Fifty-four percent of computer users admit to using someone else's Wi-Fi without permission, according to a new survey by security firm Sophos. And many Internet-enabled homes fail to secure their wireless connection properly with passwords and encryption, allowing others to steal Internet access rather than pay an ISP, said Sophos, which carried out the 560-person survey.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said borrowing Wi-Fi Internet access may feel like a victimless crime but it deprives ISPs of revenue. Furthermore, if you hop onto your next-door neighbor's wireless broadband connection to download movies and music from the Internet, chances are that you are also slowing down their Internet access and depleting their download limit, Cluley added. In addition, using an electronic communications service with the intent to avoid paying is breaking the law.
Gemma Simpson of Silicon.com reported from London.
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Most people I know have enough trouble connecting to their OWN wi-fi hardware, much less piggybacking off of somebody elses.
encryption for people like me that need wifi on the go....
anyone that picks up my signal is welcome to use it....
why would anyone consider using an unencrypted wifi signal as
stealing??? this article is ********....
swallows and passes along, with utter credulity, the dubious
ethical and technical claims of ISPs and a security specialist. It
needs to be emphasized that CNET may market to consumers, but
it is captive to the companies about which it reports.
what's the difference between someone knowingly sharing and someone unknowingly sharing? are there special agreements for coffee shops and whatnot? is it illegal regardless of the owner's intentions?
when i see a list of available access points, how am i supposed to know which ones are residential and which ones are commercial?
this is why you shouldn't legislate things like this, laws are made by people who don't understand the technology, and can't answer these sorts of questions.
Either you have it black and white, or you live in the world of grays. The ISPs (RIAA, MPAA, etc) only see their revenue stream in black and white, but they see regulatory requirements in a lot of grays. Funny how that stuff works, don't you think?
Cry me a f***ing river.
This is such a simple moral argument that I am baffled that the only postings here are from the anarchy crowd that see no problem with not paying for a utility.
And of course if it's not locked up it's ok to take it...
Such stupidity makes me weep.
- Shared Access
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by Renegade Knight
November 16, 2007 11:53 AM PST
- Shared Access isn't stolen.
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1 | 2 | 3 | Next 10 Comments >>Unless WiFi has a flag that says "I'm open, but you don't have permission" you can only assume you have permission.
The other option is to assume the owner of the unsecured WiFi is a moron who is too stupid to actually run WiFi or call someone who does. I prefer to give folks the benefit of the doubt.
That means perission granted on unsecured WiFi. However abusing the privlidge and using it outside of traveling is too much.