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UK man fined for using neighbors Wifi

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Ok I have the best analogy ever! Your neighbor has an automatic sprinkling system that sprinkles on the sidewalk. Can they sue you for sanding on the sidewalk and drenching yourself in the neighbors water? He is paying for the water after all and you are using the watter to cool yourself down without his permission!!!!!

Pulled directly from engadtet!
 
Originally posted by: Hacp
Ok I have the best analogy ever! Your neighbor has an automatic sprinkling system that sprinkles on the sidewalk. Can they sue you for sanding on the sidewalk and drenching yourself in the neighbors water? He is paying for the water after all and you are using the watter to cool yourself down without his permission!!!!!

Pulled directly from engadtet!
Click to expand...

No, but the person on the sidewalk could probably sue the neighbor that is watering their lawn for providing an unsafe sidewalk (slippery, you know).
 
when my neighbors and i first moved in to our apartments, we were all leeching off one person's wireless account until our DSL and cable lines were hooked up. imagine 5 college students (including 3 hardcore internet users and a CS major) all leeching the same person's line. poor guy. we were probably doing 10 gigs a day, just from our normal usage.

anyway, we've got our own lines now (we distribute ourselves between a DSL and a cable line). and our networks have WEP, MAC filtering, and no SSID broadcasting. 😉
 
my laptop will automatically connect to the first strong unencrypted signal. And at my house, that's usually my own router.

my router is set up with only MAC filtering, and no SSID broadcasting, I think WEP slows it down by a few nanoseconds. Besides, if someone really wants to break into something, they'll probably us the next door's unsecured wide open network.
 
Originally posted by: Marlin1975
If you leave it unlocked and PUT it on my property, then yes.

The wireless waves are being sent out to others property. Don't want me to use it, lock it up. Same thing Sat. TV does.
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So if you leave your car on the street, can I go ahead and drive it?

If you have a 2.4 ghz cordless phone can I access it?

If you have a hose sprinkling your lawn, and its near the property border, can I pull it over well into my yard?
 
Originally posted by: AMCRambler
Damn!

Some of you have may already heard about this but for those who haven't there's the link. So what do you guys think about this? Personally I think it's BS. If people are too stupid to put a WEP key on their wireless network, then any signals coming over the air are free game IMO. It should be the owners responsiblity to secure their network if they do not want other people using it.
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um helloo... just becasue someones door is open does that make it ok to walk in and get what you want..
same thing....
its still stealing and I agree 100% with the law..
 
um helloo... just becasue someones door is open does that make it ok to walk in and get what you want..
same thing....
its still stealing and I agree 100% with the law..
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It's not the same, you're comparing something physical with something that's not, like pirating software.

ok, actually, it's worse since you're taking 'bandwidth'.

I think the best anology would be something like our neighbor has an automatic sprinkling system that would splash water into my yard all day.

when I initiate a connection, that would be like connecting a siphon to the water system and suck out more water. (which, at this point becomes illegal)
 
Originally posted by: zendari
Bandwidth is property.
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just as much as my arm pit hair that i produce. i don't like it, but if you take just a hair, that's stealing.

and i agree.
 
[rant]
Stealing is stealing, no matter what you call it. Plain and simple.
If you do not get the express consent of the owner of the signal you are "borrowing",
then you are stealing.
This is not me sitting on a soapbox. This is just simple common sense.
Why would anybody want to blame the victim in this case?
Yes, it is a good idea to RTFM, but how many people nowadays even bother to read their
VCR manual. As computer equipment becomes more mainstream, you will get more and
more people who do not know the ins and outs of the equipment they buy. Should this
make them a target for criminals. No.

Should people learn to secure their routers, Yes. But it will only stop those people who
want a quick in. The knowledgeable people will be able to gain access anyway.

I am reminded of the old saying: Locks are meant to protect you from honest people.

Stop using explanations to disguise theft as something other than theft.
[/rant]
 
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: Bootprint
Shouldn't they be going after Microsoft also, Windows XP will start using any wireless access it finds.
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No. It won't. You have to click "Connect" after choosing the net. It will NOT, by default at least, just hop on any random network.
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Windows XP SP2 doesn't, a fresh install of windows xp does connect to the strongest wireless access point but this is very easy to fix... One check box, so to those people "worried" just protect yourself by not allowing your comp to connect to any wireless network it wants.

Second.
My analagy is if I can connect my cordless phone to your base station, is it ok for me to use it for, dial up? Calls that cost you money? No, it sure isn't and neither is hopping on wireless internet even if it's open. Go make some money and help them secure it.
 
I can't see busting the guy for using an unsecured communications network. That's like saying I own channel 12 on CB radio and telling you you can't use it. It's citizens band radio, it's there for everyone to use. The wireless frequencies are the same thing. If you're sending internet service over the frequency and not securing it your putting it out there in the public domain. What if I were to pipe music over a cb channel, does that give me the right to say you can't listen to it? I think trespassing or loitering would be applicable since he was parked in front of their house, but the theft of service? No.
 
Originally posted by: AMCRambler
I can't see busting the guy for using an unsecured communications network. That's like saying I own channel 12 on CB radio and telling you you can't use it. It's citizens band radio, it's there for everyone to use. The wireless frequencies are the same thing. If you're sending internet service over the frequency and not securing it your putting it out there in the public domain. What if I were to pipe music over a cb channel, does that give me the right to say you can't listen to it? I think trespassing or loitering would be applicable since he was parked in front of their house, but the theft of service? No.
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Once again, the analogies are flawed.
You are assuming that because you can gain access to someone's network that it is permittted. It clearly is not. You didn't pay for the service, you weren't invited to use it. I still would like someone to explain why it's logical to assume it's OK to use it without being invited instead of assuming it's not OK to use it unless invited to.

Your CB analogy conveniently overlooks the fact that CB radio is public and free, while Internet access is a service that must be paid for, and not available to everyone. Don't you think that's a huge difference?
 
Originally posted by: kranky
Originally posted by: AMCRambler
I can't see busting the guy for using an unsecured communications network. That's like saying I own channel 12 on CB radio and telling you you can't use it. It's citizens band radio, it's there for everyone to use. The wireless frequencies are the same thing. If you're sending internet service over the frequency and not securing it your putting it out there in the public domain. What if I were to pipe music over a cb channel, does that give me the right to say you can't listen to it? I think trespassing or loitering would be applicable since he was parked in front of their house, but the theft of service? No.
Click to expand...

Once again, the analogies are flawed.
You are assuming that because you can gain access to someone's network that it is permittted. It clearly is not. You didn't pay for the service, you weren't invited to use it. I still would like someone to explain why it's logical to assume it's OK to use it without being invited instead of assuming it's not OK to use it unless invited to.

Your CB analogy conveniently overlooks the fact that CB radio is public and free, while Internet access is a service that must be paid for, and not available to everyone. Don't you think that's a huge difference?
Click to expand...

No my analogy does not overlook the paid internet access. Music is also something you must purchase, radio waves are not. What if it had just been a wireless network, with no internet router? No service being paid for? Still wrong? Everyone keeps talking about stealing wifi. Unless you access the internet from the network, what are you stealing?
 
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