Thread: free internet (kinda)
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brontide is offline brontide
2008-05-01 , 20:41
Posts: 868 | Thanked: 474 times | Joined on Oct 2007 @ Capital District, NY, USA
#34
Originally Posted by Texrat View Post
On the other hand, consuming bandwidth without *some* sort of permission, tacit or overt, IS theft of services. Period. Those who like to rationalize their way out of that simply don't have a legal leg to stand on. They can argue their view on idiots who don't protect their service but under current law they'll get nowhere.
This is a state by state issue. In NY ( where I live ) if the owner has not taken any steps to secure the AP then I am free to use it without fear of prosecution. If the owner has done anything, including hiding the SSID, that would probably be enough to invoke the trespass laws.

Most states have not clearly spelled out exactly what's the responsibility of the owner and the user of the AP. I, personally, would love to see something at the federal level that spells out the fact that it's up to the owner to take a step, any step, to secure their routers before they can criminalize otherwise non-criminal access by others. EDIT: this is what I want, the current reality is a hodge-podge of state laws and conflicting opinions.
Last edited by brontide; 2008-05-01 at 20:43.