And those that do it "purposefully" have some knowledge of what they are doing and usually mark their Wifi with a moniker of "Free to Use", or some such.
Those ignorant of what they are doing should not be considered "I'm Free.....c'mon and use me!"
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I guess I'm supposed to feel guilty, but I don't. Contrary to what I posted earlier, I am not evil. I'm actually a good person. And yet I find it difficult to get all worked up about popping on to someone's unsecured Wi-Fi network for a few minutes. If I was hacking into their computer to view/delete files or obtain passwords or credit card numbers, that would be a different story. I guess that's where I draw the line. Then again, maybe I really am evil. :D
Actually in the UK leaving unwanted furiture on the curb would be considered ilegal! And there have even been prosecutions against people taking stuff from dustbins and mini-skips!
....uh oh! True Confession Time! In the70's the navy stationed me in London,whereupon i was tried and convicted of a crime against the Crown, to whit: Watching television without proper tax license...the British authorities sent the "detecto van" to obtain a frequency intercept while i was watching tv...they then knocked on my door and asked for my documents, which of course, i did not have...a month later i was required to appear before 3 magistrates(complete with powdered white wig and black robes)...Things were looking good for the visiting team and it appeared that since i was an ignorant American, my mitagating circumstances looked like i would walk away free. That was until the Crown's prosecutor made an impassioned plea with an objection that went something to the effect that "it was a matter of costs M'Lord!"....loosely translated if i was to be set free it would bring down the Royal Law which has survived for countless years....so, the Magistrates then asked me a series of questions but when they found out i had an Irish wife, they found me guilty and charged me with $50.00 fine and $40.00 court cost, even though i brought the correct papers and paid my taxes...i now have to live with the fact that i commmitted a crime against the Crown and all i was doing was trying to see who shot JR Ewing(it was the 70's)....anyone know who shot him?
all those analogy about leaving the car unlocked and house unlocked doesn't make sense...
Stealing is stealing???!!! What kind of thinking is that!!!!!! I'd shoot someone if I caught him stealing big sum of my money. But.. I'd GIVE it to the guy, if he was stealing BREAD to eat.
I know you say stealing is stealing, but you know yourself that you have level for it. Would you really prosecute someone for stealing bread? If so, I really have nothing else to say.
Let's say there's a piece of hardware that lets you stream MP3 to ENCRYPTED radio waves, that can only be decrypted by a special radio (which can also listen to standard waves).
Now let's say your neighbhor has one.. but he's either: Ignorant, layzie, or generous, and decide to not encrypt his waves.
You happen to have one of these special radio, too. So, one good day, you decide to listen to music.. and bang, you got on your neighbor signals, which is streaming indian music, and you know it's his, since there's no Indian radio, and there's 2 indian guy in this neighborhood.
Is this illegal? Do you think you should get prosecuted because the guy was either: ignorant, layzie or generous? If you were the one transmitting, would you be greedy enought to tell him "It's my signal wave, it doesn't matter if im not encrypting it, IT'S MINE and you're kind of stealing electricity, since I'm the one who is transmitting it".
In the same sense... If you have an anonymous FTP server at home, and, because you do not know how to restrict it, someone downloads your mp3 off your computer. But REALLY. Who's wrong here?
How can I know if the signal is a free hotspot, or if it's someone elses? It's not written "FREE SIGNAL" when it is.. it's not written "SOMEONE ELSES" neither..
and about all those car analogies. If, someone you know, got their car stolen, because he did not know how to lock his car..
Would you tell him:
A) "Moron, you should have learned how. Your problem, go talk with the assurance, and call the police"
B) "That's too bad. Call the police.. and don't learn how to lock your car, the guy was wrong"
that's my 2 cents.. or 2 bucks, since it's kinda long.
Stealing is stealing???!!! What kind of thinking is that!!!!!!
Well, that is the kind of thinking on which the English language is based.
What a novel idea that a word means what it means.
Quote:
I'd shoot someone if I caught him stealing big sum of my money. But.. I'd GIVE it to the guy, if he was stealing BREAD to eat.
I know you say stealing is stealing, but you know yourself that you have level for it. Would you really prosecute someone for stealing bread?
omg.. it's clear that you never lived poor or survived war (in your country, and not going to war.. if you know what I mean).
really.. what kind of greedy ass mofos you are.. You're like the big king in movies, that can see everyone is starving at the bottom, but not lifting a single finger. Damn!! grrrr.
anyway, we all have different opinion. I don't agree with you, but I respect it.
