BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Is stealing wireless wrong? — Everyone knows how I stand on this issue. What do the Brits think?
A man has been arrested after being spotted allegedly sitting in a street with a laptop using someone else’s unsecured wireless connection. Is it immoral to do this?
So here’s the thing.
You’re walking down the street in Hypotheticalville and in front of you is a gentleman who, when he walks, spills seemingly endless torrents of golden coins on to the pavement behind him.
He seems unconcerned by this and you notice that if not picked up, these magic coins quickly evaporate. Is it moral for you to pick a few up?
these magic coins–when you spend them, whose account gets credited?
Simple, if its unsecured its free. If you dont want someone taking your bandwidth, (and /or personal info), secure it.
#2
Amen!
In the US garbage that’s been put out on the curb is essentially considered abandoned property and individuals don’t have much in the way of rights to that garbage.
It seems that when left unsecured wifi is abandoned if not sopped up by the machines in the house.
Dozens of analogies could be drawn up on this side, I have difficulty justifying the other side. About the only thing would be if the individual has to pay for the use of the access and passers by can up their bill, but then it is there own fault for not securing it.
Its not stealing when the network is unsecured…if they allow anyone to connect to it without any authentication then its their own damn fault.
Might as well hang a painting on a busy sidewalk and try to charge everyone who walks by and looks at it
I leave my front door wide open in Hypotheticalville. You come across my threshold and enter into my house. B&E no, tresspassing maybe, unethical absolutely.
6. We’re talking about a radio wave. If I broadcast into the ether, is it wrong for my radio to tune into your frequency.
Ahhh…. now I know what was slowing my connection when I first installed broadband …
#7 You are right. My analogy was incorrect. If the person that is providing his bandwidth is not concerned then the person using it should feel free.
9. Sorry my grammer was atrocious, fast posting this morn.
Is that an Edward Hopper painting? I didn’t know he was such a geek.
# 2 CORRECT!
Morality has nothing to do with it.
If I’m spraying water out of my garden hose into the air and then into the street, is it immoral for anybody to walk into that stream to have a drink or, take a shower?
Its actually a business opportunity that awaits an IT entrepreneur to go around detecting many a dope’s unsecured WiFi and then secure it for him/her for a reasonable fee. A great public service business
I’m surprise that in England that unsecured WiFi owners aren’t fined by the government to fill their pockets.
My main source of internet for a full year was my unsuspecting neighbors unsecured wireless, many thanks to them for their unknowing generosity =)
It’s kind of like listening to the radio, Unsecured wifi is essentially a radio station. now if you want to protect your connection, learn how to do it. I agree with #12 it is an opportunity.
If I’m watching my big-screen TV in my living room – and your across the street and can see the screen clearly through the window – are you stealing from me by watching it?
Are you stealing from the cable company that I’m buying the signal from?
Are you stealing from the advertisers by not watching the commercials carefully and buying all their wonderful products?
In England they have a TV license – if your watching my TV from across the street – are you stealing from the British government?
Anything is “like” anything else to some degree.
How is stealing access “like” stealing anything else?
Seems to me when there is a direct clear law right on the point, making analogies is like pissing in the wind?
It seems to me there are two parts to this-
1. in the USA, the FCC regulates the airwaves- and as long as your wireless equipment is in regulatory compliance, you would seem to have the legal right to connect to an open access point.
2. The broadband ISP will certainly have terms and conditions of use in their contract with the customer. If the contract prohibits open access, hosting, etc., then the customer could be in violation of their contract terms. In this case, it would seem to be the provider of the open access point that is in trouble…
It would seem then, that to ‘steal wireless’ requires something more than merely connecting. Something like spoofing MAC addresses, or cracking WEP…
FCC Declaration of Conformity
This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This
device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including
interference that may cause undesired operation. See instructions if interference to radio or television reception
is suspected.
There’s another way to look at it. How dare you send your radio signal through my house! You should keep it inside your territory. Of course this is next to impossible.
The FCC said a long time ago, “The airwaves belong to the people.” There is no restriction on receiving signals, only transmitting. That’s why there’s encryption. You can’t stop someone from receiving your signal but you can damn sure make it so they can’t decipher it;
How are these people getting caught, even? Would you tell a cop, “Oh, yeah, I sit here and surf on this unprotected wifi ap and the owner doesn’t know”? If he asks what you’re connected to, or what you’re doing, why not turn it off and ask him to move along?
I would love to get harassed for using my Verizon EVDO access in a public place where it might look like I’m using someone elses wi-fi. Maybe I’ll sit in my car in front of the police station and surf for a while just to see what happens.
One or two folks seem almost accidentally to have clicked the link. It doesn’t matter what ordinary Brits think. They let their government make piggybacking illegal.
Discussion means nothing unless someone is going to get off their rusty dusty in the UK and fight to change the law.
Shhh. Don’t tell my technology retarded neighbor.
>>If I’m watching my big-screen TV in my living room
Faulty analogy, Chuck. How about “if I take my big-screen TV and put it on my roof, where you and all the neighbors can see it from anywhere in your yard and from most windows in your house, are you stealing from me by looking at it?”. YOU may be stealing, but I’m not.
If you don’t want passers-by to use the radio waves you’re broadcasting out into other people’s space, encrypt the damn thing.
Is it possible to connect to their wireless signal without any action on my part? Is it possible to commit the crime of stealing wireless simply by turning on my computer? When my laptop automatically connects to their signal, without my knowledge, who is at fault? Me for using the default settings of my network card or them for using the default settings of the wireless router?
If they take the action of creating a wireless signal, isn’t it then their responsibility to secure it?
I have a friend who was having trouble with her wireless internet at home. It had been working fine for a year and then all of a sudden it stopped. When I checked I discovered that the wireless component of her router had never been turned on. The reason her internet stopped working was because her neighbours moved away and cancelled their internet account. Was she a thief?
Nicely clarified, 23.
Using some one elses access that they pay for is wrong unless you get them to agree to let you us it. You are stealing their service. To claim since they did not secure it so you have the “right” to is like claiming since they did not lock their door you have the right to go into their homes and use what ever. Unfortanly it is not yet illegal, in the US (that I know of).
Also one of the many reasons I ditched my wireless over a year ago, even if you “secure” it people will want that access or your info and will break it, so this way they still have to break into my place.
As to listing idea, ya you can listen but you can not use, like I listen to the police bands for fun, but if I was ever to put a signal out on it well there i would break the law.
>>is like claiming since they did not lock their door you have
>>the right to go into their homes and use what ever.
Not quite, Irish. You forget, nobody is “going into” anybody’s “home” here. They may be sitting in their living room, bedroom, or den, and *WHAMMO!*, what to their wondering WiFi device should appear, but YOUR broadcast signal, invading their space.
A better comparison would be if you carted your sofa into my house (without my permission, no less), then started bitching because we sat on it.
Using someone else’s access is definitely NOT stealing. You are not taking anything physical away from them. However, if you slow down their connection, I guess you are interfering with them. So I guess they could make the interfering part illegal.
I think it is a good question.
In the US if you don’t lock your house you can never get a burglary conviction if you are robbed. Similarly to prove trespassing in the US you must prove the person intended to damage your property when they crossed the property line. In general if something can be locked but isn’t, it is usually not a crime to help yourself.
On the other hand. If you put your trash into another person’s bin and it is hauled away by a paid service (including government), you are guilty of Theft of Service. Unlike the trash bin the wireless service can be ‘locked’ and an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, as the old saying goes.
As always many unethical acts are not criminal acts. Secure your wireless and don’t tempt your neighbors, or passers by, to use it.
27. Skewed logic, nevertheless, funny.