RedScare Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 What am I, the HAIF People's lawyer? I am not aware of a Texas law that makes grabbing WiFi illegal. However, I have never looked it up, either. Hacking a password to gain access seems to be clearly illegal, just as walking into someone's house, even if the door is unlocked, is burglary (or at least trespass). In the situation where the WiFi is unencrypted, it seems murkier. If a guy is in front of your house, it may be seen as stealing bandwidth. Since the bandwidth is not free, it may be considered theft. If you are near a business district where WiFi is set up for free use, it would be hard to call it theft, even if you found the wrong bandwidth, since you thought you were accessing the free stuff. It is going to be case by case. I doubt the police will do much about it, since it is so easy for the "victim" to protect his bandwidth, and most users will not notice how little gets used. Since most people believe you ask for it if you don't password encrypt, it would be hard to convict for someone using it. But, that doesn't necessarily make it legal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_oneal Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 Sorry, you're living in fantasyland here. Check the 15 page contract you have with your ISP. I'll guarantee you there is an acceptable usage clause in there that prohibits sharing the bandwidth with anyone outside your residence.So, you're contending that it's illegal to gain access to a network if it's secured, but legal if it's not? Again, my analogy sticks. Using your logic it would be legal to walk into someone's unlocked house and watch their TV.actually most of the contracts i have seen prohibit sharing bandwidth even INSIDE your home. those things are really just a joke contract anyhow. they know people share bandwidth in the home and who is really going to come knocking on your door if you willingly share it with your neighbor and (perhaps) split the cost?the Internet police? they have more important things on their plate such as preventing cities (and therefore US) from expanding free (or nearly free) utility grade wifi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeightsGuy Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 Well, like I said, laws have not caught up with this technology yet, but it's folly to think they won't. Remember, there was a very recent time when there were no specific laws against sharing digital copies of music. Then the record companies got wise to it and had laws enacted. That's why God created lobbyists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToolMan Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 What am I, the HAIF People's lawyer?Redscare - THE TOUGH SMART LAWYER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skwatra Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 Sorry, you're living in fantasyland here. Check the 15 page contract you have with your ISP. I'll guarantee you there is an acceptable usage clause in there that prohibits sharing the bandwidth with anyone outside your residence. i'm sure its prohibited, but i'm saying they don't care. they have no restrictions for using a wireless router, and never has my isp asked me to protect my wireless. i've seen them come out and help set up wireless routers for an extra fee and not add encryption. what i'm saying is they have it built in to the system to deal with multiple users on one account, whether its the same residence or not. if you think i'm living in a fantasyland, you should come see my co-worker's garage who has http://www.find-a-drug.org running on 26 computers in his garage consuming bandwidth 24-7. this has gone on for years, and time warner has not questioned him once. i don't think they'll question citykid's sister's neighbor. So, you're contending that it's illegal to gain access to a network if it's secured, but legal if it's not? Again, my analogy sticks. Using your logic it would be legal to walk into someone's unlocked house and watch their TV.i never said anything about walking in the house. lets change the analogy. what if your blasting you music so loud from your house i can here it from the street. is it illegal for me to listen to it and enjoy it?i guess the bottom line is there is no law saying "sharing" your neighbor's wireless is illegal at the moment. and even if they create one, the only real way to stop it is to protect it on your own. so if you don't want your wireless stolen, log in to your router as an admin, click on advanced and find encryption, and follow the simple steps. What am I, the HAIF People's lawyer? your words, just don't start charging us by the post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeightsGuy Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 As much as I am a liberal hippy democrat, I don't believe we have quite made it to the Utopia where Time Warner doesn't care that people are using their bandwidth for free. You may think Time Warner doesn't care, closer to reality may be that Time Warner doesn't yet have a way to track and catch offenders yet.This is a really interesting topic that as yet has no legal answers or precedent. We can argue the finer points all day, but I believe knowingly connecting to an unencrypted wireless network in any setting outside an area where you know it to be free (coffee shop, library, etc.) passes any smell test for theft of service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Well, techincally one person in a household can have as many computers on one internet connection as they want. TimeWarner will hold the cable modem to the same max bandwith in either case. TimeWarner isn't losing anything if the usage is shared on a WiFi network. The subscriber is the one who is losing by getting a slower connection from sharing.This is why TimeWarner really doesn't care. My neighbor and I went in together for the much higher bandwith cable modem service from TimeWarner so we can share it wireless. We get increased speed to share with costing that much. It's been working great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeightsGuy Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 Am I an oracle or what? Looks like the laws are catching up on WiFi just as I stated. Westchester County NY proposing to outlaw unsecured WiFi access points: Unsecured Wi-Fi would be outlawed by N.Y. county Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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