Re: A Technical Question

On Mon, 18 May 2009 22:39:20 +0100, Alex Heney <me8@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Consider this - if I were sat in a carpark or cafe listening to music
or watching a film on my laptop, my laptop may well connect to an
available open WiFi of a nearby house and download updates or emails
completely without my knowlege.

So what?

We are not talking here of the situation where your laptop connects
automatically to a connection you didn't expect.

We are talking of the situation where you *deliberately* choose to
connect using a router which you have not been authorised to use.

Just as you no doubt frequently connect to web sites that you have not
been authorised to use.

As you said, with web sites it is accepted that the mere fact that it
is easily accessible to the general public is taken as giving implicit
permission. If the person setting up a private web site failed to
secure it in such a way that the general public could not access it
*normally* without needing a password or seeing a page forbidding
access, then tough, there is no redress available should you, me or
anyone else access the site. We are *entitled* to assume that we have
permission to access it.

If someone were to set up a private mobile phone cell, and configured
it to allow any mobile phone to connect to it, I very much doubt that
you would be prosecuted should your cell phone connect to it and you
used it to make a call - even if your phone clearly showed "Fred's
Network" in its display instead of the more familiar "O2" or
"Vodafone". When I travel outside the UK, my phone will show an
unfamiliar network name - I do not check whether I have permission to
use it. Rather I assume that I have permission to use any system my
phone is *capable* of connecting to.

I see no reason why the same principle should not apply to a WiFi
access point.

--
Cynic

.

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