You should phone the cable company and tell them to cut the service. If you don't tell them, then yes you are stealing.
it is not stealing...
People broadcast their signal. If they didnt want to share it, they would lock it down. Ignorance is not an excuse.
Its like having a plate of cookies in the conference room with a "Free to take" note next to it, and then when people actually take some cookies, they are accused of stealing.
Thats just silly.
People broadcast their signal. If they didnt want to share it, they would lock it down. Ignorance is not an excuse.
Its like having a plate of cookies in the conference room with a "Free to take" note next to it, and then when people actually take some cookies, they are accused of stealing.
Thats just silly.
But, by "using" the DTV signal you do not lessen the usability of the signal to its owners. Yet when you use someone else's access, you reduce the available bandwidth for them to use.
So it's only stealing if the owner was smart enough to try to protect himself? So if we go that train of thought, if I leave me keys in my car and you return the car for me to use when you're done, then it's OK for you to "borrow" my car without my permission?
Phoenix86
Lifer
- May 21, 2003
- 14,644
- 10
- 81
If you broadcast sound, like listening to a loud radio outside, and I listen, am I stealing your music?
Remember, wifi is a broadcast. By not locking it down, you are broadcasting a public signal, over public airways, to private residences. Not much different than me enjoying the neighbors music while they are outside grilling away.
edit:
Agreed, but the article is talking about bandwidth, not what you are describing.
They should cut the service themselves. I'm not going to waste my own time to rectify their failure. You can argue that you thought there was a central antenna at the apartment complex and not knowing that the signal came from the cable company.
By not securing your network (which is a piece of cake and if they can't figure it out they SHOULDN'T even use wireless anyway) you're giving others consent to access your network.
Your latter sample involves in physically accessing one's property, so it does not apply here.
Again, that involves in physically accessing your property which isn't the case here. But then I'm no lawyer.
Why are you looking for technicalities and loopholes to justify using something that you were never given permission to use? If you move into an apartment and they haven't told you that cable was included, then it's very obvious that you shouldn't be getting the signal.
Just because you can use it doesn't make it alright to do so.
Bandwidth is property.
Another question: If you have a 5.8 ghz cordless phone, can I make phone calls on your line? Or listen in on your conversations?
It is stealing - you are using something you are not entitled to without permission.
And no it's not like a plate of cookies WITH A SIGN. It's like a plate of cookies WITHOUT a sign. You are making assumptions that they are there for the taking. That does not give you the right to take them. If you do, you can be held liable for the value of those cookies. Sorry...
The street is public property. I'm free to use it. If bandwidth becomes yours when it enters your home, does your car become the publics if its left on the public street?
I'm not going to have cable in my apartment this year. I could care less about TV, with that said.
Again, if someone plugs their TV into the cable outlet and gets ABC or something, it could be from an antenna and if that is not the case, it is not my responsibility to use MY time to tell the cable companies that they fvcked up. I'll unplug the TV if I find HBO on it, but I refuse to waste my time to rectify someone else's mistakes.
Same goes for some merchant wrongly sending you crap that you didn't order. They can send a representative to pick it up for all I care, I'm not going to drive down to UPS to send crap back even if they paid for shipping. By sending me stuff that I have to use my space to store I should even charge them a stocking fee.
What about the accidental usage. There has been plenty of times when my neighbors network was stronger in my living room than my own network. I ended up using his for hours without even realizing it, in fact I didn't realize until I switched rooms to go in my computer room and my signal degraded. If they are giving it away, I don't really see it as stealing. It isn't my responsibility to ensure I don't use their network.
Spike
Diamond Member
- Aug 27, 2001
- 6,770
- 1
- 81
Like most here, I actually pay for my own internet and have my own wireless router. I know that my simple pre-shared WPA and no-SSID broadcast setup is not going to stop a real hacker but it does make it so the average person can't leech.
That being said there are TONS of unsecured wireless networks in my area and I do occasionally go on and see what they are sharing. I have even used a printer at someones house and printed a sheet saying "Secure your wireless network!".
The problem with all these analogies is that none are quite accurate because we have not really had this type of situation before. DTV does not work as that is encrypted and defeating that is illegal (just as it would be to "hack" someones wireless encryption). The hose and car examples are silly, though I did participate. And the cable example does not fit as the company merely left the service going when it was their responsibility to shut it off.
Yes, you can call it stealing as you are using something you are not paying for but the fact is they are sharing it, unsecured, and it is available in your own house, much like a radio or public tv station (again, not the same but I can't help but throw in a few bad analogies). I'm not sure what to do in these situations so I will contine to pay for my own internet even if I feel that it's not wrong to use unsecured wireless.
-spike
That being said there are TONS of unsecured wireless networks in my area and I do occasionally go on and see what they are sharing. I have even used a printer at someones house and printed a sheet saying "Secure your wireless network!".
The problem with all these analogies is that none are quite accurate because we have not really had this type of situation before. DTV does not work as that is encrypted and defeating that is illegal (just as it would be to "hack" someones wireless encryption). The hose and car examples are silly, though I did participate. And the cable example does not fit as the company merely left the service going when it was their responsibility to shut it off.
Yes, you can call it stealing as you are using something you are not paying for but the fact is they are sharing it, unsecured, and it is available in your own house, much like a radio or public tv station (again, not the same but I can't help but throw in a few bad analogies). I'm not sure what to do in these situations so I will contine to pay for my own internet even if I feel that it's not wrong to use unsecured wireless.
-spike
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