I was just wondering this. I know a few people who have wireless cards in their computers, and they were telling me about how there was access where they were, but it was secured.

I know of people that get the acess for free, because somebody in their apartment building has it, or just any other area has a wireless system set up in their house.

But in a system that is not secure, would it be illegal to use?

 

I think more of an ethical issue, I'm not the FCC though, and they are a little iggroant to have a wireless network unsecure

 

yea its more of an ethical issue.

If its unsecure, i say have a field day!

If its secure, and you hack into it.....then it becomes a problem

 

Here's some more board discussion thoughts:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...aling+internet

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f98/borrowing-internet-access-61638/

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...owing+wireless

 

Security settings are a must on a wireless network. If you don't have your signal encrypted, you are just leaving the door wide open.

 

Thanks guys, I did a brief search, I guess I just wasn't thourough (sp?) enough.

 

I do it quite often .. oh well .... sue me!

 

careful what you ask for, Dr. Shazam - lawyers just love to sue MD's with big houses.

 

Just for sake of argument, would it be any different than seeing keys left in a car and taking for a spin around the block without the owners permission?

 

Let them come. I say, "if you can't beat 'em .. marry 'em."

She'll be working with the State DA office in a few months.

 

I think it is illegal, technically it is stealing, that being said, I would do it if I could. I don't equate it to taking a car for a spin because someone left the keys in it, because you might break it or they might come out and need it. It is more like, you want to go down to a lake to go fishing, there is a dirt road that goes straight down, but it is someones private drive, so when he isn't home, you drive down to the lake and go fishing. Is it really hurting anybody? No, not really. Are you supposed to? No, not really.

 

Not quite the same.

It would be more like someone was blareing there satalite radio at a stop light and you were listening to it "illegally". its "broadcast" to the general public, you cant be mad when others "use" it or (in my example) listen to it.

some people secificly leave there access points open for the same reason that starbucks or Pannara bread does.

some cities are working on "free" wifi for there entire city.

 

One time I walked into an Office Depot and I noticed the laptops there were on wireless. So then I thought, I wonder what kind of router they're behind. Lo and behold, I guessed the right IP (on the first try even!)... a D-Link router. Even more amazing, they didn't even bother to set a password on it. So I thought to myself, maybe I should do them a favor and set a password on it. But then I realized I'd have to tell them the password, and they might get mad at me for even being there in the first place. :pat: Then I remembered the time many years back when I really needed a job and they didn't hire me. So that, along with the fact that they were too stupid to set a password on it in the first place, led me to believe that they just didn't know how to responsibly run a wireless network and didn't deserve it. So I disabled the wireless broadcast and that was that. To this day, I still wonder how long it took those idiots to figure out why their laptops couldn't get online.

 

here is a good article on it.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/08/tech...ternet_piracy/

 

That is awsome I can just see a sales man "with a newlaptop you should get a wireless router so you can network your home like this, $#%^ what the hell going on I can't get online #$%

 

It's good to hear that the moderators here have strong moral character!

 

Aye, better than most!

 

So... the gym I go to has a PC that's open for member's use. I made note of the fact that there's a wireless bridge sitting next to it; and a Linksys router up on a shelf.

Start | CMD | ipconfig.... hmm, they at least changed the class C...

IE | 192.168.xxx.1

oop... they didn't move the router's IP.

{blah} {blah} {blah} password:

heh... and they didn't change the default password.


I could have had some fun, but instead... I just noted the WAN IP and opened the Remote Workstation port through the firewall.

oh wait... I guess that was fun.

 

Anyone who purchases wireless equipment should be aware of the possibility of unwanted users. They should follow the directions and set up security, or get help doing so if they are not sure how to do it.