Free wifi

[alan_d]

My post could be construed as libel.

Possibly, but it is not a crime. The previous common law offence of criminal libel was abolished in England in 2010 and there has never been a criminal offence of defamation in Scotland. If you, i or anyone else believes they have been libelled, slandered or otherwise defamed they may sue and attempt to recover damages, but the police would not be interested.

It's an app. It's on Google Play and Apple Store. The end.

Richard

You appear to be suggesting that because something can be legally bought and sold it cannot be used to commit an offence. This is clearly nonsense - think kitchen knives, replica guns, strong acids etc. etc.

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

No one have suggested that the free wifi supplied by any establishment should be used without using some of the services of that Establishment or at the very less asking for permission.
Passwords are given within the App so is where establishment/located and what type of data can be expected , which give the user of the app a clear indication not only how to find where the best free wifi can be found but also if he/she is going to get the data they need before spending they money on service which may not even exist, This again had been made clear in 5# .

nearly most places that offer free wifi have it limited to their premises so unless anyone has plains to go into a bar/ restaurant and sit quietly in the corner and hope he/she is not going to be notices then the sensible option is to
Use the services .
Has all this as already been made clear in #5 ,
how any one here can compare this to anything but being a helpful bit of info to help other find a good free wifi is a bit of a mystery .
It's a real shame posting #2/3 didn't check out the App before posting .

I did

 

[Irish Rover]

I have to wonder about the mentality of some people on this forum. The OP shared some information which he thought might be useful to others on the forum and he ends up having to defend himself against ridiculous accusations. Do people get pleasure from trying to knock other posters at every possible opportunity? Do they think it makes them appear clever to the rest of us? LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME. I'M SO SMART. EVERYONE LOOK AT ME.
We have lost one excellent poster recently because of another disruptive, abusive poster. Do we want to lose more of our valuable posters because of nonsense? Time for a bit of cop-on in my humble opinion.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Good morning Alan
If I may just comment on your posting, picking on bit that People said is not helping.
The whole point here is that opening posting was of an App that some may find helpful has they sail to different ports, it's wasn't suggesting that anyone should use it to default any one of any money or lost of business,
I didn't have to posted I could have just continued sitting on deck with my cool beer, but then after taken the trouble to post I get accused of stealing, that followed post #3 who agreeing ,

Now I not sure about you, but take exception to being called a thief, especially from people who know nothing about me.
If #2/3 posting the app was crap, didn't work or they know a better app at less that would be putting some input into the thread.

Has I said in #5 too much of this trolling is going on where people only interest in replying to thread is to start some kind of conflict and it really is about time the Mods stepping in and stop it or more and more people will decide to move away from posting in fear of being trolled.

So really it's up to us all to decide , do we want a friendly forum where people can find help and useful info when they need it ? or do we want a site full of trolls ?

If it's the latter we find more and more knowledgeable people will move away .

 

[Daydream believer]

If you are using someone's internet access, are you effectively slowing down the system?
So if you sit outside the building using their access without using their other services you are really being a pain in the ar..e
I went into a pub to buy a drink & use the wifi. When I pointed out to the landlord that it was slow; he pointed to the public seating area outside & all the yuppies having their lunch & using his internet access, without buying a drink from him.
This, he claimed, happened every lunch time for about 2 hours . He could do little about it.

So presumably, if that is correct & not the landord's excuse, the OP is advocating the same. That is not really so nice at the end of the day.

The ethics of " I am only taking a little bit" is not much different to " I will take the lot"
Some seem to think that is perfectly OK. Or is it?

It is up to the individual to decide.

 

[Irish Rover]

If you are using someone's internet access, are you effectively slowing down the system?
So if you sit outside the building using their access without using their other services you are really being a pain in the ar..e
I went into a pub to buy a drink & use the wifi. When I pointed out to the landlord that it was slow; he pointed to the public seating area outside & all the yuppies having their lunch & using his internet access, without buying a drink from him.
This, he claimed, happened every lunch time for about 2 hours . He could do little about it.

So presumably, if that is correct & not the landord's excuse, the OP is advocating the same. That is not really so nice at the end of the day.

The ethics of " I am only taking a little bit" is not much different to " I will take the lot"
Some seem to think that is perfectly OK. Or is it?
It is up to the individual to decide.

Sorry to keep jumping in here but I believe if you had read Vic's posts properly you wouldn't have posted this. As for your landlord there were plenty of options open to him such as restricting the wifi range or changing his password more regularly.

