WTF - One of our neighbors set up their SSID with a disgustingly racist name

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: Chiropteran

Originally posted by: ducci
Second, my home is not surrounded by barbed wire fence - anyone can simply walk up to it and, say, rearrange my sprinklers to point into an open window, or paint all over my door or something. It's no different. I assume you would also key a car if it had a bumper sticker that said something offensive on it?

Trespassing is illegal. Accessing a wireless signal is not, AFAIK. Except in a few states with some new draconian laws.

Untrue. Accessing an unsecured wireless signal without permission is illegal. remember, your MAC address is pulled down in order to be given an IP address so if you were to do anything illegal while connected to their router, you're pretty much telling them who you are.
It's not as anonymous as most may think.

OP has already stated he wasn't going to do anything anyway. For those of you who think it's alright to go into someone else's unencrypted wireless signal, do so at your own risk. You never know who the real hunter actually is until you find that your credit cards are maxed out and you find that you won 7 homes in russia because you left your info on your computer unencrypted.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: Injury
I see nothing wrong with logging in and changing the name for respect and humor purposes.

I see everything wrong with escalating it and locking them out of their own router. They may be racist, but they are entitled to their opinion and it is not your right or responsibility to judge them and define a penalty.

I don't like the color of your car. I'm going to have it painted lime green without your knowledge. You'll find it in your driveway tomorrow green with gold wheels and a purple velvet interior.

Enjoy.

Right. Well, if you're morally offended enough by the color of my car you can take that up with me like rational adults. If we reach a conclusion about how it should look then I'll happily let you pay to change the color of my exterior, interior and buy new rims, since you seem so willing to equate dropping a couple thousand dollars on something just to try and fail at making a point on ATOT.

But until then, why don't you keep it in the same ballpark instead of trying to criticize people by blowing things out of proportion. Nobody I've ever known has equated blatant racism to a color of a car and until you can make the connection, you and your high horse can get lost.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: aphex
Wow, I'm actually surprised how many decided to chime in here.

Let me just say a few things;

1. As I stated earlier, I have no intention of actually logging into their router and changing anything. The final sentence of my post was in jest, as referenced by the . My apologies if this was too subtle.
2. Yes, I fully understand that their racist / hate speech SSID is indeed protected under freedom of speech (see, Brandenburg v. Ohio) as this is not likely to incite or produce such action.
3. No, it's not directed towards me or my race but I still find it offensive, as I believe most others would as well.
4. Despite this, I have every right to be annoyed by it as I can see it every time I'm working on my wifi connection (often lately), as can all the neighbors.

Just because something is simply words doesn't make it have less of an impact. They have every right to say it, and I have every right to be annoyed by it.

You're sadly mistaken. They have every RIGHT to say it. You have NO RIGHT, NOR ARE ENTITLED TO to be annoyed by it. Constitution, read it.

Now CAN you be annoyed by it? Are you ALLOWED to be annoyed by it. Of course.

After a little searching and reading, I've decided to stand by my statement.

IMO the first amendment protects my freedom of thought just as much as it protects his freedom of speech.

A US Supreme Court Justice (Benjamin Cardozo) later went on to reason in Palko v. Connecticut (1937) that:
"Freedom of thought... is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. With rare aberrations a pervasive recognition of this truth can be traced in our history, political and legal."[1]
In other words, without the right to freedom of thought, other rights such as the right to freedom of speech hold little meaning.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_thought

In addition;

The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes preferred, since the right is not confined to verbal speech but is understood to protect any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

Anyway, as per my previous post, c'mon now.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: HotChic
Go knock on their door, politely let them know that you noticed their wireless network was unsecured, offer to help them secure it and, in passing, mention that you were surprised they'd choose an offensive name for something that can be seen publicly, and would they mind if you changed it to something else?

Teach by example.

Or...you know....just mind your own fucking business and stop being offended any time something doesn't fit in with your world view.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: Injury
I see nothing wrong with logging in and changing the name for respect and humor purposes.

I see everything wrong with escalating it and locking them out of their own router. They may be racist, but they are entitled to their opinion and it is not your right or responsibility to judge them and define a penalty.

I don't like the color of your car. I'm going to have it painted lime green without your knowledge. You'll find it in your driveway tomorrow green with gold wheels and a purple velvet interior.

Enjoy.

Right. Well, if you're morally offended enough by the color of my car you can take that up with me like rational adults. If we reach a conclusion about how it should look then I'll happily let you pay to change the color of my exterior, interior and buy new rims, since you seem so willing to equate dropping a couple thousand dollars on something just to try and fail at making a point on ATOT.

