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Man Arrested for Wireless Piggybacking
Sommelier writes "As reported by KATU in Portland, Oregon, a man was arrested for parking outside a coffee shop in nearby Vancouver, Washington, and using their open wireless AP — for three straight months. '"He doesn't buy anything," Manager Emily Pranger says about the man she ended up calling 911 about. "It's not right for him to come and use it."' Turns out the guy was a registered sex-offender as well." A different computer expert might have pointed out some ways to see if anyone is piggybacking on a wireless signal (many APs have a Web-interface client list), or even suggested something like NoCatAuth.
Thats a long time to browse the web for.
I wonder how he managed it.
liqbase
Not any more: Famous Doonesbury panel.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I am playing music loud on my outdoor speakers, I can't sue my neighbors for listening to it.
That's because the music doesn't belong to you, it belongs to the RIAA.
Which reminds me, the RIAA will be along shortly. Something about you distributing music audibly to your neighbours who have not purchased the songs in question.
I hope you do it over TLS/SSL only with strict cert checks, otherwise you'd be in for a surprise if you did this around my AP. :)
Don't think every open wireless network is managed by the clueless and not monitored and sniffed.
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
I'd like to hear the transcript of that call.
Caller: "Help! Help! Someone's using my wireless access point without my permission!"
Operator: "Are you in danger?"
Caller: "No, but I think they might be downloading music...!"
Operater: "We'll get a swat team there right away."
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
Too true, and my neighbors with the Linksys could have the courtesy to bring some of that wonderful-smelling beef stew out to their bushes now and then.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
"Hi there, I'm the owner of the the cafe across the road there, are you plugged into my wireless connection?"
To which he can truthfully answer "No".
It's its. They're their, there. You're your. Who's whose? A looser loser, though those two too threw through the trough.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
need an excuse to spy, burgle and bug citizens
Haven't you heard? it's burglarize! "Burgle" is such a British word. And you know the British - they owe us for saving them in World War II. That's right, if it wasn't for ground forces at Normandy, the RAF never would've won the Battle of Britain.
Besides, "burgle" makes sense. A burgler...burgles. If we allow our language to make sense, the people might start thinking for themselves.
(OT, but that is an interesting twist on Sapir-Whorf. Has anyone looked into the regularity of languages?)
So how many myspace accounts do you have now?
In communist Chin... er, in this "post 9/11 world" you're guilty until proven innocent. Didn't you get the memo? Terrorist.
Because my God, we need to defend the right of 17 year olds to fuck like rabbits!
Now it so happened in the days of old Yedo, as Tokyo was once called, that the storytellers told marvelous tales of the wit and wisdom of His Honorable Honor, Ooka Tadasuke.
This famous judge never refused to hear a complaint, even if it seemed strange or unreasonable. People sometimes came to his court with the most unusual cases, but Ooka always agreed to listen. And the strangest case of all was the famous Case of the Stolen Smell.
It all began when a poor student rented a room over a tempura shop - a shop where fried food could be bought. The student was a most likeable young man, but the shopkeeper was a miser who suspected everyone of trying to get the better of him. One day he heard the student talking with one of his friends.
"It is sad to be so poor that one can only afford to eat plain rice," the friend complained.
"Oh," said the student, "I have found a very satisfactory answer to the problem. I eat my rice each day while the shopkeeper downstairs fries his fish. The smell comes up, and my humble rice seems to have much more flavor. It is really the smell, you know, that makes things taste so good."
The shopkeeper was furious. To think that someone was enjoying the smell of his fish for nothing! "Thief!" he shouted, "I demand that you pay me for the smells you have stolen."
"A smell is a smell," the young man replied. "Anyone can smell what he wants to. I will pay you nothing!"
Scarlet with rage, the shopkeeper rushed to Ooka's court and charged the student with theft. Of course, everyone laughed at him, for how could anyone steal a smell? Ooka would surely send the man about his business. But to everyone's astonishment, the judge agreed to hear the case.
"Every man is entitled to his hour in court," he explained. "If this man feels strongly enough about his smell to make a complaint, it is only right that I, as city magistrate, should hear the case." He frowned at the amused spectators.
Gravely, Ooka sat on the dais and heard the evidence. Then he delivered his verdict.
"The student is obviously guilty," he said severely. "Taking another person's property is theft, and I cannot see that a smell is different from any other property."
The shopkeeper was delighted, but the student was horrified. He was very poor, and he owed the shopkeeper for three month's smelling. He would surely be thrown into prison.
"How much money have you?," Ooka asked him.
"Only five mon, Honorable Honor," the boy replied. "I need that to pay my rent, or I will be thrown out into the street."
"Let me see the money," said the judge.
The young man held out his hand. Ooka nodded and told him to drop the coins from one hand to the other.
The judge listened to the pleasant clink of the money and said to the shopkeeper, "You have now been paid. If you have any other complaints in the future, please bring them to the court. It is our wish that all injustices be punished and all virtue rewarded.
"But most Honorable Honor," the shopkeeper protested, "I did not get the money! The thief dropped it from one hand to the other. See! I have nothing." He held up his empty hands to show the judge.
Ooka stared at him gravely. "It is the court's judgement that the punishment should fit the crime. I have decided that the price of the smell of food shall be the sound of money. Justice has prevailed as usual in my court."