 

[sailaboutvic]

If you are using someone's internet access, are you effectively slowing down the system?
So if you sit outside the building using their access without using their other services you are really being a pain in the ar..e
I went into a pub to buy a drink & use the wifi. When I pointed out to the landlord that it was slow; he pointed to the public seating area outside & all the yuppies having their lunch & using his internet access, without buying a drink from him.
This, he claimed, happened every lunch time for about 2 hours . He could do little about it.

So presumably, if that is correct & not the landord's excuse, the OP is advocating the same. That is not really so nice at the end of the day.

The ethics of " I am only taking a little bit" is not much different to " I will take the lot"
Some seem to think that is perfectly OK. Or is it?

It is up to the individual to decide.

Please please please show me where in any of my posting I suggest anyone should do as you said ,
I used the word free wifi only because nearly all bars, cafe advertising their wifi in this way , I mentioned the app having passwords included , because they do just like I mention the data speed and where you can find the establishment to use there services .
None of this warrant being accused of stealing .
Most places these day limit wifi to inside there premises so how you can used it with paying for a drink , you got me there .
unless as in your landlord is happy to let them , even as you are suggestion sitting out side the amount of any data unless he has a super system you will get will be very little data because everyone in between you and his wifi box will be getting what little the data there is before before you .
As for your pub landland , if he wanted to he could put a stop to his problems in seconds , just by changing the pass word each day but I guess the reason he don't is because people tend to think that establishment have lots of people must be good ,

 

[Daydream believer]

Sorry to keep jumping in here but I believe if you had read Vic's posts properly you wouldn't have posted this. As for your landlord there were plenty of options open to him such as restricting the wifi range or changing his password more regularly.

Sorry but I thought that Vic was advocating the use of using someones wifi without buying the other services they offered. The fact that he pointed us to the App surely suggests it was Ok to use. Bit like " Hey guys, I know where you can get free guns" but do not blame me when someone gets shot

As for landlord changing the password- why should he?
The point I was trying to get over was whether it was actually right to take that wifi or not.
Only a "little bit" might seem Ok - as in "fiddle a bit of income tax or VAT for cash"- but when it comes to Google & Amazon etc we get up in arms about it.
The principle is the same- is it not?

I suspect that the landlord did not give a stuff, but as a customer, I got well p..s .d off -- & had too much to drink, waiting for the yuppies to go back to work.
But as I said it is for each individual to decide & I understand some getting upset at objections - but it depends on whether you do agree with shoplifting or not I suppose

 

[nortada]

Vic - interesting.

Fortunately, Marina de Lagos gives us free wifi and when away, with Three roaming, we have sufficient wifi for our needs but could be a useful back up for a rainy day.

Two points; in this part of the world more and more outlets, including bars, public transport and airports provide ‘free’ wifi but understandably it can be rather slow. Additional, the signal is weak so the coverage is very localised.

The other point; some outlets regularly change their password or provide users with a short- term unique password. Both ploys defeatthe would be ‘casual’ user.

Even if you don’t want to poach it would be a useful aid to identifying Wifi locactions and so ending up in a bar/restaurant that doesn’t have Wifi.

Thanks Vic

 

[sailaboutvic]

Sorry but I thought that Vic was advocating the use of using someones wifi without buying the other services they offered.

I not advocating anything and I don't see how pointing out this app is ,
so please stop suggesting I am .
And your really getting away from what really going on here and not just in my thread .
Which is people with no input or interest in the posting ,posting remark just to start conflicts .
At less your posting is in some way making the point that if you don't use other service while using the free wifi it can be a bother to others .

 

[sailaboutvic]

Vic - intersting.

Fortunately, Marina de Lagos gives us free wifi and when away, we have sufficient wifi for our needs but could be a useful back up for a rainy day.

Two points; in this part of the world more and more outlets, including bars, public transport and airports provide ‘free’ wifi but understandably it can be rather slow. Additional, the signal is weak so the coverage is very localised.

The other point; some outlets regularly change their password or provide users with a short- term unique password. Both ploys defear the would be ‘casual’ user.

Yes your correct and thanks for pointing that out , and most do so the only real advances of the app is it points you to the nearest place where you can find a good internet service and save us time running from place to place spending money on cups of coffee to download weather just to find after paying there internet not working or it very slow .

And on that note I got better things to do to day then spending the day arguing with some here who in the end of the day probably end up using the App themselves

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Sorry As for landlord changing the password- why should he?

Lots of reasons. Paying customers getting slow web may go elsewhere, your favourite young professionals might actually saunter in and buy a drink, he'll look better in court if someone's downloading dodgy stuff on his connection ('I change the password once a week' might help in his defence), and if he has half a brain he could have some fun with his customers and silly passwords.

 

[nortada]

I had a look on Apple, is this app available on Android devices and laptops?

