Hacking Someone Stealing Your Wifi

[fides' Jack]

OK, so there are different opinions about whether "stealing" a wifi signal is wrong.  

 

What about the other way?  If you leave your access unsecured, and someone is using it, and you use that opportunity to monitor their traffic and obtain personal information, is that wrong?

[Nihil Obstat]

Morally, perhaps. We might interpret that as an invasion of privacy. If you were to use whatever you found for certain purposes it may count as detraction.

But I would need more specific circumstances before I felt comfortable making such interpretations. It would depend on just what precisely you mean by hacking, among other things.

[Winchester]

If you have to "hack" something, that means it was clearly marked off as private property.

[fides' Jack]

How about simply decrypting the information packets sent and obtaining personal information?

 

Obviously using that information in a way that was hurtful to them would be bad.  

 

What if you sent them an email with the information you gathered and just said, "You've been using my network and because of that I obtained this information.  I you don't want people to get this, don't use  someone else's network." - that doesn't seem so bad... ?

[Winchester]

What if you just activated your password?

[Tufsoles]

Besides the moral aspect. It is considered a Federal felony. Password may make some difference but not as much.  

[Autumn Dusk]

Besides the moral aspect. It is considered a Federal felony. Password may make some difference but not as much.  

 

 

Actually, I think there is something where if a cookie is planted on your device by a wireless signal you consented to use (ie knowingly stole) that information obtained is not considered criminal.  Use and dissemenation of the information may be, but from my understanding the act of it isn't.

[r2Dtoo]

Actually, I think there is something where if a cookie is planted on your device by a wireless signal you consented to use (ie knowingly stole) that information obtained is not considered criminal.  Use and dissemenation of the information may be, but from my understanding the act of it isn't.

Try telling that to Kevin Mitnick, or more recently Aaron Swartz.  Oh wait, we can't tell that to Swartz because he committed suicide rather than face a federal trial for downloading documents that the site said he had a right to download.

 

Hacking laws are grossly outdated, and are often used by prosecutors to make an example out of people they don't like rather than to preserve the common good.  We need to reform them if we would like to continue to have internet freedom, and the right of internet activism.    

Edited February 27, 2013 by r2Dtoo