Depends on the network and the laptop. Anything going over the network is easily intercepted unless its encrypted. If your laptop isn’t configured properly they can gain access to your disk drive.
Say you log into email and read them. They’ve captured your login/password and the contents of the email.
All wireless networks can be hacked using free software.
I’m still trying to find out more about what is known as white spaces wi-fi. It utilizes the unused bands on tv. I haven’t found out about the hardware needed to go that route. From what I understand, once you get the hardware, access to the net is free. Sure hope that’s so. Any help concerning white spaces would be greatly appreciated.
If the website is using SSL (https:) then it’s encrypted. If you join a wi-fi hotspot, and then connect to a corporate network (or your home network) via VPN, then the wi-fi hotspot see’s nothing but encrypted traffic, even if you go to an HTTP website (like Free Republic). That’s because all data is then encrypted, sent over the VPN, and actually exits to the internet from your end-point.
Typically, if I’m on a public wi-fi network (hotel, convention, Starbucks, etc), I join my corporate VPN, to ensure all data is encrypted.