If there's a wifi or wireless connection nearby is it moral to tap in and use it?

 No


 You have scruples .

Is that the same as having principles ?

I thought scrupleas was an "adult" word

forget morals, it's illegal

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 22:29:24 +0930, John


In most places it is unlawful and seen as theft
unless it is an open connection system where general
access approval has been given - like some of those
community access sites.

Well i wouldn't do it.
On the other hand if the owner is dumb enough to leave their wifi
connection unsecured then they deserve to have their bandwidth stolen.

more likely, like most home users, they
have no idea how to apply basic, let alone
decent, security to the wireless network.
Yeah you can buy good and easy to use
software, but few home users know that or
have enough knowledge to do more than
stick the CD in and let it run itself;
thus they even have problems getting the
software properly installed and set up.

Just like if they leave their car unlocked for whatever reason, they deserve
to have it stolen.

Try that defence in court and see how long you get as someones butt-boy

That being said, most insurance companies won't pay out if they find out
that you left your car unlocked when it was stolen. It happened to me,
they found the car burnt out, the door unlocked and no immobiliser.

Sure but neither action is illegal - unless you left your keys in it which I
think is illegal.

?? how can they prove the lock was not opened by "skilled hands".

I disagree, to steal a car, even an unlocked one would require me to
enter the persons car, hotwire said car, and drive off with it Knowing
fully well that i was stealing a car.

If a computer has a wireless network card i can quite easily imagine
the computer taking advantage of having a neighbor with unsecured
network without the user even knowing it.
A computer illiterate person would not question where internet access
was comming from, he/she might just assume they dialed up in the normal
way.

The old "dog ate my homework" defence.

We are not talking about accidents or ignorance - it has been said here that
use of an unprotected gateway would be tried.

There is no defence for that.

Wrong , when caught you are going to pay as its theft , with all that
implies.

Its theft, pure and simple.



Nope.


Its just as wrong to try it, just like it is to enter
someone's house that happens to be left unlocked.

You have not read the trespass act rod.
If you leave your house unlocked and someone comes in thats not illigal
just immoral.
They are not breaking any laws unless you tell them to leave and they
dont. Then its trespass.

Wrong, as always.

And there is no such animal in any state anyway.



Wrong, as always.



Wrong, as always.

Oh nice, you deny not having read it but claim it doesnt exsist...



http://notes.nt.gov.au/dcm/legislat/legislat.nsf/0/7eb73fc0a8734ab869256
ec30078946a/$FILE/Rept026.pdf

rod speed = wrong.

And they are off and running in the Wi-Fi stakes with Dalian on the rails
and Speed hard behind.

That's an issue I have always wondered about.

I presume you would need file &printer sharing off and good S/W firewall ,
AV , Browserhijack protection.

What else do you need to do to keep yourself unmolested when using an open
AP like that.

Colin

That wont stop them logging the traffic on the wireless router etc.

No big deal if you are careful, but could be a problem if you arent.