DJA([EMAIL PROTECTED])@Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 05:17:09PM -0700: > Ralph Shumaker wrote: > >Andrew Lentvorski wrote: > >>Tyrion wrote: > >>>Tracy R Reed wrote: > >>>>Do your neighbors know you are stealing their wireless? > >>>Is it truly stealing if the AP is not secured? > >> > >>Legally? Yes. Most of the rulings have gone that way. This > >>is similar to an unlocked house. An unlocked front door does > >>not mean you can cart off everything inside. > >> > >>That having been said: does anybody care? Probably not. > > > >(Not being a lawyer) > > We don't really need lawyers involved at all until someone > decides to be an asshat.
Who do we need involved if someone decides to be a lawyer?? > > >I would think that the analogy would better fit an unlocked > >house... > > The house analogy doesn't work no matter how we try to twist it. > Only if you expect it to work in *all* aspects. The analogy illustrates that availablility doesn't imply permission. If the analogy worked in *all* aspects, it wouldn't be an analogy. "Availability doesn't imply permission". There. No more analogy. Now explain why that principal doesn't apply simply because wifi signals are intangible. > >Come to think of it, I think the analogy would better fit some > >transient (living in some nearby cubbyhole) using the spigot on > >the side of your house to drink from and to wash his hands and > >face every now and again (assuming you would not have to pay > >more for the extra water). Assuming that you are not taking a > >nice warm shower at the time, what's the harm? > > This comes closer. But instead, let's say you have your water > running continuously such that it flows onto my property. Is it > my bad that I manage to fill my swimming pool with your errant > water? Yes, it is your fault. It is their fault they left the water on. It is *your* fault that you decided to grin and direct it to your pool to their detriment. Common courtesy would lead you to walk over and turn it off for them. > If I stand on the sidewalk in front your yard, and I breathe, am I > stealing the oxygen from your trees and plants? That's quite a twist /you're/ putting on that analogy. > The thing is, if you have an open AP, then the EMR from that AP is > blasting at everyone with range of it. They are /blasting/ it! It chases me down on my laptop and I can't make it stop! Oh nooooooo!!! > As far as I'm concerned, once > you've radiated it, it's up for grabs by anyone. Finders, keepers! Availability implies permission! No one saw me; you can't prove anything! > I didn't take it from > you. *You* offered it to *me* by not confining it! If they didn't want you to use it, they'd have locked it up, see? It's their own fault if they don't secure every posession and signal. How stupid can they be not to know that those around them won't act with a sense of dignity? If their mailbox is out at the curb, I bet they aren't even smart enough to put a padlock on 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. Amen, and amen! They paid for it and are sharing. *Both* of those acts deserve the scrutiny of a lawyer. And they sent it wandering into your house and it sat next to you on the sofa! You may as well sponge ... I mean soak it up! Wade Curry syntaxman -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
