[ale] wireless at Starbucks

[Robert Reese~]

> On Jun 7, 2008, at 8:32 PM, Robert Reese~ wrote:
>
>>>> While riding into work a few weeks back I fired up the laptop
>>>> and discovered I really did not need my cell-phone card. All
>>>> I needed to do was crank up kismet and piggy back of the
>>>> residential wireless nodes. At any given time I could see 20+
>>>> nodes and 3-5 were unlocked.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I would suspect you're stepping into a gray area of legality...
>>>
>>
>> Once upon a time I was dead-set against this type of behaviour.
>> Now I am of the opinion that either the owner is allowing the
>> activity, doesn't care, or is too lazy and/or cheap to ensure the
>> activity doesn't occur.  This has been too much in the news to be
>> oblivious to it.  However, if they wish to remain ignorant, they
>> do so at their peril.  Should they not like it, then they will do
>> something about it; part of the problem with society today is the
>> lack of personal responsibility!
>>
>
> I would agree with you there, but if my neighbor leaves his keys in
> his car with the door unlocked, I'm not going to take it for a
> spin. Even if I know he's not going to be using during the time I
> would be away.

That's an excellent analogy.  I wouldn't take it for a spin either, but then I wouldn't hesitate to use it if I had to take my child to the hospital if I had no other method of transportation.  But while you or I wouldn't take it for a spin, your neighbor really doesn't have much to complain about if someone else does; the only thing he is lacking is an flashing red neon sign saying, "Ride Me".

There is a slight difference in the analogy compared to wireless: the law is codified to still say it is illegal to use the vehicle.  I know of no such law here in GA or the U.S. Federal law that prohibits its use.  Nor should there be, as it shirks a person of their personal responsibility.  OTOH, if someone provides prudent and reasonable attempts to secure their network and someone deliberate circumvents that security, then it is reasonable to criminalize that activity.  To extend that to your analogy, let's say you don't leave your keys in the car, and someone uses their _own_ key in your car (there are only about 50 different key cuts needed for each door/ignition keyway).  You've take prudent and reasonable action to prevent the use of your vehicle.  ;c)

I'll posit that someone that just plugs in a wireless router without bothering to secure it is not only "leaving the keys in the ignition and the door unlocked" but has the door standing wide open with the engine running whilst in a "bad part of town" at midnight.

Personally, I've been known to access the router's management and change the SSID to U_R_HACKED and securing the wifi with a random WEP key at its maximum length.  With the exception of one case the router was fixed and secured within one day. I just wish I had been a fly on the wall of the owner when they discovered this!  The word "priceless" comes to mind.  ;c)  BTW, the one case where I've done this and the owner has not yet fixed or replaced it (over one year now) obviously only uses the router as a wired router; I've done the owner a favor without her or she realizing it.

Cheers,
R~