Why does everyone like to characterize it as stealing?
Because it is. You are taking something you have not paid for where it is
not explicitly understood that it is yours for the taking. Not least of
which because you haven't asked your neighbor if it's okay.
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.
Well, you left your garage open with no clear signage stating that I can't
park in there, so why not? You only have one car and there's plenty of
space. What's the harm?
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.
You are right. *I* pay to be on someone else's network, not you.
Do you put locks on your trashcan? Let's say a neighbor of yours is cheap
and refuses to pay for municipal services, so they do not have a trashcan.
You only fill yours half way each week, so they simply put their trash in
your unsecured trashcan on trash night. You're telling me you don't feel
this is any kind of moral violation, not one little bit? Unused trash
bandwidth is just up for grabs because it's on the same curb that everyone
has access to? The neighbor's trash didn't accidentally find itself in
your trashcan any more than live network links magically connect to your
computer. It's trivial to connect, yes, but it does take effort to scan
for networks and connect to them, which indicates some level of
forethought. You *know* you're doing something you shouldn't be doing and
you're simply taking advantage of a neighbor's ignorance. Congratulations
on being a good neighbor (or, at least in this moral tale, taking the side
of the scoundrel.)
-Matt
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