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Most laptop junkies have done it at one time or another: opened up the laptop in a high-density, well-to-do-neighborhood, and found unencrypted networks just waiting to be surfed. Will your neighbor ever know you’re surfing on his dime? Probably not, as long as you don’t download hours and hours of video and slow his connection to a crawl. Is it legal? Well, as it turns out … it’s not. Furthermore, according to Technewsworld, the law is murky enough in this area that if someone is borrowing your WiFi and doing something illegal on it — pirating music, say, or downloading kiddie porn — you could be liable. On the other hand, there are those who argue that $60/month/household for DSL is ridiculous, considering how painless it is to share a connection. Hence ShareMyWiFi.com, a kind of match.com for lonely (and budget-conscious) ‘net surfers. It only makes sense, I suppose, in this infancy of the internet, that people would sponsor such workarounds. One day, perhaps, we’ll all have municipal WiFi — for a small fee, say $10/month for super-broadband — just like we have trash pickup. We can dream. (Pictured above: a municipal WiFi router.)
Comments (8)
Comment
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My city is infusing free WiFi in all of the downtown area. I can only hope that it takes off.
posted by Alison on 4-16-2007 at 5:49 pm
WiFi is great but what’s more serviceable and better defends from laptop junkies?
posted by Antik on 4-17-2007 at 3:55 am
I have a “if you dont want me on it, you should lock it” attitude towards wifi. I live in NYC, and it’s very easy to pick up 7 or 8 signals at once. I DO pay for my own, and I have a WEP key on it so others cannot easily abuse it. But I’m simply not always at home where my own network is in range.
If my neighbor came to me and said “I’ll split the cost with you if you give me your password” I’d accept in a second. Wifi as a technology is still evolving, but moreover, wifi as a business concept is still very young.
posted by sma on 4-17-2007 at 10:18 am
My city was one of the first to install a free WiFi system unfortunately it only works within a half mile or is it an one mile radius? Either way our house is just out of range :(
posted by CropTillDawn on 4-17-2007 at 2:57 pm
Dear Mentalfloss,
Do not spread urban legends. Especially about the law. You are not qualified to hold an opinion. And your rule about not allowing links (at least to GOV sites)in messages is dumb.
Unencrypted wireless is legal
According to Title 18 (Crimes and criminal
procedure) of the United States Code, Part I
(Crimes), Chapter 119 (Wire and electronic
communications interception and interception of oral
communications) from
2511. (2)(g) It shall not be unlawful under this
chapter
(i) to intercept or access an electronic
communication made through an electronic
communication system that is configured so that such
electronic communication is readily accessible to
the general public;
2510. Definitions
(16) “readily accessible to the general public”
means, with respect to a radio communication, that
such communication is not –
(A) scrambled or encrypted ;
(B) transmitted using modulation techniques whose
essential parameters have been withheld from the
public with the intention of preserving the privacy
of such communication;
(C) carried on a subcarrier or other signal
subsidiary to a radio transmission;
(D) transmitted over a communication system provided
by a common carrier, unless the communication is a
tone only paging system communication; or
(E) transmitted on frequencies allocated under part
25
subpart D
E
or F
of part 74
or part 94 of the
Rules of the Federal Communications Commission
unless, in the
case of a communication transmitted on a frequency
allocated under part 74
that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast
auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way
voice communication by radio; [The unlicensed
spectrum used by Wi-Fi is ruled by
part 15
posted by Tom Smith on 4-22-2007 at 3:04 pm
Sorry, Tom, but it’s not an urban legend. Using someone else’s wi-fi system without permission does NOT fall in the realm of “accessing an electronic communication.” What is being stolen in these cases is not a communication, but a utility.
It is a theft of service, just as if your neighbor tapped into your gas line or your cable hook-up.
posted by Sandy on 4-23-2007 at 8:35 am
Tom, I wish you were right. But here’s a BBC article about two people who were arrested for “hijacking” wifi …
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hereford/worcs/6565079.stm
posted by Ransom on 4-23-2007 at 8:55 am
Actually, I don’t believe internet services are considered ‘utilities’ in most states in the sense they are essential ‘life’ services like water, gas, and electricity. Otherwise they’d be regulated as such.
There are certainly worries about open A.P. abuse. The same cases get cited again and again and again … but fortunately, not everybody out there is a pedophile/music thief/hacker. Most people just need to nab some email now and then and don’t want to pay through the nose for it.
Instead of pegging the ‘theft’ tag on the process, consider it ‘borrowing a cup of wifi from the neighbor’.
Also, WEP and WPA won’t necessarily keep a dedicated person from using an available access point. SMWF, at the least, attempts to connect people at both ends of the equation to help foster the process.
-bhance, sharemywifi.com
posted by bhance on 4-23-2007 at 8:57 am