Re: Open WiFi connections: Are you really stealing?

Janet Wilder wrote:

Tom wrote:

“He slowed down, took a look and saw he had a laptop in his lap. He
talked to him and put it all together,” Wartowski said.

In a prepared statement, Winnebago County State’s Attorney Paul Logli said, “With the increasing use of wireless computer equipment, the people of Winnebago County need to know that their computer systems are at risk. They need to use encryption or what are known as firewalls to protect their data, much the same way locks protect their homes.

“Likewise, our residents need to know that it is a crime, punishable by up to a year in jail, to access someone else’s computer, wireless system or Internet connection without that person’s approval.
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http://rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/NEWS0107/103230036/1011


--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.



Why does this story get repeated and repeated? Is this the only WiFi case that was ever prosecuted?

Must be. Apparantly none of the fans read the warning to encrypt their networks. It's pretty much common knowledge that if you don't want your network used, you encrypt it. If you don't encrypt it, it's an invitation.

NY Times, March 5, 2006
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Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking on My Wireless

For a while, the wireless Internet connection Christine and Randy Brodeur installed last year seemed perfect. They were able to sit in their sunny Los Angeles backyard working on their laptop computers.

But they soon began noticing that their high-speed Internet access had become as slow as rush-hour traffic on the 405 freeway.

"I didn't know whether to blame it on the Santa Ana winds or what," recalled Mrs. Brodeur, the chief executive of Socket Media, a marketing and public relations agency.

The "what" turned out to be neighbors who had tapped into their system. The additional online traffic nearly choked out the Brodeurs, who pay a $40 monthly fee for their Internet service, slowing their access until it was practically unusable.

Piggybacking, the usually unauthorized tapping into someone else's wireless Internet connection, is no longer the exclusive domain of pilfering computer geeks or shady hackers cruising for unguarded networks. Ordinarily upstanding people are tapping in.
As they do, new sets of Internet behaviors are creeping into America's popular culture.
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This is especially true, Mr. Wolf said, because so many users do not bother to secure their networks with passwords or encryption programs. The programs are usually shipped with customers' wireless routers, devices that plug into an Internet connection and make access to it wireless. Many home network owners admit that they are oblivious to piggybackers.

Some, like Marla Edwards, who think they have locked intruders out of their networks, learn otherwise. Ms. Edwards, a junior at Baruch College in New York, said her husband recently discovered that their home network was not secure after a visiting friend with a laptop easily hopped on.
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Humphrey Cheung, the editor of a technology Web site, tomshardware.com, measured how plentiful open wireless networks have become. In April 2004, he and some colleagues flew two single-engine airplanes over metropolitan Los Angeles with two wireless laptops.

The project logged more than 4,500 wireless networks, with only about 30 percent of them encrypted to lock out outsiders, Mr. Cheung said.

"Most people just plug the thing in," he said of those who buy wireless routers. "Ninety percent of the time it works. You stop at that point and don't bother to turn on its security."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/technology/05wireless.html?ex=1299214800&en=de40126b08550e0a&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss


That doesn't indicate to me that it's either "common knowledge" or an "invitation".

And you, yourself, have said that you don't know how to secure one.
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I don't have a router. I could get one for less than $40 but I don't believe I'm capable of setting up the security part of it on my own and I don't want to pay the Geek Squad $100+ to do it, so I don't have one.
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It seems that everyone but you has the necessary "common knowledge".

But since you have no problem with using others' wifi, why not return the favor, and simply secure your computer, and leave the wifi open? But maybe how to do that is more "common knowledge" that you don't have? If so, I'm sure Frank will help you secure your computer while leaving the wifi open for needy passersby.

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.
.

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