Zybch says:

I was hoping it was one of the calls from that nutjob that Leo used to get a few years ago.

I can’t remember the specifics any more, but Leo was always unfailingly polite. He’d disconnected her at the earliest opportunity to not make her look any worse than she made herself, and then did one of his little monologue pieces that related to whatever she was ranting on about that particular day.

Funny stuff. I wish I had some of those episodes recorded.
I think her name might have been Wendy perhaps…

Steve says:

#40 I like the sound of your floodlight analogy but isn’t it more accurate to compare it to diverting light from the source and channeling it into your house ? If ten people are tapping one line things diminish. I’m not asking this to argue, I’m ignorant and really want to know.

WmDE says:

A similar theft occurred back in the days when the 49MHz cordless phone was common. You throw the handset in the car. When you wanted to make a call you would press the TALK button and drive through a residential area until you got a dial tone.

I never did this. I’ve only heard of it.

I may have used a telephone test set in a telephone junction box to make a few calls. But if so, it was years ago.

ECA says:

18, JC..

there are 2 MAIn forms of laws..
Those for PEOPLE.
Those for companies/business.

I see the PEOPLE paying to enforce LAWS to business. And business/corps are paying little OR NOTHING, to enforce laws they want..

Michael_GR says:

I knew a girl just like that. She bought a laptop with Wifi and had the impression that this was enough: she paid for the Wifi when she bought the laptop, right? Internet access was free; this is how it worked in her workplace and in the cafes and restaurants she visited wiht her laptop; therefore she should be getting internet access at her home without any further effort on her part. She didn’t even understand where it was coming from. It was “in the air” and that was all she needed to know. She knew nothing about hotspots, Wifi ranges or routers.
It took me a long, long time to convince her otherwise and explain to her that Wifi signals had to come from a unit that had to be connected to a land line. I had to enlist the help of the IT manager in her workplace to convince her I was not trying to mess with her.

AkiKazeta says:

This wasn’t the best Leo Laporte clip. The best was when he blew up at Mike Arrington for insinuating that Leo was giving favorable reviews in exchange for products from vendors.

Rabble Rouser says:

Looks like Leo ran into an ID 10 T error there!

SparkyOne says:

My SSID is “open”

Stop on by, I am always interested in seeing what others are doing.

tsnyder says:

#54 – exactly what I was thinking while reading all the posts about those who leave their access open.

To those of you who only use MAC filtering: please turn on WPA encryption as Leo suggests. Relevant story with helpful discussion: http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/02/27/1832222/A-New-Wi-Fi-Exploit-Limited-But-Clever

neverstealanythingsmall says:

She needs to build a can-tenna or parabolic
wifi antenna. Then she can steal from people
miles away.

But the truth is most people are so
freaking tech un-savvy and actually
proud if it.

They turn on there new computer, oh look a
wifi access point! Guess it came with the
computer.