reesesWeb

I'm sure you've heard of the guy who was arrested and charged for stealing wireless network access. Big deal, we've all done it, right? I may or may not have done it when in the Hyatt in Minneapolis, because some of the rooms have godawful reception of the in-house 802.11b.

Part of it is a problem with access points and their default configuration. People can't lock them because they don't know that there are locks, they don't know how to get through the locks with their computers, and they don't know why they have to deal with locking it since their neighbors are good eggs anyway. I don't think there's a really good way to deal with this, other than shipping access points with a pack of four or five USB dongles.

I am having a bit of trouble understanding the inexplicable insanity of some of the Boing Boing staff.

Mind you, no one will ever accuse Boing Boing of ever "getting it" in terms of the intardweeb. It's a handy place for odd links, but the editorial content is weak. Despite this proviso, it still irks me when I read someone being willfully stupid.

Look, I know it's not quite this simple, but -- an open network? Perhaps next they'll arrest folks for having the audacity to walk down the street and breathe their neighbors' air.

Huh? Did I pay for that air you're breathing? Will I be the one to get in trouble if you're using that air to share music and movies illegally with strangers? Will you expose me to viruses if I breathe the same air you do?

Oh, I will on that last one? Can I sue? No? Damn.

Anyway, straw men are fun, but they don't mean anything. I'll even give one in response. I'm not using my car right now, and I probably won't use it again until next weekend at the earliest. If I don't lock the car and leave the keys in it, is it ok for you to take it, drive it around for a while, as long as you bring it back in time? No?

Let's hope this gets thrown out of court

Why? This isn't a matter of one neighbor leeching from another because his network is in range. This is a matter of some creep parking out in front of someone's house with the specific intent of using something he knows belongs to someone else.

Should it be a felony? Probably not. But it should be a crime.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | reddit | technorati