Re: free internet (kinda)
 

The law? Which law?

Not to be any more of a jerk than necessary, but such statements really ought to be accompanied by at least a mention of what nation, preferably of what court (or whatever) has regarded it so, and ideally a citation of the precedent/decision under discussion.

In the US, I'm not aware of any cases involving a home network deliberately left open. The most likely issue would be a DCMA case against the network owner. ;)

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

it depends on the state. The vast majority of states require explicit authorization to use "free" wifi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_Piggybacking

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

Actually, it is like that; if your neighbor's sheep jumps into your yard, and you butcher it, you'll be in trouble. Try it sometime.

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

when you connect to an open wifi, your laptop (or whatever) ask for permission, the router will give the permission and hands you a name tag, the ip (no trickery or hacking involved). It is not a passive process, like, say, entering an unlocked home, in which the house is passively exploited.

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

umm... yes it is. The act of you entering an unlocked home and treating it as your own is construed (by the law) exactly the same is you using your laptop to enter their unlocked wifi internet access and treating it as your own.

...and, it doesn't matter if they're "beaming it into your back yard" or not. ...and, if they were "beaming it into your back yard", you wouldn't need to spend money on a high-gain directional wifi antenna so that you could snipe their wifi access from afar, either.

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

It's actually not ridiculous nor irrelevant. Especially as it is so relatively easy for his neighbour to keep his "digital water" on his side of the fence.

Meaning: It's rather easy to restrict access to a WiFi cloud, as simple as setting MAC addresses. I'm not arguing that those measures are secure (they're far from it), but at least implementing one or more would show intent to protect one's own WiFi cloud.

The legislation that now applies is effectively one to protect the terminally stupid and/or unwilling to learn. This is not a good thing, if only because it will have a negative effect on the average intelligence of our species.

A far better policy would be to severely punish those that infringe upon secured wireless networks -- however flawed that security might be -- and consider all unsecured networks open for public access.

But noooo! that would mean people would have to start using their brains. Can't have that, can we? Next thing we know, they start voting for Ron Paul...

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

Indeed .

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

Have fun explaining that to the judge if your state has not already adopted liberal laws on the subject.

EDIT: I agree with your point, but to believe that your opinion holds weight with a court in a state where they have not decriminalized this kind of access then you are delusional.

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

In my statement, I was referring to US law as interpreted by courts. As I already said in this thread, Benson, I don't understand the legal principles very well. Since you do, how about you explain what the laws are and in which states they apply?

Oh, and on the other subject, the "similarity" of wireless and sheep jumping over a wall into your yard. They are NOT similar. You can forbid your neighbor from letting sheep trespass on your yard, but try forbidding wireless communications to cross your property.

Re: free internet (kinda)
 

ioan, what you purchased is fine for your home computer. But, don't forget, your Nokia Internet Tablet is mobile, and for that, here's what you really need!



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