MD Bill Would Criminalize Theft of Wireless Access

Pickens writes "A bill presented by Delegate LeRoy E. Myers Jr. to the Maryland House of Delegates would criminalize purposely surfing the Internet on someone else's wireless connection. The bill would make intentional unauthorized access to another person's computer, network, database, or software a misdemeanor with a penalty up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000. The Maryland public defender's office has submitted written testimony opposing the specific ban and penalty suggested in Myers' bill. Noting that wireless connections are becoming common in neighborhoods, the written testimony says: 'A more effective way to prevent unauthorized access would be for owners to secure their wireless networks with assistance where necessary from Internet service providers or vendors.'"

Comments

come here, sweetheart

[BorgCopyeditor]

You say "no," but your router says "yes."

Re:come here, sweetheart

[tsm_sf]

It's worse than that...

Your router is constantly saying "Here I am! Connect to me! I am OPEN! I am AVAILABLE!"

This attempt at legislation actually goes against the default router settings provided by every single manufacturer. It attempts to genuinely legislate that up is down, that open is closed. That something similar passed in the UK only shows us that fools are not limited to our shores.

Dangers of RTFA

[Anonymous Coward]

The article presents all the necessary counter arguments to the proposed bill. What in the heck are we supposed to talk about now?

I know... Isn't Wil Wheaton awesome?

Re:abra-ca-de-ridiculous!

[pilgrim23]

just rememeber: Like your life, your fortune and your sacred honor, Wirless is not yours to share. You cannot share what you do not own. What, you think this is a free country or somethin?

Sounds reasonable

[peipas]

While they're at it, they should criminalize unauthorized looking at hotties, although accidental looking is fine. It is an important issue, because if too many people crowd around to look at the hottie it will not be able to move.

MS to Fix

[Himring]

Hi,

Microsoft is fixing unsecured wireless access just like they did viruses and spam.

Thank you

Re:"Purposely" is the key

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, my laptop came with Backtrack installed as its OS and this Cisco Aironet wireless card I got off eBay seems to have had its firmware modified some time in the past such that it does things that Cisco did not necessarily intend it to do. Also, strangely enough, when my laptop boots up, it takes a few minutes at the end executing a bunch of scripts with some weird hex data that finally appears on the screen, then blinks out. I don't mind though, my laptop seems to get onto the internet everywhere I go, even when they claim they have WPA this, or WEP that, whatever those things are.

I just wish I had more space for my music files. Half my hard drive is taken up by some directory called "Rainbow Tables", which I'm guessing has something to do with the OS's file system or a database or something.

Re:Stupid rednecks!

[gad_zuki!]

Bruce also know how to lock down his shares, build vlans, segment networks, build captive portals, monitor traffic, etc. Joe Shmoe doesnt. The best advice for non-techies is to use WPA on their wireless.

>Really, what this law is is an attempt to criminalize a culture of sharing.

Yeah, its a big conspiracy d00d! The other day I tried to give someone a hoho and a police man shot at me!

Re:Proportional punishment to the crime

[tgd]

The moral of the story is, make sure your iPhone is turned off while you're stealing cars... otherwise you might end up doing some real hard time.