[inhitoemits]

To me it is like leaving the keys in the car... Sure it is illegal to take the car even tho EVERYTHING was provided for you to take it... But the owner has NO RIGHT to complain for their carelessness.. If they cared they would have secured their network. I used to use my DS to track down wireless spots and honestly most people have a wep key... When you install a router it tells you if you want to secure your wireless.. Companies have taken the time to make it almost automatic for you.. so if you can't/wont secure your wireless network.... Then put up or shut up about someone taking advantage of youre wireless signal.

[gueremaisse]

Actually if that happened in the UK, when you left your door unlocked or open, the person doing it would not be breaking the law unless they made a forced entry, as unless the building or property is Government owned, there is no law of Trespass on civilian property unless something is broken whilst gaining entry.

Errr... This is totally wrong. I think you're confusing (extending) what is known as "general permission" with the ability to go wherever you want. Which allows people like the milkman to deliver, but doesn't allow him to let himself in if the doors unlocked or open.
If someone enters your house or garden without permission (with the exception of coming to the front door) they are breaking the law. You believe it, try it. Go sit in someone you don't knows back garden and see what happens. Better still, enter a (closed to the public) business and see.
Interestingly, it's one of the oldest laws we have.

[Hinigyday]

You left the door open didn't you? Sure you might want to hunt him down and get your stuff back, but that would have never happened if you lock up your house.

If you don't lock up your stuff, you are basically asking for it to happen.

This is the funniest thing I have heard in a LONG time

you ever watch a program called 60 minutes?

did you see the episode where a car thief stole a car in less than 45 seconds and the car was locked with "The Club" AND a car alarm?

If someone wants in .. lock or no lock .. they will get in .. but the point was, if something is locked , closed, password protected or not .. it does NOT make it legal

If you think locking your house or car will keep someone from robbing you then I feel sorry for you

[flowersnewacq]

Points to consider:

"It's not theft," the war drivers claim, "because we do not take anything away from the owners of the networks". Is this the case?

• Experts in the United States believe that sometimes, such use of an unsecured wireless network may be considered an "unauthorized access of a computer" which is prohibited under Federal law and even theft of communications.

• Legal causes of action include defrauding the Internet service provider and a breach of the Internet service agreement.

However, in most cases it would be difficult to prove and quantify the damage caused due to the usage of the wireless network.

It would also difficult to prove the mens rea, purpose, required in the said offences. This is because in many cases the connection to the wireless network is carried out automatically by the computer and the user only discovers this after a while which, however, is not true in your case

Most of this stolen from:

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:Z...n&ct=clnk&cd=1

[PheliarearY]

So now I am confused. I always thought that the radio spectrum was "free" in that anyone could intercept any signal. (Police scanners, CB radios etc) Breaking the encryption on a "protected" signal might be another matter, but any open chanel should be fair game.

Have not newspapers published intercepted signals from celebritys and even careless lawmakers?

Also, if you go to a mcdonalds with free internet but acidently hooked up with the house three doors further down, exactly what would you be liable for?

And what about the Hilarious cell phone conversations I used to hear on my radio if I tuned it just right? What law would I be breaking exactly, and how would you go about enforcing it?

Arent things like Zunes and PSP's and etc specifically designed to search for available connections?

I may be mixing a few apples and oranges but this whole thing seems VERY "Grey"

I recently got Wireless and was startled to find myself bombarded with many unsecured networks in the area. I have been Figuring out who they belonged to and then calling the people and offering to secure thier network for them. (I have been charging $100) Is that illegal?

It would seem very silly if it was.

[emuffette]

no....

[tyclislavaify]

The way I see it is as long as you aren't downloading anything dodgy then no real harm.

What if they are on a pay per usage plan?

[RadcliffXX]

If it's open without any sort of safeguard it's legally implicit that the AP is a "hot spot" for public use. Ok I made that up but I am a frequent wardriver while on the road and that's my take. No moral objection and I tunnel my connections through SSH for safety in case I run into a honey pot.

[orapope]

What if they are on a pay per usage plan?

I have never heard of a high speed pay per usage plan. If anyone connected to you network and say they had their network set up to share a 56k connection i doubt anyone that is surfing for networks is about to use your connection for long.

[GaryBulguihb]

Where did I say hack? Turn a laptop on with Wi-Fi enbaled and a Windows will say "Ooo! I found internet! Connexzor!?" and an average user will click ok with joy! How about you read my post before you comment, ok?

