Wi-Fi Crime Options

[JongWK]

CNN Story

Neat. :cyber:

[hobgoblin]

and a bit corny. only thing the person did was use a open wifi point to surf the net. only problem was that he didnt get the owners permission first.

i wonder, was he in a area where there allready was free wifi available but the computer hooked up to the wrong access point?

err, memo to self, read more then heading before commenting. the guy was parked outside a private home, surfing...

[Eldritch]

I dunno, the Wi-fi thing is kinda silly.

if you walk by someones house and their window is open - you see them naked running around - are you then a peeping tom? Arrested and registered as a sexual offender?

Wireless routers are fairly easy to secure. But people are too lazy to read the manual. There was an article in a recent paper about war-driving. 2 out of 3 home networks are unsecure. And these kids in the article found well over a thousand.

And it is something that could happen quite accidentally. If you and your neighbor have routers, your pc will just grab the one with the highest signal str and access it - unless it is secured.

For god sake amn, close your window! And read the manual!!!

[Jrayjoker]

Yup, its reeeeeel tuf to protek yersef. Jes check ther liddle box on the wizerd whiles u r settin' up thuh netwerk.

[Req]

[Ecclesiastes]

While I completely agree that the person who owned the WiFi connection was stupid for not securing the signal, what the guy did was still technically theft, stealthing bandwidth. It isn't like being a peeping tom, its more like someone has a pie cooling on their window and you walk by and take a slice for yourself without asking.

[hobgoblin]

more like trespassing then theft as the very word indicates that the owner no longer have something.

its kinda like me sleeping in your house without your permission (alltho if its a cabin in norway and its a life or death situation, feel free).

[Taki]

[hobgoblin]

hmm, thats true.

block mac numbers, spoof em.

every encryption so far have either had a flaw or fallen for pattern searches.

kinda scary in a way as most likely my main net connection will be wimax based some time in the future most likely...

still, the only real diff between this and wired is that with wired you have the physical layer as a replacement for the encryption.

still, if you pull a mitnic you may well be past that barrier. and with todays small wifi gateways you could hook one up somewhere and have all the net time you want even after you left the building (as long as none finds it, that is ;) )...

[Ellery]

I can't see how using an unsecured network is theft any more than picking up a fallen orange on the sidewalk and eating it is theft, or smelling the fragrence of rose bushes over the fence is theft. Since almost nobody pays per-gigabyte for their bandwidth, there is no direct cost to the person whose network is being used, and the item in question is available without restriction in a public place.

If people climb over your fence to get your oranges, crack the encryption on your network, or break into your secured greenhouse to take pictures of your rare prize-winning roses, then yes, there's a potential problem.

[sanctusmortis]

My biggest problem is the WPA protection. I've gone back to wired till it works. Need to get it done before I moved, as wired won't be a luxury there...

D-Link's routers make it a nightmare to set up, what with none of the necessary fields matching the Microsoft Wireless Network Setup Wizard ones...

[Lindt]

I love walking down Newberry St in Boston with my laptop turned on in my back pack and just having it hop from one network to the next.

One memorable incedent was while I was sitting in traffic and someone IMed me. In my CAR. I was hitching on a corperate network, totally by accident.

Rember folks, securety is your friend.

[Edward]

I thought truly unlimited internet access (on broadband at least and if you can afford wi-fi you can afford broadband) was still quit rare, only a handful of Australian operators provide it.

If you do it deliberately it is quite clearly theft, even if the network is unsecured and there are no download charges your still affecting available bandwidth and slowing down the internet for there use.

If it is accidental its like 2 people buying a bag of apples and bumping into each other and dropping all the apples, when they get picked up one person has more purely buy accident
.
Edward

[Ellery]

In the U.S. most broadband access is claimed to be unlimited, and in practice, the wireless connection imposes more of a limit than the broadband itself does. The provider might get upset if you "overuse" your "unlimited" access, but unless they do, complaining that someone else is using your open wireless makes about as much sense as complaining that they're breathing your air. There's plenty to go around; it only makes sense worrying about the ownership of expensive things. If you worry, at least use WEP.

[Fortune]

As Edward says, some places (specifically Oz) impose a per month download limit on Broadband plans (my wireless limit is 12 Gig ... and I use every bit of it) before lowering the speed level of access to a minimal amount. I would indeed consider it theft if someone deliberately cut into this.

[Wireknight]

Then don't give it away to every random passer-by. It's like having a powerful electricity-guzzling air conditioner, and leaving a large window wide open.

[Critias]

And, after leaving that window open, then calling the police on anyone who paused for a moment while strolling along the sidewalk outside that window.

[Fortune]

[sanctusmortis]

Most UK providers allow unlimited. It's the crap ones that don't. Heck, even AOL does.

[Wireknight]

[mfb]

haha, what? Fortune, you usually don't say dumb things. but that? that was dumb.

wireless devices are specifically designed to hook up to any WAP they can find. that's their purpose. now, if you have to break someone's encryption to get access to their network, okay, that's bad. but soaking up the free brandwidth that someone is dumb enough to leave just lying around? that's the broadcaster's fault.

i mean, heck. let's say i'm on my way to a business meeting with my laptop in my car. it's on, because i'm typing stuff at red lights. it's got a wireless LAN card. i drive by your house, and you've got an unsecured WAP. my laptop hooks up to your WAP for the five seconds it's within range, because that's what wireless LAN cards do. was i breaking the law for those five seconds? what if my Windows Update automatic downloader starts downloading for those five seconds, because it's set to do so any time there's a connection? i'm breaking the law? that's crap. and by extension, it's crap that stopping outside your house and doing the same thing is illegal just because i know what i'm doing. they're making it illegal to know things.

[Eldritch]

[Edward]

If I leave my wireless system open then it would be silly (that and beget concerns is why I don’t have one) if somebody drives past and hooks up for 30 seconds then I couldn’t care less but if somebody drives around the naberhood looking for unsecured connections and then parks and uses the connection for as long as his laptop has power then that is a deliberate act and dose deserve punishment as theft weather he cracked the encryption or found one that was not encrypted.

A thief is no les liable for stealing your TV if you forgot to lock your front door than if you did so why should the deliberate act of stealing unsecured wireless time be any different.

To bring this back to SR for a moment sprawl survival guide gives the stats for SR3 wireless home networking and you don’t need to be a very good Decker to make use of such a conection.

Edward

[mfb]

so it's only a crime if you do it on purpose? if your car breaks down in front of their house, and your laptop--unbeknownst to you--starts running your BitTorrent downloads, that's legal because you didn't know?

this irks me because the line between legal and illegal is basically non-existant, as currently defined. i'm not aware of any routers on the market which don't have encryption capabilities, and it's not like setting that encryption up is remotely difficult. if you're broadcasting, it should be your responsibility to manage that broadcast, not the possible receivers' responsibility to somehow not recieve it.

[Edward]

Well is there such a thing as negligent theft. What dose the law say about the cast when a cash machine gives you to much and you genuinely don’t notice and spend the money. Or where your power meter develops a fault and only registers 70% of your usage.

Same rules will apply.

Edward