"Borrowing" Wifi - laws, ethics, dangers

[lord of the mark]

Ok, so we get this laptop, (mainly for POTM) with onboard Wifi. But we havent gotten broadband yet (dont ask) and so we havent set up our router. Unwilling to be tied to a phone cord, hating our dialup provider, and influenced be her friends, POTM has found that we seem to be with reach of several Wifi connections - mainly our neighbors, I suppose.

Naturally this concerned QOTM and me, being technologically backward as we are. Is she doing something evil? Will she get in trouble?


From what I can gather, its legal to do this. Some people dont mind people using their connection, and others are blissfully unaware. (It is easy to block, IIUC) We probably wont disturb others usage, as long as she doest start doing really bandwidth intensive things. and for our own protection, dont send out anything you would want your neighbors to see. And yes, we will still go and get our own broadband.

Is there anything im missing here?

[KrazyHorse]

From what I can gather, its legal to do this.

No.

[lord of the mark]

this is incorrect then?


Slate
"How To Steal Wi-Fi
And how to keep the neighbors from stealing yours.
By Paul Boutin
Posted Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004, at 5:16 PM ET


When I moved into a new neighborhood last week, I expected the usual hassles. Then I found out I'd have to wait more than a month for a DSL line. I started convulsing. If I don't have Net access for even one day, I can't do my job. So, what was I supposed to do? There's an Internet café on the next block, but they close early. I had no choice—it was time to start sneaking on to my neighbors' home networks.

Every techie I know says that you shouldn't use other people's networks without permission. Every techie I know does it anyway. If you're going to steal—no, let's say borrow—your neighbor's Wi-Fi access, you might as well do it right. Step one: Lose the guilt. The FCC told me that they don't know of any federal or state laws that make it illegal to log on to an open network.

[Harry Tuttle]

People have been tried and found guilty for stealing Wifi.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
this is incorrect then?


Slate
"How To Steal Wi-Fi
And how to keep the neighbors from stealing yours.
By Paul Boutin
Posted Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004, at 5:16 PM ET


When I moved into a new neighborhood last week, I expected the usual hassles. Then I found out I'd have to wait more than a month for a DSL line. I started convulsing. If I don't have Net access for even one day, I can't do my job. So, what was I supposed to do? There's an Internet café on the next block, but they close early. I had no choice—it was time to start sneaking on to my neighbors' home networks.

Every techie I know says that you shouldn't use other people's networks without permission. Every techie I know does it anyway. If you're going to steal—no, let's say borrow—your neighbor's Wi-Fi access, you might as well do it right. Step one: Lose the guilt. The FCC told me that they don't know of any federal or state laws that make it illegal to log on to an open network.

http://www.plastic.com/comments.html;sid=05/07/10/08545644;cid=152

[lord of the mark]

from the comment you linked to

"The majority of prosecutions under these laws involve people who use a wireless connection to conduct illegal business. Hooking into somebody's Wi-Fi connection to simply access the internet is not usually prosecuted - supported by the fact that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement doesn't even keep records on it. Most wireless connections come equipped with encryption and password protocols which, if used, would prevent the casual user, like Smith from using the network. Such steps are recommended by most security experts not only to block innocuous or illegal use but also to prevent private information from being broadcast over the airwaves. The Gartner Inc. is one of the leading providers of research and analysis to the IT industry. Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney sees most of the culpability here lying with Dinon: "He should have put security on his system. It's the guy's fault that he left it open." Dulaney also openly questions whether the police have better things to do than protect us from Wi-Fi poachers"

So it IS illegal, at least in some states, even if not usually enforced?

[KrazyHorse]

I think that federal laws make it technically illegal through the entire US, but they choose not to enforce them without some sort of aggravating circumstances.

Individual states may have stronger laws and may be more apt to use them.

Just because your neighbour leaves his door open doesn't give you the legal right to enter his house.

[KrazyHorse]

Personally, I wouldn't give a damn about my neighbour connecting to my wireless network while waiting for his own to get hooked up (assuming he was considerate about bandwidth usage), but I would get pissed off if he was using it for longer than the service would usually take to get connected. At that point I'd expect him to kick in a few bucks...

[KrazyHorse]

File sharing is enabled by default in Windows XP Home Edition, according to Microsoft

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/08/08/HNwifi_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/08/08/HNwifi_1.html

Errr...I thought network sharing was disabled by default. If I right-click>properties>sharing on a random folder on my computer, the box allowing network sharing is disabled.

Am I missing something?

[Dinner]

I kept my home wireless network open for about two years during which several of my neighbors leached off of me. It didn't really effect me and I figured if they were so poor they couldn't afford their own then I'd let them. I drew the line when one of them started hogging bandwidth to download stuff on a P2P network though. I'll let people share but if they get gready then I'll boot them all.