pau1gray
Well-Known Member
Word of warning from the wise (owlwise he he he!)
Be very careful connecting to 'Free Wireless Networks'
Just because someone has left their network unsecured (which is stupidity in the first case) connecting to their network is not technically illegal as they have broadcast the data on a public band and under the wireless and telegraphy laws you may use that data provided you don't have to break any encryption (WEP / MAC address etc etc).
The problem is that as soon as you start to pass data through their network (i.e. using the internet) you could be technically stealing from them.
If you take the wireless out of the equation and say for instance I left a network cable poking out of my front door - which is all an unsecured wireless link is - if someone connected to it and starting using my connection you could say they were stealing my bandwidth!!
As yet (as far as I'm aware) there have been no convictions for this in the UK but I predict that it won't be too long before something like this appears in the courts in the UK.
Be very careful connecting to 'Free Wireless Networks'
Just because someone has left their network unsecured (which is stupidity in the first case) connecting to their network is not technically illegal as they have broadcast the data on a public band and under the wireless and telegraphy laws you may use that data provided you don't have to break any encryption (WEP / MAC address etc etc).
The problem is that as soon as you start to pass data through their network (i.e. using the internet) you could be technically stealing from them.
If you take the wireless out of the equation and say for instance I left a network cable poking out of my front door - which is all an unsecured wireless link is - if someone connected to it and starting using my connection you could say they were stealing my bandwidth!!
As yet (as far as I'm aware) there have been no convictions for this in the UK but I predict that it won't be too long before something like this appears in the courts in the UK.
