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Florida Man Charged For Stealing Wi-Fi

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wardriving-leads-to-warcrashing dept.

baldass_newbie writes "The Saint Pete Times has a story about Benjamin Smith III who was arrested for stealing a wi-fi signal in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where apparently wardriving is considered a third degree felony." From the article: "...xperts believe there are scores of incidents occurring undetected, sometimes to frightening effect. People have used the cloak of wireless to traffic in child pornography, steal credit card information and send death threats, according to authorities. For as worrisome as it seems, wireless mooching is easily preventable by turning on encryption or requiring passwords. The problem, security experts say, is many people do not take the time or are unsure how to secure their wireless access from intruders. Dinon knew what to do. 'But I never did it because my neighbors are older.'"

3 of 380 comments (clear)

  1. Not only is it a dupe... by scribblej · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's a dupe of the most commented on story of the week, proving once again that the editors don't even take a passing interest in the site.

  2. Any good lawyer could prove this bogus by lugar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Making some basic assumptions (the wireless was using an SSID, was unencrypted, and a DHCP server was available), any lawyer can make the valid claim that the wireless access point was intended for the public to use:

    - SSID was advertising the availability of the access point.
    - Absense of encryption re-enforces the fact that this was not a private network.
    - DHCP giving an IP address is as good as saying "have a seat, enjoy the connection".

    A good analogy would be to have a big sign in front of your house saying "Cookies inside!" (SSID). You leave the door propped open (lack of encryption). You have someone inside pull up a chair and invite the person to sit down and enjoy said cookies (DHCP).

    If you don't want people on your wireless, take appropriate steps to protect yourself. Someone breaking encryption to get access to a network is illegal. Connecting to an unprotected network should not be.

  3. Mod the stories by KrunZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No we should simply just have a moderation on the entire posting:
    () Dupe
    () Old stuff
    () Interesting ...

    ... and then we could draw some statistics on the editors.