But until then, why don't you keep it in the same ballpark instead of trying to criticize people by blowing things out of proportion. Nobody I've ever known has equated blatant racism to a color of a car and until you can make the connection, you and your high horse can get lost.

It's called making a point via an absurd, or exaggerated, example.

Like if I said...

Nobody I've ever known is as stupid as you are, I bet you try to make toast with a telephone.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: her209
Find out who it is, then print up flyers and post them all over your neighborhood. That'll teach em.

I believe the OP lives in a HOA community, so people would probably be more outraged by flyers than by racism.

LOL... in that case, make a fuss about it at the next HOA meeting. Tell them that the offensive SSID is lowering the property value.

 

[nerp]

Ignore it and be satsified you learned something about your neighbors.

Personally, if I were in your situations, I'd make every attempt to have as many of my african american friends over as often as possible.

 

[legoman666]

Originally posted by: nerp
Ignore it and be satsified you learned something about your neighbors.

Personally, if I were in your situations, I'd make every attempt to have as many of my black friends over as often as possible.

fixed.

 

[Chiropteran]

Originally posted by: ducci

And modifying the settings of private property (the router)? So it would be OK to throw eggs at my house so long as you stand on the sidewalk? Or again, key my car because it's parked on the street?

Modifying the settings of private property is legal when that private property is specifically configured to allow the general public to make those modifications. For example, wikipedia.

Should the law be different because the configuration was the result of an error or incompetence?

What if wikipedia suddenly announced that public editing of pages was all the result of an error, and everyone who ever made a contribution to the site would be sued for trespassing?

The situation with open wireless routers is that it is *impossible to tell* if they are open intentionally to allow public access, or they are open due to incompetence of the administrator. You either *never use wireless* or you risk trespassing, according to your logic. You can't even setup your own wireless router and use it, because there is the possibility that someone already has one running with the default settings and you might connect to it thinking it is your new router.

 

[child of wonder]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Or you could just send a comment to a printer on their network if one is available.

I did that once but all I did was print instructions on how to secure their WiFi.

The next time I was in that area it was secure.

 

[Chiropteran]

Originally posted by: rasczak
Accessing an unsecured wireless signal without permission is illegal.

A router broadcasting it's open unsecured SSID is an open invitation, if that isn't permission than access to an http internet server is illegal based on the same principle.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Chiropteran

Originally posted by: rasczak
Accessing an unsecured wireless signal without permission is illegal.

A router broadcasting it's open unsecured SSID is an open invitation, if that isn't permission than access to an http internet server is illegal based on the same principle.

Especially if its on a port different than port 80.

LULz.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: HotChic
Go knock on their door, politely let them know that you noticed their wireless network was unsecured, offer to help them secure it and, in passing, mention that you were surprised they'd choose an offensive name for something that can be seen publicly, and would they mind if you changed it to something else?

Teach by example.

Or...you know....just mind your own fucking business and stop being offended any time something doesn't fit in with your world view.

I dunno, it seems neighborly to help them fix something they probably don't realize is broken, and they always have the option of declining. I would generally consider that to be regular social interaction, not sticking your nose into somebody else's business. Then again, the idea of interacting with neighbors in some areas seems to be an out of date idea, so maybe it is interfering unnecessarily. Racism aside, if I wasn't savvy enough to secure my wireless, I'd probably be grateful for at least the offer of help.

 

[child of wonder]

Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

Or complain to the HOA to create bylaws regarding offensive broadcasting of SSIDs a fine-able offense.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

Or complain to the HOA to create bylaws regarding offensive broadcasting of SSIDs a fine-able offense.

What a pussy thing to do.

People have a right to say or think any god damned thing they want. Sure you have a right to be offended by it as well, but you do not have the right to try and take away their freedom of speech/thought just because it offends you.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

Or complain to the HOA to create bylaws regarding offensive broadcasting of SSIDs a fine-able offense.

What a pussy thing to do.

People have a right to say or think any god damned thing they want. Sure you have a right to be offended by it as well, but you do not have the right to try and take away their freedom of speech/thought just because it offends you.

No one is stopping you from doing it. Just that there's a consequence for your actions.

 

[Wheezer]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: HotChic
Go knock on their door, politely let them know that you noticed their wireless network was unsecured, offer to help them secure it and, in passing, mention that you were surprised they'd choose an offensive name for something that can be seen publicly, and would they mind if you changed it to something else?

