Wardriver Charged with Theft of Communications

BiggsTheCat writes "A number of news sources are reporting that a Toronto man is the first to be charged with "theft of communications" (Canadian Criminal Code S. 342.1) for downloading child pornography using someone else's residential wireless network. The "War Driver" was caught naked from the waist down driving the wrong way down a one-way street, with a laptop in hand. The Edmonton Sun warns that 'War Driving ... is becoming more and more common among perverts trying to avoid online detection'. Yeah."

Comments

Re:A major point here seems to be....

[Shakrai]

That's not a very fair anology. By using my neighbors phone I'd be preventing them from use of that phone. Not true with wireless, outside of very extreme circumstances.

No, but your slowing down his Internet connection. What if he is trying to download something? And what if he pays for his Internet connection on a per-byte basis? Highly unlikely, but not impossible.

In the grandparents example (dead Internet connection.. neighbors is alive and wide open) all he had to do was walk next door and say "Can I use your AP for awhile?". He did not choose to do that. Thus he broke the law and stole a resource that didn't belong to him.

If my electric stops working is it ok for me to plug an extension cord into my neighbors house without his permission just because he doesn't have a lock on the outdoor receptacle? Common sense here people....