Rob-
What a coincidence! I shot the last guy who tried to beat me up for using their Wifi.
Not really of course, but like anyone believes your story.
hornakapopolis - 14 years ago
>Lets say I buy a banana, can the store really say I can't give half to a stranger on the street? A better example, I pay for in-town water service, am I not allowed to give water to passers by? Should I be required to put up fences to keep people from drinking from my sprinkler?
Neither of these are good examples. With a banana, you're purchasing a single product. Not something that is contunously supplied. A better analogy would be you purchasing the rights to go to a banana farm (do these exist?) and eat all the bananas you want, up to 300, a month. It would be all right to send someone else in to eat all the bananas they want, too? That doesn't make sense.
And as for the water, except for a few communities I've lived where it's figured into the cost of rent or a single utilitiy payment, water is usually charged on a "per unit" basis, too. Which isn't the case with internet access in most places.
By the same logic, if you buy a ticket to a baseball game, you should be allowed to hang out in the seat the entire season just because it's possible a single game to run 20 innings?
What I noticed about the poll choices is that some of them don't answer the question and some should be combined. Is it OK? Yes or No? "Maybe in a tight situation..." doesn't mean you think it's okay. Is it "okay" to take a quarter from the ground that isn't yours? Maybe not "technically," but the fact that I do it doesn't tell you if I think it's okay or not. And the "No big deal" is the same as "Yes," but you get to show how cool, techy, and savvy you are. If you don't know what Wi-Fi is and still feel the pressing desire to partake in a poll in which you have no knowledge, then you could probably choose other.
I just found it a bit funny that the largest group of "answers" don't really answer the question.
See here:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/07/technology/personaltech/wireless_arrest/index.htm
All you guys that steal bandwidth - watch out, if I find your house or car unlocked when you're away from either, I'll take it as an invitation to take whatever I want.
Idiots.
Phil - 14 years ago
If the network is open. Use it. If your computer is granted access, it nots stealing.
Rob - 14 years ago
If I catch anyone using my WIFI connection (I have network monitoring software that alerts me) I will find 'em and kick their ass.
The last guy I caught TRYING to do this, I beat him so bad, he sold the house when he got out of the hospital.
Live to ride, ride to live!
K. - 14 years ago
Well, I would not feel right about hacking someone's secured network, and I would not feel right about using someone's unsecured network as my main source of internet; because, they are paying for the bandwidth. In a tight situation though, if the network is not secured, I would probbably use it briefly, but I would be careful what I was sending over this unsecured network. It may not feel like stealing if it's wide open, but it doesn't feel very safe either.
DucTape - 14 years ago
Yes. Internet shouldn't cost money. Period. Internet access should be a publicly provided service.But then again I'm about half communist.
Toasty O's - 14 years ago
When you attempt to get on your neighbors wireless connection, your computer asks their wireless access point if it is allowed to do so. If they do not have any security or password set, your computer is given permission. End of story. You asked and they said it was OK. This is not stealing. Plus, their signal is trespassing on your property.
As for a contractual agreement against sharing, that's just outrageous. Lets say I buy a banana, can the store really say I can't give half to a stranger on the street? A better example, I pay for in-town water service, am I not allowed to give water to passers by? Should I be required to put up fences to keep people from drinking from my sprinkler?
I would agree with Mark that circumnavigating the security that they have in place is not right.
Mike Epstein - 14 years ago
I haven't done it. I can't think of it as stealing if they can keep it protected but don't. The early satellite movie channel feeds were unprotected. They're now scrambled. It's easier to see taking the movie signals as theft because the movies themselves are intellectual property. If the signal is being broadcast to the neighborhood the assumption would be that it's by way of choice. The owner of the signal may have a contractual obligation to not share said signal. If so, then they may be breaking that contract, but the user of the signal shouldn't be responsible for knowing that. That's all a moot point if the user has hacked the wep, wap, or wap2 password. That's theft.
Rob-
What a coincidence! I shot the last guy who tried to beat me up for using their Wifi.
Not really of course, but like anyone believes your story.
>Lets say I buy a banana, can the store really say I can't give half to a stranger on the street? A better example, I pay for in-town water service, am I not allowed to give water to passers by? Should I be required to put up fences to keep people from drinking from my sprinkler?
Neither of these are good examples. With a banana, you're purchasing a single product. Not something that is contunously supplied. A better analogy would be you purchasing the rights to go to a banana farm (do these exist?) and eat all the bananas you want, up to 300, a month. It would be all right to send someone else in to eat all the bananas they want, too? That doesn't make sense.
And as for the water, except for a few communities I've lived where it's figured into the cost of rent or a single utilitiy payment, water is usually charged on a "per unit" basis, too. Which isn't the case with internet access in most places.
By the same logic, if you buy a ticket to a baseball game, you should be allowed to hang out in the seat the entire season just because it's possible a single game to run 20 innings?
What I noticed about the poll choices is that some of them don't answer the question and some should be combined. Is it OK? Yes or No? "Maybe in a tight situation..." doesn't mean you think it's okay. Is it "okay" to take a quarter from the ground that isn't yours? Maybe not "technically," but the fact that I do it doesn't tell you if I think it's okay or not. And the "No big deal" is the same as "Yes," but you get to show how cool, techy, and savvy you are. If you don't know what Wi-Fi is and still feel the pressing desire to partake in a poll in which you have no knowledge, then you could probably choose other.
I just found it a bit funny that the largest group of "answers" don't really answer the question.
See here:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/07/technology/personaltech/wireless_arrest/index.htm
All you guys that steal bandwidth - watch out, if I find your house or car unlocked when you're away from either, I'll take it as an invitation to take whatever I want.
Idiots.
If the network is open. Use it. If your computer is granted access, it nots stealing.
If I catch anyone using my WIFI connection (I have network monitoring software that alerts me) I will find 'em and kick their ass.
The last guy I caught TRYING to do this, I beat him so bad, he sold the house when he got out of the hospital.
Live to ride, ride to live!
Well, I would not feel right about hacking someone's secured network, and I would not feel right about using someone's unsecured network as my main source of internet; because, they are paying for the bandwidth. In a tight situation though, if the network is not secured, I would probbably use it briefly, but I would be careful what I was sending over this unsecured network. It may not feel like stealing if it's wide open, but it doesn't feel very safe either.
Yes. Internet shouldn't cost money. Period. Internet access should be a publicly provided service.But then again I'm about half communist.
When you attempt to get on your neighbors wireless connection, your computer asks their wireless access point if it is allowed to do so. If they do not have any security or password set, your computer is given permission. End of story. You asked and they said it was OK. This is not stealing. Plus, their signal is trespassing on your property.
As for a contractual agreement against sharing, that's just outrageous. Lets say I buy a banana, can the store really say I can't give half to a stranger on the street? A better example, I pay for in-town water service, am I not allowed to give water to passers by? Should I be required to put up fences to keep people from drinking from my sprinkler?
I would agree with Mark that circumnavigating the security that they have in place is not right.
I haven't done it. I can't think of it as stealing if they can keep it protected but don't. The early satellite movie channel feeds were unprotected. They're now scrambled. It's easier to see taking the movie signals as theft because the movies themselves are intellectual property. If the signal is being broadcast to the neighborhood the assumption would be that it's by way of choice. The owner of the signal may have a contractual obligation to not share said signal. If so, then they may be breaking that contract, but the user of the signal shouldn't be responsible for knowing that. That's all a moot point if the user has hacked the wep, wap, or wap2 password. That's theft.