"Wifi and turning the law around"

[Brother Adam]

This is a question for me, only because I think it is undue temptation, almost to the point of entrapment. I'm fine if it is illegal/immoral/unethical to use a unsecured WIFI that is broadcast into your home, but none-the-less, one must admit that there exists a temptation to use it when the situation exists. For me, it is as if someone walks into your house, pins a $20 on the wall in your hallway and says "Do not use this $20, take it, touch it, or otherwise you will be breaking the law." If WIFI is in someway an asset, if it has a value, such as cable, and there are very simple ways to restrict its use (such as a cable company blocking access), than it would seem to me placing someone in a very unfair situation to simply keep the unrestricted access in their place of residence. If you find you have cable and aren't paying for it, you simply call the cable company, however if you find WIFI in your home, you can't call a company and say, excuse me, if I am not allowed to use this, than I want it out of my home."

I'm not speaking on religious issues invovled here, yes, I know self control and all that, but specifically what legal steps should exist given the circumstances for anyone who finds this is the case.

[ironmonk]

If someone has an unsecured wifi connection up, then obviously they are allowing it as a free hot spot or they would secure it. An unsecured wifi connection says in a Hulk Hogan voice "here ya go brother".

An unsecured wifi hot spot is not like a $20 on the wall... it's like a pen laying on the counter at the bank when you go to fill out your deposit form... it's there to use.

It only takes a few seconds and about two paragraphs of reading to secure a router.

Now, of course it is illegal to hack someone's router or try to hack someone's computer using the same router. - This is what the law is trying to target but idiotic nimrods who come up with these laws know nothing about technology and hire family and friends who only know enough to look smart to people who do not know tech.

Also, using a free wifi hot spot is always risky because you don't know if the person is monitoring traffic... i.e. catching every packet your computer sends.

Now, if someone wants to complain about wifi signals, they need to complain about phone signals, cell phone signals, hi-def tv signals, analog tv signals, etc....

Wireless routers need to have a strong signal to get through walls. The signal does not hurt anyone.

[philothea]

I haven't voted yet.

In general, I think there should be consistency in laws. For a long time (IIRC) it was the responsibility of the broadcaster to secure their broadcast. If they wanted to control who received it, that was their problem.

Then cable and sattelite companies got into the fray, and got the laws changed so it was illegal to "steal" their signals... even if they were transmitting the signals into your house.

Since that's a precedent, now, I don't see how the WiFi issue is any different. Sure, you can call the cable company and tell them to stop sending signals, but they don't [i]have[/i] to stop. I've known people who have done so, and still got the signal.

I prefer the "if you broadcast it, it's your problem" paradigm... but I don't think we will ever get back to that now. Too much money involved.

[ironmonk]

[quote name='philothea' date='Mar 27 2006, 11:58 PM']I haven't voted yet.

In general, I think there should be consistency in laws.  For a long time (IIRC) it was the responsibility of the broadcaster to secure their broadcast.  If they wanted to control who received it, that was their problem.

Then cable and sattelite companies got into the fray, and got the laws changed so it was illegal to "steal" their signals... even if they were transmitting the signals into your house.

Since that's a precedent, now, I don't see how the WiFi issue is any different.  Sure, you can call the cable company and tell them to stop sending signals, but they don't [i]have[/i] to stop.  I've known people who have done so, and still got the signal.

I prefer the "if you broadcast it, it's your problem" paradigm... but I don't think we will ever get back to that now.  Too much money involved.
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Good points... but I think this is a little different...

Every wireless router comes with documentation to secure it and how to secure it.

If they do not secure it, they are giving anonymous access to whoever is in range... Also, when they connect to their own router without a password, that let's them know that anyone can connect to it and use it. They have many options to secure it... different types of encryption to MAC filtering.

Another way to look at it... if you went to play basketball at the park and left your basketball on the court to use later, that tells whoever is there that they can play with the ball until you come to get it. They shouldn't take the ball from the park, but it will not hurt anything to use the ball while it's there.

[philothea]

[quote name='ironmonk' date='Mar 27 2006, 10:25 PM']Good points... but I think this is a little different...

Every wireless router comes with documentation to secure it and how to secure it.

If they do not secure it, they are giving anonymous access to whoever is in range... Also, when they connect to their own router without a password, that let's them know that anyone can connect to it and use it. They have many options to secure it... different types of encryption to MAC filtering.

Another way to look at it... if you went to play basketball at the park and left your basketball on the court to use later, that tells whoever is there that they can play with the ball until you come to get it. They shouldn't take the ball from the park, but it will not hurt anything to use the ball while it's there.
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I agree that deliberately setting up your own wireless router to broadcast its presence and accept any anonymous connection is pretty much saying, "Free internet here. Help yourself."

If you [i]wanted[/i] to provide passers by with free internet, how else would you go about it?

I must admit have no idea how hard it is to set up Windows things nowadays. : I assume unsecured broadcast is not some kind of default.

On the third hand... I'd use a bit of discretion, personally. If I'm snuggled up next to a coffee shop, I bet I know where that signal is coming from. If I'm an apartment building, there's probably someone nearby who doesn't know how to configure things properly.

At my mother-in-law's I usually hit 3 or 4 networks (not counting ours) when I look for AirPort devices.... though, as far as I can tell, they're all secure. If there was an open network there, I'd figure it was a mistake.