 gwionwild colonial boyPremium,ExMod 2001-08
join:2000-12-28
Pittsburgh, PA
kudos:1
1 edit | If you walk through my unlocked door... ... and use my phone, you stole my phone service. If you use my network because I left it unlocked, you abused my network and stole my bandwidth. Why aren't they interchangeable terms? If you know it's a private network, of course... Assuming that you do, then you're cracking. If someone uses the internet to steal my bandwidth over a copper wire, the fact that there was no firewall at my gateway (fat chance, but assume, for argument's sake) doesn't constitute a welcome mat. Why should accessing it via wireless communications, in a deliberate and knowing fashion, be taken one bit differently?
It's called "bandwidth theft", at bare minimum. I steal your electricity, I get arrested. I tap into your phone line and make calls, I get arrested. I hook up my house to your water meter, I get arrested... I crack your (conventional) network, whether I have to get through a defense or not, and steal your bandwidth, I get arrested. So it simply follows, I crack into your wireless network, even if I don't have to breach any defenses to do it, I stole bandwidth and should be arrested. The operative concept is using the bandwidth you paid for without permission. Doesn't matter if I'm at LeeringUncleErnies or MotherTeresa.org, it isn't my network, and I used bandwidth you pay for, and trespassed on hardware that belongs to you. Far as I see it, long as I knew what I was doing and kept doing it, that's cracking and/or theft of services in a nutshell. Simply put, there's a difference between a public portal and a private network... that's an apple - orange argument. Mistake as to whether it's public or private is one thing, but knowing use of someone's private network without consent should be illegal. Otherwise, if you knew having one made you a "public portal," why on earth would anyone but a public access provider... ever... want to... (scratches head quizically) have one... at all???
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Even when you feel like your life is fading
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You're that good... |
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stonky
join:2003-08-25
Watertown, MA | except of course that most peoples bandwidth is "all you can eat" and doesn't involve any cost if you aren't using it unlike your phone,electricity, gas or water. And it doesn't involve any depreciation, unlike your car/lawnmower.
Some people get way too overexercised on the word "theft" - using some neighbors bandwidth can hardly be compared with tapping in to their phone service, let alone borrowing their car.
stonk |
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rewen
join:2002-10-04
Burlington, ON | reply to gwion
If your phone was off your property, then you're practically telling us to use it. Most routers now allow you to limit he antenna power (at least mine does) so that you can limit the range. The only problem is if your router is not in the center of your house.
But why even bother limiting the range, use WEP, even if it's easily hackable, it's not giving it away, and thus makes it illegal for someone to tap into. |
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rewen
join:2002-10-04
Burlington, ON | reply to gwion
Oh also don't just say 'well I park my car on the street and it's still illegal for someone to break into it!'
because a car parked off your property is like wi-fi with WEP enabled, because the car would have it's own security measures. |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to gwion
child porn is illegal and immoral, but sapping some bandwidth is harmless fun. i bring my wireless nic whenever i go on trips and see if theres open APs near the hotel.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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There was a time when people left their houses unlocked.
This was possible because people respected each other, their efforts and the resulting property they owned.
It grieves me to see none of that respect among today's younger generations.
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Aliens abducted me overnight and left an idiot in my place! |
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 ScottMoOnce in a LifetimePremium,MVM
join:2000-12-15
Stony Brook, NY | reply to stonky
said by stonky:
except of course that most peoples bandwidth is "all you can eat" and doesn't involve any cost if you aren't using it unlike your phone,electricity, gas or water. And it doesn't involve any depreciation, unlike your car/lawnmower.
Some people get way too overexercised on the word "theft" - using some neighbors bandwidth can hardly be compared with tapping in to their phone service, let alone borrowing their car.
stonk
Except I paid for it, the war-driver did not and did not ask permission to do so. My ISP has a soft cap on how much downstream bandwidth I can use, regardless of the "all you can eat" thinking. It doesn't seem reasonable for someone to use that limited bandwidth for their own selfish purposes. |
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