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I leave mine open for the convenience of others who may be traveling through or whatever. I check the router’s config page daily to see what computers have used it in the last 24 hours. There’s several regular free loaders but they’re not on there all the time. I keep a log of all the computers that use it, MAC address, ip address and computer name. I can also turn on the logging function of the router and see what they’ve been doing. NO, I can’t read their email and woudn’t.
I have the router tweeked with high gain antennas and loaded with the firmware called DD-WRT, power turned up for greater range.
When I’m traveling and need access I drive through a residential area till I get a good signal from an open router and use it. It’s just karma.
# 25 FRAGaLOT said,”Unless the SSID says “FREE_WIFI” on it then by all means.. go apeshit”
I disagree.
If you find an SSID that says “FREE WIFI” then run, run, run. I’d rather trust a Best Buy Geek than an unidentified free wifi connection…
If someone steals WiFi in this matter, he is at least stealing bandwidth. The paying user’s connection will be slower.
Another point: there is NO WAY of determining the paying user’s intent based on his configuration i.e. SSID, encryption, etc.
Stealing WiFi could also lead to an infection or a security breach of the computers involved. That is the thief’s fault.
An argument some are implying is that since the WiFi signals to be stolen are traveling from one physical property to another, the signals are entering a potential thief’s property. This resembles in a way the old arguments against illegal satellite television reception since the signals are coming from outer space onto paying customers and non-paying customers alike. MagicJack argues that their new GSM model is legal because the cell phone carrier frequency licenses (850 MHz & 1900 MHz in US) don’t apply to private property. A legal precedent could be set in one of these fields that could effect the other.
Also didn’t Dvorak Uncensored post the case of the .002 dollars per kb and .002 cents per kb mistake a Verizon customer service rep made?
If it’s staged, then Leo Laporte is trying to include a comedy segment like telephone callers on Frasier.
if it is staged then Leo is the best actor in the world since I was watching and in his chatroom when the call came on and he didn’t set it up immediately before and seemed surprised by it during the commercial break and through the rest of the show.
What is funny that this lady feels like just cuz she has done this for a year that shes still entitled to the wifi
No @# 21
she voted for McCain. you stupid a$$. you can’t figure that one out. i take so did you.
This has nothing to do with hockey.
@3 As the man said – it’s wire fraud, not stealing.
Analogously – it’s copyright infringement, not stealing.
Theft is used gratuitously these days by people with an agenda who want to make the crime sound much worse than it really is.
@7 That analogy doesn’t work now, does it?
Theft refers to physical objects, or to money, which these days is both cash as well as funny numbers in a computer system.
#38 – BBW
Who talked about stealing the car? You borrow it and put it back when you’re done.
“Stealing” wifi is analogous to using someone elses floodlights at night to read the newspaper, but even less so. Is there not an implicit request on the part of the “thief’s” device for network access, and that request is then granted when an IP address is assigned?
And whats being stolen anyway? Bits? Is there a monetary loss on the part of the guy with the open access point? (Assuming its not metered service, or a nefarious leacher causes expensive legal problems)
The whole idea of “stealing” from an open access point is as silly as the idea of “stealing” oxygen given off by the plants and trees owned by other people.
Think about that people. If you don’t own planted land, and go running around using up O2, you are stealing the oxygen someone else may have produced on their land. THIEF!
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…
what makes me laugh is that she bought a wifi aerial or extender, but can’t pay for dsl… *tsk tsk*
#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.
Clearly a staged call. That was Jennifer his wife! 🙂
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.
I swear one of you guys are following me. Every youtube or article I see, I eventually then see it here…
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..
i leave my wifi open to anyone willing to try their luck at taking it. bear in mind 2 things: i have about 6 acres in any given direction around my house, and i do own a gun. use at your own risk….
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.
#47 “And business/corps are paying little OR NOTHING, to enforce laws they want..”
Strictly speaking, not true. Those legislators cost a LOT of money to put the laws in the books in the first place!
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.
Let me run this by you geeks.
My SSID is “VirusFactory,” and I filter by MAC address, leaving access open, but only allowing specific MAC addresses access. I live in an area where there aren’t too many neighbors, and anyone who would be within range on the road, would be seen. I know all my neighbors, and trust them. If they need access for any reason, I just give them one of the USB dongles, that I have already configured on the router, and tell them to use it, until they can get their access fixed.
If you saw this SSID while driving by, would you try to connect to it if it showed itself as being open?
Looks like Leo ran into an ID 10 T error there!
The biggest risk in leaving your WiFi open is that once a system is connected through the NAT, it is very difficult to identify the user or system that did the connecting without extremely deep local router logs.
So if someone connects and downloads a bunch of kiddie porn, or torrents a bunch of movies, or whatever, the guilty party automatically becomes the owner of the IP connection, as in the person that pays the ISP bill. So if some unknown person downloads a bunch of kiddie porn through your open WiFi, guess who gets arrested and has to prove their innocence… yes.. it is you.
Since it is difficult to identify individual users behind a private network (effectively created by a NAT), under the law the person owning the access point is responsible for it’s ultimate use.
The password issues discussed by Leo are fairly irrelevant since most password use is encrypted, but the liability for misuse is much much greater.
My SSID is “open”
Stop on by, I am always interested in seeing what others are doing.
#5 you do know that MAC address filtering is pathetically easy to get around right?
#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
#3 – McCullough,
Of course it’s stealing. It’s not okay to steal from someone just because they are stupid. In fact, it’s usually considered even worse to prey on the weaker members of our society. Is it okay to beat up a homeless man, because he should get a house?
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.
#59 srgothard
If that were true then modern capitalism would entirely cease to function.