Do you believe accessing a wireless connection (perhaps one of your neighbor's) as "stealing"? Do you see leeching off someone's wireless connection as taking someone's physical object? IMHO, leeching off someone's connection isn't considered stealing. Since there is nothing physical being taken...that and they are the ones who left their wireless LAN/connection open with out any of the security features active. If you were staying at a relatives house etc, and didn't have a connection at the house but were able to pick up a neighbors connection would you do it? I'm in stuck in that situation. Infact, I am using a signal from a house in this neighborhood to write this. It's not like I'm downloading files etc and eating up much of their bandwidth, I'm only using it to surf sites. Anyways, you think this should be illegal? I booted up my pc and didn't even think about trying to find a connection but the software automatically detected a connection. SO I thought, what the hell. I might as well check my email and visit the BBS. Since it doesn't cost the person anything more to have me opening a few pages.
Uhh it's legal? I think if you use it as your primary access to the internet (i.e. cancel your connection to leach off your neighbor) that isn't cool, but if you use it like you did temporarily no problem....still stealing though.
people need to secure their wireless internet.. its not ethical, you can use whatever excuse you want (ie. not taking anything physical or whatever) but I wouldn't want someone leeching my internet I do it sometimes too when I'm on the road or whatever and I find a signal and its not secure..I'm gonna use it
If you aren't using too much bandwidth then it's all good especially since you aren't hacking his network or anything.
I'm not really all that big on it because of the potential security problems you might open yourself up to by going through a wireless access point you don't know anything about.
http://cbs5.com/topstories/topstories_story_189102047.html Man Arrested For Stealing Wi-Fi (AP) ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. Police have arrested a man for using someone else's wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this fairly common practice. Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony. Police say Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer. The practice is so new that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement doesn't even keep statistics, according to the St. Petersburg Times, which reported Smith's arrest this week. Innocuous use of other people's unsecured Wi-Fi networks is common. But experts say that illegal use often goes undetected, such as people sneaking on others' networks to traffic in child p*rnography, steal credit card information and send death threats. Security experts say people can prevent such access by turning on encryption or requiring passwords, but few bother or even know how to do so. Wi-Fi, short for Wireless Fidelity, has enjoyed prolific growth since 2000. Millions of households have set up wireless home networks that allow people to use the Web from their backyards but also reach the house next door or down the street. Prosecutors declined to comment, and a working phone number could not be located for Smith.
I know people who live in apartments and never pay for internet because they can mooch off their neighbors.. those people are stealing.. People who's service goes down, or their router goes on the fritz, etc and just need a quick temporary fix are not exactly criminals in my eyes. Honestly, if my neighbor came to me and said "hey, do you mind if I mooch off your wireless network while my comp is getting fixed?" or something like that I wouldn't mind at all.
careful with this rationale, there is such a thing as intellectual property, ideas and that mortal kombat finishing move where the guy takes your soul. Also, there was a guy in florida who was arrested by the FBI for parking in front of someone's house and leeching. his will be one of the first trials against 'leeching' although the concern of the owner was that he was d'loading kiddie p*rn, which I'm sure you're not doing.....this time... i think leeching isnt right, but hey, I do it, its free, its untraceable (most likely), and it saves me a ton of money on my car insurance. It's like downloading mp3's i'll admit its wrong but i'll do it anyway. id rather be honest about stealing than try to lie and justify it.
yeah, I brought this up because of the guy that got arrested, but ofcourse he was doing something else and pulling up in a car just to use someones' internet? My parents live over seas and own a house in Sugarland. I'm staying down here at the house with my mother right now for a few weeks. So needless to say, we don't have anykind of internet connection (cable, phone lines etc.) at the house since it isn't occupied by us through out the year. We normally have renters in it, but we are in between renters and are doing some work on the house. Anyways, I'm being good about not using the connection for anything that is a hog on bandwidth. I don't know which neighbor's connetion this is, so I'm not going to knock on doors to find out....that and I don't know any of the neighbors.
I put a limit on IP addresses to prevent leechers. I don't know if people can steal my information, but I don't like the slowdown with encryption. I don't think its illegal to leech off a neighbor as long as they aren't forcing their way in, such as breaking encryption. It might be a matter of time to encrypt wireless connections. Once some kid releases an easy program to sniff credit card numbers through leeched connections, it would shatter any illusion of anonymity with wireless.
I've done it a few times, and I think there is nothing wrong with it. It is not "stealing", as you are not depriving someone else from using their property. Yes, you use a little bandwidth, but show me how it in any way diminishes your Internet experience. Of course, if someone is not on a flatrate and leaves their access point unsecured, they deserve to have their wi-fi used by someone else for sheer stupidity alone.
Wardriving.. yeah I do it, if you cant lock it down how do I know it's not a free hotspot?? If they dont have MAC filtering on it's all fair game to me..
So the guy was able to figure out that the guy leeching was downloading kiddie p*rn but isn't smart enough to figure out how to encrypt his router or turn off broadcasting? sounds like a setup to me.
If someone is using something I paid for and that I own exclusively, for their benefit, without my permission, then it's stealing. No question about it and I don't know how any who is doing the stealing can justify that its somehow ok. For those that think its ok. Would you mind if someone just decided to set up camp in the front yard of your house and live there for a night or so? I mean, afterall, "Since there is nothing physical being taken".
What are you being deprived from? Just turn WEP encryption on if you don't want your access point to be free for others. Many people leave their access points free on purpose, so how would I know that you are not one of them - it is so easy to turn on WEP encryption. If you have your radio (and let's just assume it's Sirius or something you paid for) on so loudly that someone in front of your house can hear it, are they "stealing" your radio waves or something? Your analogy is way off. What you are talking about is not stealing, but possibly trespass.
1) I do encrypt my wi-fi 2) If I don't lock my car door, that doesnt give someone the right to take it 3) If I paid for something and you are using it without my permission, it's stealing. Flat out. There is no question about it. Doesn't matter if its an internet connection, or a car or whatever. 4) If you are playing a Sirrius radio loud enough for everyone to hear then you are effectively giving anyone else within range permission to listen. without owner consent, ITS STEALING (i would be certain that the whole "without permission" argument is the basis for the legal definition of theft)
Good for you. True, but that statement has as much to do with this current case as if you told us that you just took a dump and your toilet door was unlocked. Your use of strong words indicates your lack of ability to understand the definition of stealing. Terminology differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and you are not alone in making this mistake, but "stealing" normally implies illegal taking and carrying away of personal property belonging to another with the purpose of depriving the owner of its possession. That just doesn't fit here. You might want to say "there is something illegal going on" but "stealing", no. Maybe this link helps to explain a bit what I mean. http://www.lectlaw.com/def/l007.htm Exactly, and why could one not argue exactly the same thing for your unsecured wireless access point? "Without permission" is not the "basis for the legal definition of theft". Obviously, with regards to theft, it is one necessary element of the crime that you act without permission. To write something again in caps doesn't make it right.
Just to let you know guys WEP is weak.. At least use WEP along with MAC filtering or anyone that wants to Snort is going to get in...
