UK Man Convicted For Wi-Fi Piggybacking

CatrionaMcM tips us to a BBC story reporting that Gregory Straszkiewicz, a UK resident, was fined £500 and sentenced to a conditional discharge for 12 months after being caught using a laptop from a car parked outside somebody else's house. '[H]e was prosecuted under the Communications Act and found guilty of dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service.' A separate BBC story notes that two other people in England were arrested and cautioned for sharing Wi-Fi uninvited.

Comments

Re:Good, I hope this continues and moves to the US

[Wingnut64]

Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you have the right to. I would think that an open AP giving you an IP in response to a DHCP request does in fact give you a right to use their network.

Warning: Computer analogy
You walk past a nondescript building bearing a sign that says 'linksys' with it's door propped open. You enter, observe people seated in front of computers and ask aloud where you can sit. A uniformed man gives you a number and points you to an empty seat.

The point is, these things are shipped with everything wide open and as accommodating as possible to simplify operation by end users. The fact that you can boot up a computer with a wireless card and *UNKNOWINGLY* connect to your neighbors AP should really be a cause for concern if these are treated as criminal cases. A vanilla laptop with XP can only connect to an open AP by following standard protocols and authentication. You asked the owner ('s wireless router) if you could use his internet, and he said yes.