'Pah' and waved his hand. Wonder if he'd do the same thing if I presented him with copies of his tax returns, CC numbers, bank PINs, etc. I haven't hacked his system because I figure that it's none of my business. Doubt that others think the same way.
I have used my neighbor’s WIFI before I got a router, and I did not consider it stealing.
You are taking some bandwidth, yes, but not that much unless you use it for downloading movies etc.
The big thing is...computers will connect even without your permission at times. So, you have to keep that in mind before judging it wrong. How can it be wrong if you don’t even know you are using somebody else’s?
Very first ROT (Rule of thumb) for any machine that will be connecting to a wireless network.
Turn OFF file sharing!
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