On 12 Jan 2006 at 11:11, Rich Koziol wrote: > On 12 Jan 2006 at 10:43, Bernie Cosell wrote: > > > You're just plain wrong. Theft is theft. The actual crime varies [the > > three related crimes are larceny, robbery and burglary], but it is still > > a crime. Larceny is simply taking stuff and can be a misdimeanor or a > > felony depending on the circumstances > > While I do not advocate that we all start using our neighbours ISP > accounts... it would be interesing to see this tested in courts.
You're correct: the situation I was responding to was the matter of your leaving your door unlocked and that somehow making it OK/noncriminal to steal your stuff. For wireless, the situation VERY murky, I think. I believe that the most- recent law predated wireless and so doesn't directly address it, and [I think] hasn't yet been tested in court (the famous case from Florida hasn't made it to court yet, I don't think, and in any event it was a Florida law involved and so won't really affect any of us who don't live there). There are laws about theft of service, but the question of whether an unsecured wireless connection requires "permission" to connect in [we all agree that it *seems* unethical, but it isn't clear in the law that that's so]. Also, I believe there is general agreement that just setting a minimal WEP is sufficient to make using your WAP illegal -- that having to crack a password [even if it is easy] is sufficient to establish that the intruder didn't have "permission". [note the distinction here: if you're worried about the security of your data, etc, you're better off using something really secure; but if you only want to unequivocally establish that intruders are NOT welcome just a simple 64-bit WEP will do the job] /Bernie\ -- Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Pearisburg, VA --> Too many people, too few sheep <-- -- ---------------------------------------- WIN-HOME Archives: http://PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM/archives/WIN-HOME.html Contact the List Owner about anything: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html
