A Public Official Actually Shows Common Sense in Wireless 'Piggybacking' Debate
from the we're-shocked dept
A state legislature has apparently introduced legislation that would make it a crime punishable by up to three years in jail to "steal" a neighbor's open wireless connection (found via Slashdot). The legislator claims that his goal in passing this legislation is to "clarify intentional theft vs. accidental use." Amazingly, someone in the Maryland government actually has some common sense. The state's public defender's office filed a statement making the same point that we've been making for years: "A more effective way to prevent unauthorized access would be for owners' (sic) to secure their wireless networks with assistance where necessary from Internet service providers or Vendors." Aside from the typo, we couldn't have put it better ourselves. They also point out that it won't always be easy to know if a particular user's usage of a wireless network is "intentional" or not because many non-technical users have no idea which network their computers are contacting. And, of course, some people leave their WiFi connections open on purpose. It seems better to err on the side of caution and not threaten people with multi-year jail terms for something that's basically harmless. The police certainly have more important things to be worrying about.
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Filed Under: freeloaders, maryland, open access, piggybacking, wifi
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The idiot is in need of tars and feathers
You punks heard me..........!
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i vote for this anonymous official for president
oh, and i love the story where the poor schmuck got arrested for doing something he could have done "for free" 10 feet away. way to keep the streets safe from people checking e-mail.
oh, and lastly? can WE PLEASE NOT HAVE ANY STUPID ANALOGIES IN THE COMMENTS ABOUT HOW USING SOMEONES WIFI IS LIKE X or Y? No its NOT like going into someones house because the door is unlocked, and not its not like reading a book with the light that came from the neighbors porch, and we can debate the pros and cons of this without pretending it is because we are intelligent adults.
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Re:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/westada/story/329697.html
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3 years
"Armed Robbery. You?"
"Piggy-backing on an open wifi".
"I'm gonna piggy-back you."
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If someone is using my connection (and it is either metered or i use %100 of my bandwidth cap) it should be my responsibility to secure it.
If I track down whoever was tapping in, if it cost me any significant amount in 'damages' (say $500 on my metered line, which would be quite a large use) then take then to a civil court to have them pay their share.
of course if you want people to file police reports, open investigations, have municipalities spend tens of thousands extra on equipment, training, and man-hours, on an already stressed workforce, on civil matters.
and cases like this will most likely end up in the civil courts anyway since the 'victim' will want their money back.
just the thoughts of a board engineering student before breakfast
have fun
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have fun
yesturday i kuldnt spel enginer and now i are one
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are you a moron, yes, but your neighbor is a bigger moron.
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What it's really about...
Do you really think anyone is saved from harm by punishing someone for WiFi piggybacking? I know of no one with high speed access that has metered usage. If it's out there it's exceedingly rare. There are no quantifiable damages to hang a civil suit on, unless you are the ISP who isn't getting the neighbors money for another underutilized bandwidth pipeline into their home. Basically the neighbor is just taking advantage of the stupidity of the owner of the WiFi network and unused bandwidth that would otherwise be wasted.
It's time to point out the emperor's nudity. Like many of the arbitrary traffic laws, speed traps, speed cameras, radar, lidar and red light cameras; it's all about the money. Time and time again, statistics and studies prove that public safety or security is not served by these measures. But they make great revenue streams for the government.
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Re: What it's really about...
And if you do have metered service then that's and even better reason not run open WiFi. Ignorance is no excuse.
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Maryland is Anti-Technology
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