Note the difference between old, unenforced, and unlikely to ever be enforced laws still on the books and people currently being found guilty of charges.

I think the user of a device should be the one to decide wether or not he wants to automatically connect to open ap's. That's better than not having this feature, or having it turned on by default like in Windows.

You missed the point with your flawed analogy. We're not talking idiotic "obscenity" laws-- we're talking theft of services, as has been pointed out very clearly. There is no logical relationship.

And personally, when I check into a hotel that provides unsecured wifi there's a prearranged agreement that I am entitled to that service. Same goes for other businesses. On the other hand, I'm not some freeloading lowlife who's going to squat on the sidewalk and glom onto service to which I'm not entitled. I have no problem with paying for services rendered, overtly or tacitly.

Quite frankly, I don't understand this bizarre mentality that everything should be free regardless of its original cost. Maybe in some hippie utopia, but not in capitalist societies...

I actually think it's great when people do this. However, I would recommend you name the ap something that makes its openness obvious.

I tried leaving mine open for a while, too-- but one of my neighbors decided that I made a great fulltime service provider and he freely tacked his entire network onto mine. Once he got comfortable, I pulled the plug. Unfortunately, he was putting too much a drain on performance.

Texrat,

While I agree with the sentiment that not everything is, or should be, free I do disagree with the theft of services issue. If I find an open, unencrypted AP with a broadcast SSID I feel that is enough of an invitation to use the service for light work. I would never depend on such networks without a proper invitation from the network owner.

I personally think that connecting to random open AP's is an invitation for trouble, but not for legal reason. Security is my first concern, I would say a majority of open AP's are open because their owners don't know how to operate them, and those are the same people that are infected with who-knows-what and possibly with malware affecting the AP as well.

So I would rather use known WiFi points and BT DUN for gaps rather than make promiscuous connections to every open AP I can find.

Brontide, I wasn't speaking from opinion, but the logic behind the law.

You can disagree with that rationale all you like, and act as you wish-- just don't be surprised when officers of the law rudely dismiss your personal explanation.

It'd be interesting to see how they could catch you though. Especially as devices get smaller. I suppose they could find you by MAC address (though that would require talking to the hardware makers as well). But then again there's also MAC spoofing.

People have been and are being caught now.

Yes, but how? With laptops, it's rather easy to identify (well it also depends on where the AP is. If it's in a crowded area it's alot harder then finding someone squatting in front of your house).

But with the penetration of devices into everyone's lives as they become more pocketsized, I wonder how people get caught. As far as I can recall right now, when you connect to an AP, the router gets information. But the only information I can think of that could be useful is the MAC address (which is supposedly unique for every networked hardware). But like I said, you can spoof them.

Unless router's also get things like the FCC approval ID or something like that?

Actually in NY it's quite legal ( except in westchester ) . In other states any decent defense lawyer could get the case thrown out because very few states specifically define what "unauthorized access" means if people decided to fight, but most pled to a simple fine if they were convicted at all.

A few enlightened states are even moving to push the burden to the WiFi operator such as California and New Hampshire, with more states following suit. Due to proliferation of WiFi devices more states will have to deal with the issue of open networks. They can choose to criminalize what is the default behavior for most Wifi devices or they can choose to blame the AP operator when they, ignorant or not, leave access open.

brontide, understood-- I was generalizing in reference to where it is illegal. Sorry... I thought that would be self-obvious.

I expect this issue to eventually be elevated to, and resolved at, the federal level here in the US... one way or another.