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UK Police Cracking Down on Broadband Theft

Posted by samzenpus on from the throw-away-the-key dept.

dubculture writes "A 39 year-old man in West London was arrested for dishonestly obtaining free internet access" from an unsecured wireless router nearby. The article discusses a couple of other cases, including one where a fine of £500 (~US$1000) was handed out for, essentially, taking advantage of someone else's inability (read: apathy) towards securing their home network."

1 of 672 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No problem by spoco2 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    "Other than the bicycle analogy, why should we assume the default state is "I don't want you using my WiFi"?"

    What about the tap in the front yard analogy?

    I have a water tap in my front yard... should you assume that, without asking, you have a right to plug a hose up to it and use as much water as possible?

    No.

    Same goes here. The person WITH the wireless internet is PAYING for their usage, so you shouldn't be able to use it without either asking first, or compensating them for your usage.

    It's simple... why are so many of you trying to justify using what someone else has paid for?