[P1] OT: Setting up Public Wi-Fi

[Harry D. Corsover]

On Mar 12, 2004, at 11:01 AM, Mike Beede wrote:

> Let's change it to something more realistic.  You leave your newspaper
> on the table in the coffee shop.  Someone else reads it, and returns it
> when you ask.  I'm not saying that you can't do things that Are Wrong
> when using someone else's wireless, but I'm a little hazy on this
> concept that if someone leaves a hammer laying around and I drive a
> nail with it, it's like boosting a car.
>
> 	Mike Beede

First, let's clarify something. We're not talking only about legalities 
(since the law isn't clear on this issue yet in most jurisdictions) but 
about more basic concepts of right and wrong, or morality. In a sense, 
it _is_ like boosting a car. It's just on a much smaller scale. So, 
while boosting a car is a felony, boosting a hammer is a misdemeanor. 
And you're not likely to even be charged with that if you give it right 
back. If we stick with the car example a bit more, I don't think it 
matters if you intended to bring it right back or not. Some people may 
not mind your using their hammer briefly without asking, and others 
will. Nevertheless, there is a clear property issue with the hammer. 
Quite simply, it's not yours to use. I'm pretty sure that the police 
and the courts won't want to bother with a case of "he used my hammer 
without asking," but that's back to law and not morality.

Some may use as their threshold "will I get punished if I get caught?" 
Others "did it harm anyone?" and still others may use "was it right or 
wrong?" I'm clearly writing from the latter perspective here. Oh, yeah 
-- there's another popular perspective: "How likely is it for me to get 
caught?" The name "Enron" comes to mind, but that would take us way OT. 
<g>

Will it cause a great uproar if you simply drive a nail or two? Highly 
unlikely, but that is not the question (or at least, not the one I'm 
addressing). It's not yours. I don't think we'd say "well, you didn't 
put your hammer in a locked toolbox that was chained down, so I felt 
free to use it!" And it's not about whether you used it to drive a nail 
or two, or used it to cause some damage. It's not yours, even if 
there's no law against it.

So, I guess one could call me a purist. I've been called worse ;-)

Regards,

Harry Corsover

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