[mamelukesabre]

How do they catch people RECIEVING electromagnetic waves? THat’s pure idiocy. The whole point of my post is that criminalizing wifi “stealing” is a step in that direction of idiocy.

What’s next? issuing licenses to receive sunlight? How about unauthorized use of our planet’s limited supply of oxygen?

[Myrddin]

Stealing wi-fi bandwidth is not a passive, receive only activity. It requires your device to actively transmit to the AP to establish a connection. Listening to cell phone calls with a scanner is already a violation of the law...and that is a purely passive act...most of the time. If you hear something "interesting" and use the information, you can be criminally prosecuted. The laws are already on the books.

People are caught when they divulge the information they received eavedropping on a private communication. Cable companies catch thieves by using a truck mounted receiver with a directional antenna to pick up the local oscillators of a cable box. They make lots of digital noise with a fairly specific signature. It's a paying proposition to catch and fine the thieves.