Using free wireless at library described as theft

Anchorage Daily News ^ | 2/24/07 | ANDREW WELLNER

[savedbygrace]

That site is so far out of date, it's a joke. In fact, every site like that that I've ever checked on is out of date as well.

[DaGman]

"Aren't home networks password protected, or are many too lazy or technically challenged to use a password."

I can get up to four wireless networks in the neighborhood and mine is the only one secure. I mentioned to my next door neighbor that I could get into his computers and check out his files if I wanted to and that if I could, anyone could. He said, there's not a lot there to look at so he doesn't care. Guess that's a lot of people's attitude.

[Alas Babylon!]

Because he didn't want a wood shampoo and a charge of resisting arrest?

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

If they leave the books laying around outside, then yes, you can read the books when the library is closed.

[highlander_UW]

He should have asked the police officer who pays for the library's internet service. Hard to steal something you partly own.

[bannie]

I wonder if his being charged had anything to do with which sites he was accessing?

[PAR35]

his parents don't let him use the home computer after 9p.m. ...he's 21

The parents ought to pay the cops to keep the computer. The boy needs to get a life.

[zook]

You plant an apple tree, expecting to enjoy all the fruit. It grows until the branches extend over my fence. I wait for the apples to fall and I gather them and eat them. You've lost them. Have I stolen from you?

[Obi-Wandreas]

That's just the thing, though: you're not leaving your bike on the curb - you're putting it in my garage. You're not leaving you're TV in your living room - you're putting it in mine. An unsecured wireless network actively broadcasts its signal. A person minding their own business and listening. has it dropped in their lap.

Better analogy - using a high-powered microphone to listen in to what's going on in your house is an invasion. But if you're shouting so loud the neighbors can hear it, it's not an invasion for them to listen. You are broadcasting to them.

[CORedneck]

When I was in New Zealand for vacation, finding a free Wi-Fi was next to impossible. In the last place I stayed at - a Hostel in Auckland, I got onto a free Wi-Fi hotspot. I was careful not to abuse it (heavy bandwidth usage). But also in NZ, there are many Internet cafes that you can use and you can hook up either with Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable.

Most of my Internet there was for e-mail, a little web surfing, transferring picture files back to home and especially, making calls from my Vonage soft-phone - much cheaper than going through NZ Telecom.

[rarestia]

MOST people don't lock down their wireless routers. I blame Linksys and NetGear for making products that are "plug and play" for networking.

Granted, with a few Linux tools, anyone could sniff wireless networks, even SSID-disabled networks, and get on them with a password sniffer (authentication is passed in plain-text).

If you have a home router, at the least change the access password to it. I'd suggest turning off the SSID and turning on WPA-Personal encryption through TKIP. This will keep most prying eyes out, but if someone really wanted to hack into your network, it doesn't take much.

[CharlesWayneCT]

No. Although local law would have to be consulted to see if you could take the apples off the tree or not.

If I put the apples in a bushel basket and a high wind slid the basket into your yard, you'd probably be stealing to take and eat them.

But the difference is the apple fell into your yard, and you can take it and eat it as you see fit.

My signal may be in your house, but when you start sending your ip packets, they are coming through my house.

[conservative in nyc]

You think you can break in and read the books when the library is closed?

No. But you can certainly read books you've checked out of the library after it is closed, look through the window to see what new books the library is currently offering (if those books are in your line of sight), or walk or skateboard across outdoor library property if it is otherwise allowed. Heck, if it's a nice summer night in Alaska when the sun is still up at 10PM, as long as there's no law against it, you could even sit outside the library and enjoy the sunset while reading a book you've checked out from the library. It's public property.

Besides, you don't need to break into the library to use their WiFi service if it's spilling out on the street for anybody to use. All you need is a computer that could access it. If the library didn't want the public to access their system after hours, all they need to do is turn it off. If the library leaves its system on, how are you supposed to know that you're not supposed to use it after hours? This isn't like a home system, where those who leave their systems unsecured might arguably not want you piggybacking. It's a public library's WiFi hotspot.

[goldstategop]

I used to think if you sat in your own car on a public street and didn't bother any one else, it was no one else's business what you did inside it. An unsecured wireless network can't be broken into so there are no grounds for arresting any one. If its a secured network, that's an entirely different matter.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[CharlesWayneCT]

If you are arguing that you can receive my IP packets and inspect them, you may have a point.

But the issue isn't my wireless broadcasting to your computer, it's your IP packets coming into my house and then through my connection that I'm paying for, and then requesting information across that same connection I am paying for.

BTW, there's probably specific laws covering this in some places now, since it isn't so easy to directly tie it to existing laws.

If the cable company accidentally connects your wire up in their box, in some places you can actually be prosecuted if you DON'T call them and tell them.

[FreedomPoster]

Anarcho-tyranny at its worst.

I bet that cop is really proud.

[CurlyDave]

You think you can break in and read the books when the library is closed?

No, but can I read a book I have checked out, after the library is closed?

Can I sit in my car in their parking lot & do it?

How about can I look in their window and read whatever they have displayed after they are closed?

I find using their unsecured internet more akin to reading a poster they have displayed in their window than to reading the books inside the library.

[HIDEK6]

I've spent more time in parking lots with a laptop than I'm comfortable admitting.

All you have to do is go inside and ask for permission to set your laptop up in their lobby.

I've never been refused.

[fremont_steve]

Roughly two-thirds of all home networks are not secure in anyway. It's also true that anyone that is "determined" can break basic WEP encryption fairly easily.

Consider that the Library doesn't nominally allow use after hours - therefore, his use was using their hardware when it wasn't allowed to be used by the public. Technically they've got him. If the police gripped about it while the library was open I think he would have a leg to stand on. The other issue is that this guy has been going around town doing this and looking suspicious. He has become a nuisance to the cops - (at least the third time they've been called on him..) So they took action.

When the totality of the situation is considered I think the cops were reasonable.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's OK to use the wireless network if you pack your laptop computer into the library but it's a crime if you access it from your car outside? It's not like he's trespassing in a private company's parking lot and hopping onto their network, it's the public library! Sounds like the cops don't have much to do if they're pursuing cheesy crap like this.