Steal this Wi-Fi: go to jail

It's IT Blogwatch: in which the 'illegal, stolen' Wi-Fi debate will rage on and on until the heat death of the universe. Not to mention the great office war...

Lev Grossman 'fesses up:

When I moved into my apartment three years ago, the first thing I did after I tipped the movers was sit down on a box, crack open my laptop and sniff the air for wi-fi ... I got online via the unsecured wireless networks of my neighbors. This didn't seem illegal at the time--I mean, those signals were streaming through my apartment--but it is an actual, bona fide crime ... Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 47 of the United States Code ... Illegal or not, it was definitely unethical. Not so unethical that I stopped doing it, though ... [But now] I've joined the straight world ... In an attempt to achieve some kind of karmic balance, I have left my network open to any neighbors who want to mooch off it. more

Mike Elgan opines it's OK:

It shouldn't be illegal to simply use an open, unprotected wireless network ... By using a Wi-Fi network you're asking for, and receiving, permission from the owner. When you open up your trusty laptop, check for available networks, choose one and click "Connect," you're instructing your computer hardware and software to communicate with the hardware and software that's providing the Wi-Fi network and ask permission ... A wireless router isn't passive, or contained within the home or business of the owner. It actively broadcasts a radio signal dozens or hundreds of feet in 360 degrees. If you can see your neighbor's network on your computer, that means he's breaking into YOUR house, not that you're breaking into his. That signal penetrates your walls and your body. more

Mike Masnick agrees:

We've seen plenty of people arrested, and wide ranging discussions on the ethics of WiFi piggybacking -- with various ethicists noting that simply using an open WiFi network doesn't seem unethical, assuming you don't significantly slow down the connection by uploading or downloading large files ... Of course, there will be those who say that the owners didn't intend for the network to be open -- but that's really besides the point here. The only information a user has is does the network say: "you're welcome here" or not. If it's open, it sends out an invite that specifically says: this network is open, come use it. That's authorization, and using such a network is not "theft" in any sense. more

But Lindsay Barron knows she's naughty:

So for the past 2 years I've been mooching the internet off someone else. At first it was one wireless connection but then they secured. I lost it for about a month or so. Luckily another one arrived but they turned off their internet every night at 10:30p and wouldn't turn it back on until 5p when they got home. Sometimes on the weekend they wouldn't turn it on at all, if they weren't home. I saved beaucoups of money doing that. Well, as I said that I finally got my own last week ... Apparently, it's illegal. Well, I knew it was illegal. I mean, HELLO, I'm not paying for something that I'm using. more

Colin Dean thinks about how this might play in court:

If the plaintiff says, "Well, I didn't explicitly grant you permission to use my network," then you can fire back, "You did when your router gave me explicit permission by assigning me an IP address and giving me a gateway by which I could access the Internet. Essentially, I asked if I could use the network, and, acting on your behalf since you set it up, it said I could when it gave me the information required to use the network." more

But Morgan Greywolf disagrees:

Well, I asked your door permission to open by turning the handle, and when it did, since it was unlocked, I entered your house while you were gone today. Since nothing was bolted to your floor, I proceeded to help myself to your TV and associated A/V equipment, your PVR, your Playstation 3, and your Wii ... Since your doors granted me permission to enter your house, and they were acting on your behelf since they are on your house, you have no reason to complain. Right? more

Jeppe Salvesen tweaks the analogy:

If you use an open network, you only use bandwidth temporarily. If you leave the network, the bandwidth will still be there. So it's more like entering an unlocked house to take a sip from the faucet. The only crime committed is that you didn't pay for bottled water. more

ScentCone despairs:

Nonsense. It's theft of services. That bandwidth IS now gone, forever. The owner of that pipe may have been at a remote location transferring files, and was slowed down. The ISP providing the pipe may meter the bandwidth. That you're so anxious to split hairs and use semantics to dodge the fact that leeching someone's paid-for services isn't any different, ethically, than leeching water out of their hose says a lot about your agenda ... Who cares about the technical protocols involved. A leech is a leech is a leech. You know it, the leech knows it... everyone here knows it. All of the slippery attempts to cravenly hide behind the hardware protocols is practically Clintonian in its oily semantics. more

And finally...

• The Great Office War
  

Buffer overflow:

• Matthew McKenzie: Open-Source Firmware: Old Routers, New Tricks
• Google Watch: Google vs. Facebook - Is Facebook Exodus a Result of Google Subterfuge?
• Heather Clancy: IBM lays claim to ‘greenest’ data center title, at least here in North America
• 9 to 5 Mac: iTunes sells five billionth song
• Jonathan M. Gitlin: Study: US adoption of electronic health records is abysmal
• Tech Trader Daily: Apple: Oppenheimer Says AT&T iPhone Subsidy Is $325
• Stay N' Alive: Developers Bailing on Twitter
• Data Center Knowledge: New Supercomputer Top 500 List Tracks Power

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Michael R. Farnum: I want a product!
• Seth Weintraub: Safari carpet-bomb bug fixed
• Preston Gralla: Five Great Add-Ons for Firefox 3
• Robert L. Mitchell: The e-waste multiplication effect
• Mark Hall: Blades at center of data center action
• Michael R. Farnum: More child pr0n fallout
• Shark Tank: A day in the life, network edition
• Shark Bait: Internet? Who needs it?

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 21 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Oops: Firefox 3.0 critical vulnerability
• Firefox 3.0 delights and frustrates in equal measure
• Scott Richter's six-mil spam suit settlement