Sorry Zort, I meant to quote Red Dog. My apologies.

This is the quote I was responding to:

You left the door open didn't you? Sure you might want to hunt him down and get your stuff back, but that would have never happened if you lock up your house.

If you don't lock up your stuff, you are basically asking for it to happen.

[dhYTvlAv]

And what about the Hilarious cell phone conversations I used to hear on my radio if I tuned it just right? What law would I be breaking exactly, and how would you go about enforcing it?

With that your not breaking the law, you are just listening into the signal. You are just just receiving a signal that is out in the open and not encrypted. What the topic is about is getting on an unsecured wireless network. Doing that involves both receiving and transmitting, and i think thats where the 2 are divided in regards to why it's legal to have a scanner. It's perfectly legal to scan fore wireless networks, but it does go into the grey area when it comes to getting on unsecured wireless networks. I honestly believe that it may be slightly illegal, but far from the extent of lawmakers and computer experts are claiming it is. If someone is just getting on an unsecured wireless network and browsing the net, i'd say it would be nothing more then say.... going over the speed limit slightly. It's not a big deal but it is technically wrong though, but i don't think people should be punished as they are currently for this. If anything someone should get a slight fine and thats it. Repeat offenders should be treated like other repeat offenders in the fine goes up and there could be possible jail time and/or comunity service.

I personally think, like most here, that people who leave their wireless network unsecured are asking for their net to be used in this day and age. With stories being on the nightly news all the time about such things people have no right to claim ignorance for not doing it. I know a few people that leave their setup open for many reason's, some being they feel like sharing their net with other people who happen to be in the area as they know that with most people use it for a short period of time (hour or so) to just browse the net and thats it. I myself leave mine open, but good luck trying to get a signal from mine, my wireless is in my basement and the signal can't penetrate past about 5 feet outside my house. If i ever found someone on my net i'd find out who and make sure they weren't doing anything illegal that would be traced back to me, but wouldn't really care if they were just browsing the net and weren't doing it every day.

[Johnny]

The wireless signal is in fact in your house, you are not going into any neighbours door.

I was responding to you "find a safe in your house" anology, nothing else.

[Discus]

The wireless signal is in fact in your house, you are not going into any neighbours door.

The wireless signal is coming from THEIR house, you have to transmit to THEIR house in order to use THEIR internet connection and THEIR wirless equipment. It's pure and simple theft, grow up.

[tyclislavaify]

I have never heard of a high speed pay per usage plan. If anyone connected to you network and say they had their network set up to share a 56k connection i doubt anyone that is surfing for networks is about to use your connection for long.

They do exist (in Canada anyway), some plans include extra payments for any traffic over 5gb.

[gogoleanylinkfo]

The wireless signal is coming from THEIR house, you have to transmit to THEIR house in order to use THEIR internet connection and THEIR wirless equipment. It's pure and simple theft, grow up.

If they don't want me to use it, secure it. As simple as that. I'm sorry im not as mature as you [rolleyes]

[ZXRamon]

If they don't want me to use it, secure it. As simple as that. I'm sorry im not as mature as you [rolleyes]

By that logic (using the analogy I used before) it's ok to burgle someone's house if they forget to lock the door. [rolleyes]

I guess your weren't brought up with very good morals.

[fhutiussk]

in singapore, it is illegal and the police can charge you directly.
a kid was recently charge for riding around the neighbour looking for a connection to play MMO after his parent limit his internet usage to a few hour each day.

oh spam is about to be made illegal too, not sure how they are gonna enforce it... [rofl]

[ballingham]

If you cant secure your internet then you shouldnt be using it in the first place.

Althoug i do agree that it is in poor taste to use someone elses wireless internet. Put the shoe on the other foot for a second. Sa you were on a pay per mb plan (hypothetical) and you found out someone used your quota. Would you be happy since your paying the bill? Surely you can see everyones point?

But on the other hand, ive done it in the past only when i was in pure desperation

[ZXRamon]

If you cant secure your internet then you shouldnt be using it in the first place.

So you're saying only people who know about computers should use the internet?

[fujitsusi]

It is definitely illegal to use even an unsecured network without permission. Chances are however that if a person is too ignorant to be able to setup even a modicum of security on their network than they are most assuredly too ignorant to tell who's been on their network and when.