Hot Spots in the U.S.

[Chris Volpe]

On Tuesday, January 28, 2003, at 11:29  PM, William L Carr wrote:

> Remember, you're not really breaking any laws by doing this.   If I
> went to my ISP and logged in, then I'd have access to their Internet,
> not their files.
>
> You could think of this as being no more illegal than parking in a
> Reserved for Customers parking lot downtown.   And less likely to be
> caught.

What are your credentials for making such a statement?

---
Lobate Black Scale -- A Photo Essay By Jack Rodgers
http://www.jackrodgers.com

Okay - Just lighten up a little here! You're scaring the children! ;) 
There is no law against joining an open wireless network that is not 
password protected!

I've been using my iBook countless times and suddenly noticed that the 
card has automatically detected available wireless bandwidth and put me 
online, whereupon I can fire up Safari and surf away. Would Apple want 
to make it so easy for me to break the law? LOL

Now, I believe it IS technically illegal to use hacking tools to 
"sniff" a wireless encryption protocol (WEP)-protected network in hopes 
of fabricating authentication and slipping past the log-in screen. 
That's called wireless eavesdropping, aka a network "attack." But you 
need to run special software for this (Kismac comes to mind). 
Seriously, only in the most paranoid imagination is anyone going to get 
in any trouble at all for surfing the web or sending email using an 
open wireless access point. That's one of the things I love about my 
iBook. There are any number of cafes and restaurants, benches, etc in 
my city (Portsmouth NH) which the 'Book automatically logs onto. My own 
access point is  freely open to anyone who wants to use it whose card 
reception is good enough to detect it on the second floor of my 
apartment building. In fact, we have friends who've told us they've 
pulled up to the curb in front of our building to check email. Do we 
care? No! (Actually, we like it that way) Does anyone care? Well, 
theoretically my ISP might, but really only in a parallel universe 
where the wireless communications standards are written differently and 
the business models have already been tried, tested and settled upon 
(unlike in this universe). In reality, at least on our network, the 
data throughput is so robust that there is more bandwidth available at 
any given moment than we could possibly use, even if everyone in the 
building logged on at once. Why waste it??

There is a growing body of people, many of them Mac and I would assume 
iBook-toting folk, who are actively promoting free, shared wireless 
access points. There's even a symbol that can be chalked on sidewalks 
for making these open networks known: )( .

Bandwidth wants to be free ;) Use it. Enjoy it. This is a great time to 
be carrying an iBook.

Chris