If anything, open wifi (in a residential setting) is becoming less common. Open access used to be the factory default but now it requires extra steps.
I want to respond to all of you here.
Yes, I actually generally agree with every single one of you on the points you made. My thoughts are that I would really like to see more anonymity rather than less, but I believe strongly that it is going the other way. And there are good arguments for it doing that, just as there are good arguments for face recognition video cameras covering every square foot of public area. But, for obvious reasons, I prefer we err in the other direction. This is one of the reasons I use someone else’s wi-fi. My real reason was to save money, but it is nice to be one of those bucking the “lock down” cyberculture.
Heck, if I were someone wanting to do REALLY bad stuff it would be easy enough, especially in a large megalopolis. I would simply use cash to buy a laptop that I used solely for my “nefarious” purposes and, in all likelihood, keep it at a public storage place when not in use. I’d then do all of my web connection via various free wi-fi hotspots around the city and wear a somewhat concealing hat, glasses and logging shirt with a pillow strapped on whenever I visit them, eliminating the risk of being recorded by private security for later viewing by the police with a warrant. In some cases I could even access from the parking lot, but only if there were no security cameras there, in which case I would not even park there.
If someone were smart, he would not get caught doing this sort of stuff.
All of that reminds me: Back in the early 70’s a guy I worked with asked me why I tried to think of so many ways to rip off the retail company we worked for. I thought at the time that maybe I should have gone into the store security business (since I never ripped them off, nor would I have). It really didn’t sound like fun and I am much happier in IT.