 

[RichardS]

You appear to be suggesting that because something can be legally bought and sold it cannot be used to commit an offence. This is clearly nonsense - think kitchen knives, replica guns, strong acids etc. etc.

I don't appear to be suggesting anything. What I am categorically and unequivocally stating is that it's an app. It's on Google Play and Apple Store. The end.

Richard

 

[RichardS]

... how any one here can compare this to anything but being a helpful bit of info to help other find a good free wifi is a bit of a mystery .

I know that this will come as a terrible shock to you Vic .... but some of our fellow forumites favour a cerebral cortex superleggera approach to matters of common interest.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

Richard

 

[Davy_S]

I have to wonder about the mentality of some people on this forum. The OP shared some information which he thought might be useful to others on the forum and he ends up having to defend himself against ridiculous accusations. Do people get pleasure from trying to knock other posters at every possible opportunity? Do they think it makes them appear clever to the rest of us? LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME. I'M SO SMART. EVERYONE LOOK AT ME.
We have lost one excellent poster recently because of another disruptive, abusive poster. Do we want to lose more of our valuable posters because of nonsense? Time for a bit of cop-on in my humble opinion.

Well said!:encouragement:

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Is it just a European thing having password protected wifi? Last time I was in the USA I was surprised how many establishments had open wifi.

It's a security thing. Using a completely open WiFi network exposes you to all sorts of hacking vectors; everything you put on the internet is (in theory) visible to other users of the network. I wouldn't use an open WiFi network UNLESS it had some sort of security system - like the login system that places like hotels and restaurants tend to have. Of course, they don't do it for altruistice reasons, they do it to harvest email addresses for targeted marketing, but it does mean that you have an extra layer of protection of your privacy.

 

[Daydream believer]

Lots of reasons. Paying customers getting slow web may go elsewhere, your favourite young professionals might actually saunter in and buy a drink, he'll look better in court if someone's downloading dodgy stuff on his connection ('I change the password once a week' might help in his defence), and if he has half a brain he could have some fun with his customers and silly passwords.

There is a principle rising here.
First this is not a dig at Vic. In a way I can understand him being upset at the suggestion of theft. But the underlying theme of - this is how it is done - is still there.
Of course he only pointed to the App & one has to make one's own opinion from there on in.
So fair dues to Vic , he has pointed it out in good faith , because the " knife" can be used in a good way.
However, going on tho your reply to my " why should the landlord change his password"
One is suggesting that it is the landlord's fault that the internet is slow.He should do something about it.
It reminds me of the sad case recently of the young girl who has just committed suicide.
The press has lambasted the software provider ( was it facebook or someone? i do not use it)
No one has said anything about the idiots who post the stuff in the first place. No one has said " what will we do to those people. All they can do is scream at Facebook.

A bit like the landlord- no one has said anything about the yuppies who you suggest might post obscene muck. No one has said anything about the bloke who might use Vic's App ( for want of a better description) & use up the bandwidth.
Same thing really, is it not?

And please Vic- Do not get the hump - it is a thread drift that I admit should be in the lounge

 

[JumbleDuck]

It's a security thing. Using a completely open WiFi network exposes you to all sorts of hacking vectors; everything you put on the internet is (in theory) visible to other users of the network. I wouldn't use an open WiFi network UNLESS it had some sort of security system - like the login system that places like hotels and restaurants tend to have. Of course, they don't do it for altruistice reasons, they do it to harvest email addresses for targeted marketing, but it does mean that you have an extra layer of protection of your privacy.

If the password is when you originally connect then it's an encryption key and as long as it's WPA and not WEP (very out-of-date) then you're fairly safe. If it's one of those "give us your email address and enter a password" web pages then you have no security at all and unless you are connecting to a https: website and doing the encryption yourself then you should assume that everyone in the room is reading everything you type.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

If the password is when you originally connect then it's an encryption key and as long as it's WPA and not WEP (very out-of-date) then you're fairly safe. If it's one of those "give us your email address and enter a password" web pages then you have no security at all and unless you are connecting to a https: website and doing the encryption yourself then you should assume that everyone in the room is reading everything you type.

True, of course, but at least you're pretty certain that everyone on the network has made themselves identifiable to the network owners. Not by any means fool-proof! But it's the best you're going to get in most public places; distributing WPA keys is insecure as well as being more of a burden for hotel or bar staff. And places that have a WPA password on a notice by the bar (or wherever) might as well not bother.

Of course, a lot of modern browsers either won't connect to servers that don't support https, or at least warn you of insecure connections. That doesn't mean that you can't connect by http, but I usually get a warning (insecure connection) if the server doesn't support https.

Incidentally, I understand that even WPA is no longer uncrackable (see Reaver and Airgeddon!), and even a brute force attack can be done in a few days.