MattyJ wrote:
The thing is, if you have an open AP, then the EMR from that AP is
blasting at everyone with range of it. As far as I'm concerned, once
you've radiated it, it's up for grabs by anyone. I didn't take it from
you. *You* offered it to *me* by not confining it! If anyone should be
assaulted by lawyers over this, it should be the person sharing his
ISP's bandwidth with the world, not the people just soaking up
something that wandered uninvited into /their/ house.
I'm coming in late to this one. I apologize if the points have been
covered already.
Most people running an open AP are not aware they are doing so. 'What's
the harm' is a weak argument for stealing something, whether or not the
person knows it's being stolen.
Why does everyone like to characterize it as stealing?
If I accidentally leave my keys in the
car, it doesn't give you the right to go on a joyride as I sleep, even
if you fill the gas tank and get the tires rotated. I pay for my car,
you don't, it's not yours, keep out.
The car analogy doesn't work any better than the house analogy. Maybe
because it's not analogous? You might be closer if your car didn't even
need keys, there were no license plates, VIN, or other ownership
information anywhere accessible, *and* you parked in MY garage.
People *pay* for their networks, and others have to go out of their way
to find and connect to them.
More correctly, you paid to rent time on someone else's network. And
it's not out of my way at all. In fact, your sending me everything I
need to know to use your network makes it quite trivial on my part to do
so. Your radio signals are in my house unprotected.
Your neighbor's wireless doesn't just flow into your computer like wayward
water.
Actually, it pretty much does.
Legal schmegal, the moral
implications of this should be obvious. Wouldn't it be awesome if
someone else within range of your neighbor hacked into their likely
insecure Windows box, stole their credit cards, ran them up, took their
identity, ruined their life... but you got free wireless. Sweet! There
is a clear educational opportunity here.
Oh, so now it's my fault that someone /else/ maliciously used my
neighbor's unprotected network? How does that work. Sorry, I still feel
no guilt.
Tangentially related, the ISP I use (SpeakEasy) has a program (NetShare)
where someone with a wireless network can 'partner' with Speakeasy to
sell their bandwidth to their neighbors. I can imagine there are folks
in apartment buildings that essentially have their wireless paid for by
their neighbors. Hopefully your neighbor gets wind of this.
-mattyj
Some DSL providers' AUP's explicitly state that it's okay to share your
connection as long as you don't resell it. There's a whole local
SDCS-SIG dedicated to doing just that for others.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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