Thread: WIFI Usage - Borrowing, or Theft?

Reckon they're perverting the law in prosecuting punters for this stuff. Ever been done for Wi Fi theft? Petty init?

Fook 'em believe it's just like listening to a Hi Fi outside the neighbor's. Loada shite slamming people, init it?

Drive-by Wi-Fi 'thief' heavily fined

A Michigan man who parked outside a local Wi-Fi cafe every day to check his email has been fined $400 and sentenced to 40 hours' community service.

Sam Peterson can consider himself unfortunate since if he'd simply popped into the Re-Union Street Cafe in Sparta, Michigan, for a coffee while checking his email he'd have avoided punishment. Peterson was collared for fraudulent access to a computer network after his presence outside the cafe drew the attention of local police chief Andrew Milanowski.

More, Drive-by Wi-Fi 'thief' heavily fined | The Register

^ Stupid. Anyone with WiFi should have a security password on it, including the cafe, which they can update anytime. (Starbucks password is coffee.)

Does it hurt anybody?

^ It'll hurt that bloke when he applys for a govo job and he's got a criminal record.

if you can't spoof your MAC you are too silly to be leaching someone's WiFi.

I once popped into a restaurant to use the toilet and they didn't sue me.

Then again, it's wasn't in the US of A.

Originally Posted by stroller

Does it hurt anybody?

It can. An acquaintance had wifi (no security code) and was hacked by a neighbour who changed his user name. No harm done but probably can be. Have to ask the teckies.

uses up bandwidth.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

uses up bandwidth.

OK, then it isn't cool, I think.

Ha! I run Mac OSX on my first gen Macbook and it has a wonderful screen sharing function with users on the same network.

I 'borrow' this network and lo and behold some person was on the same one running MAC OSX. This guy was obviously quite new to computers as his administrative password was a cinch to crack without even resorting to a brute force attack!

I executed his share screen function and watched him flipping through some quite terrible photos of his recent vacation and then took control of his computer.

Sounds bad, doesn't it?

Well, I took control of his browser and took him straight to a page on how to disable sharing on a network. This way he could have the option of having his computer hijacked or not.

Was he actually at the computer as I was playing? I don't think so but I'd like to imagine his mouth agape in terror.

Borrowing/stealing wifi is of no concern to me. If you're too foolish to change the settings and disable others from joining you don't deserve to use the internet.

Law enforcement in the US is out of control. The cop should be fired and sentenced to 10 years for stupidity