Teach by example.

Or...you know....just mind your own fucking business and stop being offended any time something doesn't fit in with your world view.

:thumbsup:

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

Or complain to the HOA to create bylaws regarding offensive broadcasting of SSIDs a fine-able offense.

What a pussy thing to do.

People have a right to say or think any god damned thing they want. Sure you have a right to be offended by it as well, but you do not have the right to try and take away their freedom of speech/thought just because it offends you.

No one is stopping you from doing it. Just that there's a consequence for your actions.

Ahhh yes...the old "Think like the rest of us do or we will punish you" maneuver.

 

[angry hampster]

SOUND THE SIRENS


My house's SSID is "Black Jesus" referring to our ridiculous black jesus shrine in the dining room. Christians, i dare you to h4x my box.

 

[child of wonder]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: HotChic
Go knock on their door, politely let them know that you noticed their wireless network was unsecured, offer to help them secure it and, in passing, mention that you were surprised they'd choose an offensive name for something that can be seen publicly, and would they mind if you changed it to something else?

Teach by example.

Or...you know....just mind your own fucking business and stop being offended any time something doesn't fit in with your world view.

Not that I'm advocating him doing anything to their wireless, but I think having an SSID of "KILL_ALL_NIGGERS" goes beyond a difference in perspective. It's suggesting genocide.

I think we can all agree that's bad, mm'kay?

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

Or complain to the HOA to create bylaws regarding offensive broadcasting of SSIDs a fine-able offense.

Please try and get that enacted and be sure to post regularly to let us know how it is going. I bet 70% of your HOA wouldn't know off the top of their heads what an SSID even is let alone why the HOA would have any business trying to enact a covenant regarding it. Sometimes it pays to save your ire for things that actually matter rather than meaningless crap like what someone chooses as the SSID for a wireless router.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: aphex
I've neglected posting it because it's not something i'd like to repeat, but since so many have asked;

The ssid is; KILL_ALL_NiG**RS

Originally posted by: Arkaign
There's one in our apt community. 'KILLALLNIGGERS'. Classy.

You two live in the same building?

lol that is pretty crazy I wonder if there's some kind of resurgence in white power AB/AC/CH idolization or something. But I doubt he lives in the same place as I do, I'm in Far North Dallas / Addison.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

Or complain to the HOA to create bylaws regarding offensive broadcasting of SSIDs a fine-able offense.

What a pussy thing to do.

People have a right to say or think any god damned thing they want. Sure you have a right to be offended by it as well, but you do not have the right to try and take away their freedom of speech/thought just because it offends you.

Even if it is the suggestion to commit a crime? 'KILL_ALL_NIGGERS' is a suggestion to commit homicide. AT is not a democracy, and is self-policing, so we obviously wouldn't be able to start a thread entitled 'KILL ALL awesome people' without a repercussion of some type.

Going by your ideals on absolute freedom of speech (which I very closely support), what would you say about someone in public extolling the virtues of raping your 9 year old daughter? He's not on your property, right? And he's exercising his freedom of speech.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Despite some people's insistence we all have every RIGHT to be annoyed by anything. We do not, however, have the right to perform illegal actions in response to that annoyance.

If you want to follow the law, you can't do anything besides try to find out who the SSID belongs to, talk to them about it, and hope they change it.

If you want to break the law you can change the SSID, lock them out of it, etc.

Or you could find a black neighbor in the vicinity, tell them about the SSID, and let them handle the situation however they see fit. :evil:

Or complain to the HOA to create bylaws regarding offensive broadcasting of SSIDs a fine-able offense.

What a pussy thing to do.

People have a right to say or think any god damned thing they want. Sure you have a right to be offended by it as well, but you do not have the right to try and take away their freedom of speech/thought just because it offends you.

Even if it is the suggestion to commit a crime? 'KILL_ALL_NIGGERS' is a suggestion to commit homicide. AT is not a democracy, and is self-policing, so we obviously wouldn't be able to start a thread entitled 'KILL ALL awesome people' without a repercussion of some type.

Going by your ideals on absolute freedom of speech (which I very closely support), what would you say about someone in public extolling the virtues of raping your 9 year old daughter? He's not on your property, right? And he's exercising his freedom of speech.

In that scenario...

He can say it all he wants. The second he tries to follow through is the second he meets Mr. 9mm or Mr. Baseball bat or Mr. Foot Up His Ass...whichever happens to be available at the time.