Easiest way to connect to random wifi network?

**wizardPC** · 02-12-2005, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by vajimbo

I heard a good program the other day and the shot story was. If the AP is totaly open how would you or anyone know if it was private or a free/open AP. This is the same general reason we have doors and locks.

so...you're saying that if I'm stupid and I leave my doors unlocked and someone walks into my house, it isnt trespassing?

Gizmo: That's fine that you don't mind if other people use your wifi without permission. It's yours to do with what you will. The fact is though that probably 75% of residences with wifi have NO IDEA that others can use their stuff. You can't know (unless the AP has the proper naming conventions) if the owner of a random AP cares if you use it or not.

You might even get someone like me who has a wide open AP in an apartment complex just so I can read the traffic going across my network. If they happen to send sensitive information across a network that I own, I can use that information however I see fit (note: I do not capture passwords to online accounts of any type)

Am I being shady? Probably. Is what I do illegal? Nope.

**vajimbo** · 02-13-2005, 06:35 PM

so...you're saying that if I'm stupid and I leave my doors unlocked and someone walks into my house, it isnt trespassing?

No I did not say that. You seem to want a fight about this, sorry I will not give it to you. If you have any basics in Law then you know the basic test of "is it reasonable" and the attorney that was on the radio show I referred to was pointing that out. So if you don't like the answer then go to an attorney and fight with one of them.

**WebDog** · 02-13-2005, 06:52 PM

i thught i heard somewhere that the FCC has it writen that if you dont secure it (WEP) that anyone can legaly connect to it.

**wizardPC** · 02-14-2005, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Special Agent Bill Shore, FBI

Identifying the presence of a wireless network may not be a
criminal violation, however, there may be criminal violations if the
network is actually accessed including theft of services, interception
of communications, misuse of computing resources, up to and including
violations of the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Statute, Theft of
Trade Secrets, and other federal violations.

Read the whole letter here. You may be right about the whole reasonableness thing, but that's not what the Feds think.

**welthqa** · 02-14-2005, 12:10 PM

it's best that you leave your wifi open, then when the RIAA comes knocking, you can always say "damn wardrivers" or something like that.

**Dexter** · 02-14-2005, 12:42 PM

the people that dont lock thier APs wouldnt even know that you "stoled thier internets" for a couple minutes to check email or a website. Boo hoo

**Vchat20** · 02-14-2005, 12:45 PM

i was thinking the same thing dexter. those who leave their AP's open wouldn't know enough to even know someone else was using their connection let alone track them down. those who have theirs locked down, well, you cant get access anyhow without some hacking involved, which is just a worthless cause for most carputer users here.

**god_of_cpu** · 02-14-2005, 12:47 PM

I think wifi access is just like tresspassing laws. i.e. a person doesn't have a right to walk on someone else's lawn, but they can only be prosecuted for the offense if you post a no-tresspassing sign or otherwise secure in a way that is clear and concise to the tresspasser that they are in fact walking on private property against the owners will.

And if the RIAA or someone else comes knocking on your door cause illegal activity was conducted using your equipment, the burden of proof will be on you to both show that you did not do the illegal activity and that you took reasonable precautions to prevent other people from committing illegal activities with your equipment. This is just how the parents of children who used computer for illegal file sharing were procescuted.

**Dexter** · 02-14-2005, 12:49 PM

Heh, i download all my warez through unsecured WiFI. I sit outside peoples houses for weeks at time!

**cjastram** · 02-14-2005, 01:19 PM

Connecting to an unsecured WIFI access point is quite different from walking through somebody's unlocked door.

Connecting (and using) an unsecured WiFi access point is like picking up a kitten under the "Free Kittens" sign. Theft? Who's losing? Certainly not the owner of the AP, because just about everybody (in the US anyway) has flat-rate internet, whether dialup or broadband. At this point, it's a matter of etiquette to be nice, not hog the connection, and not f**k up the AP. So be nice, brothers and sisters.

Now, connecting to *computers* that are hanging off an open WiFi point...that's problematic. That's where theft and trespassing comes in. That IS like peering through somebody's windows, and walking through the proverbial unlocked door.

That sucker in Chicago that was busted for viewing kiddie porn -- he was busted for viewing kiddie porn, not jacking into a WiFi hotspot, if I remember correctly.

I think it might come down to who has a better lawyer. So don't get caught, duuuh.

I personally run an open AP, but I live in the country down a 1/4 mile driveway surrounded by trees, so there ain't nobody connectin' to me, wit there new-fangled laptops an' computerrs an thangs.

Just my $0.02.

Christopher Jastram
http://www.livingresource.net/
cej102937