And those that do it "purposefully" have some knowledge of what they are doing and usually mark their Wifi with a moniker of "Free to Use", or some such.
Those ignorant of what they are doing should not be considered "I'm Free.....c'mon and use me!"
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Agreed.
Stealing is all a matter of morals. Enron thought that it was ok to get "loans".
And that is what it comes down to... Public property in the us... You can take anything that someone disgards because it becomes public domain, there is no way you will be using those radio waves again, they just keep traveling out... You have disgarded them and they are public domain, If you are sooo worried about bandwidth get a 802.11 a router, It uses restricted airwaves that you need an fcc license to use.
Totally missing the point.
First of all, wireless communication happens to be two way. This is not passively listening to radio waves as they pass by.
Secondly, 802.11a does not require a licence. It requires certification.
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Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
Everyone is trying to make analogies, and the truth is that none of them accurately apply in this situation. Why? Because Wi-Fi is a relatively new and unique technology, and the borrowing and/or stealing of these radio signals hasn't been clearly interpreted or defined to a degree that we can all agree on. We all know that it's wrong to steal a physical object from someone's person, home, car, etc., but there seems to be some gray area when it comes to unprotected Wi-Fi networks.
I disagree. I think it's because there are too many people that don't really understand how wifi works and too many people who want to justify it for themselves to come up with "creative" analogies to make themselves feel better :)
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Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
In the same sense... If you have an anonymous FTP server at home, and, because you do not know how to restrict it, someone downloads your mp3 off your computer. But REALLY. Who's wrong here?
that's my 2 cents.. or 2 bucks, since it's kinda long.
I think it's really sad that you'd want to live like that. Where it's an anarchic free-for-all as opposed to respect for people's property (whether it's physical or not).
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Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
So how do you know when it is a free hot spot, or just one where the owner doesn't know how to lock it down? I had always assumed it was okay to use a free WiFi signal. Now I feel like I am stealing unless someone specifically states, "use my wide open signal." What good is WiFi if you can't use hotspots?
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tmn72
Current: Pharos GPS 525, Blackberry 8703e
Still Own: HP 100lx, HP 320lx, HP Jornada 720, Palm VIIx, Palm Pilot Pro
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You need to understand and accept that the world is not full of uber-geeks. The majority of people do not know how to adequately secure their wireless networks. If you know that (and there are many surveys that show this) then why is it so hard to make the leap that most open networks are not free for your use?
Unless it's clearly marked that it's free, I assume it is not. Something that would give it away:
SSID Linksys - User does not know how to configure, probably not intentionally free
SSID Guest - I'd assume that it was free, though there are exceptions that I can think of
SSID McDonalds - I'd assume that it was free for McD's customers.
There are many places where people don't bother to lock their cars or houses. It doesn't mean that they're there for the taking. Wifi is of course intangible so it's much easier to take the signal without actually feeling like you're stealing something.
As for the usefulness of wifi - there are plenty of hotspots around. Some free, some not. I use wifi at home too and it's incredibly useful. If your only use for it is to take other people's bandwidth then I guess it's not much use to you :)
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Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
The first thing I did when I got my X50 was to take a war drive using wi-fi-fo-fum in my town and see how many hotspots I could find (and no, I didn't connect to any!)
Note the following:
1. I live in a small town in Missouri about 50 miles from St Louis that has a population of about 5000.
2. It has been served by Charter Pipeline for about 3 years, and SBC DSL has been there for about 2 years.
I found that on a 2.5 mile loop down my residential street, down the town's main drag, and back up another residential street, there were 56 wireless access points and 22 of them were not encrypted, and the default SSIDs were there, mostly "linksys" which I assume were probably bought at the local Wal Mart.
I've installed wireless APs for several people (I do some consulting on the side)and I've been amazed at how many people don't care about encryption even after I explain it to them. I always leave a page with all the passwords, IPs, and stuff with them, and when I explain WEP and tell them I turned it on, oftentimes I get a blank look and "why?".
This guy in St. Petersburg,Fla was sitting in his SUV using someone's access point. What a bold SOB Third-degree felony for him.:approve:
I'll bet the network owner renames his 'linksys' network and turns on WEP now.
Yup ... to hook into someone else's WiFi without permission is theft. Plain and simple. Of course many people ask for it. All it takes is putting an encryption key in your router - it's really simple to do - not rocket science.
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Third-degree felony for him.:approve:
