Stealing WIFI!

[great bear]

Is it illegal to surf on someone else's internet access?

I don't think so.

When surfing do you use a board or just say hola?

 

[fuji]

Is it illegal to surf on someone else's internet access?

Yes. Though if it were unsecured WIFI and you were in a coffee shop you might reasonably claim you thought it was complementary internet access. But yes, it's illegal to steal someone else's connection.

 

[d_jedi]

If the connection is unsecured.. how do you distinguish between one willingly left open (ex. a coffee shop, or an altruistic neighbour) and one unwillingly left open? If it's secured - even with WEP - then it certainly is stealing.

 

[red]

If the connection is unsecured.. how do you distinguish between one willingly left open (ex. a coffee shop, or an altruistic neighbour) and one unwillingly left open? If it's secured - even with WEP - then it certainly is stealing.

you could, i dunno, ask? before using it. but that would require talking to the person, so probably a bad idea.

 

[rhuarc29]

If the connection is unsecured.. how do you distinguish between one willingly left open (ex. a coffee shop, or an altruistic neighbour) and one unwillingly left open? If it's secured - even with WEP - then it certainly is stealing.

I'm sure a coffee shop would want to advertise that it has free WIFI for its customers.

 

[WoodPeckr]

... But then you need to think about whether to go on a downloading spree and just grab every movie and tv series you can for a month and know he will wise up when he gets his bill. Or you play it cool and just keep it to a moderate amount and try not to trigger his suspicion. I went for the latter, and managed to go 3 months before he locked it.

Many forget or don't know how to secure their wireless connection.
My wireless router came with warnings on this, saying the first thing you should do is secure it.
Awhile back it was reported a home in the US was raided by LE because they detected a lot of child porn was being downloaded at that house. LE had records proving that occurred. The guy was arrested. He protested saying he did nothing of the sort. LE confiscated all his PCs and they were in fact clean. They had NO porn of any kind. Turned out he never secured his wireless connection and a neighbor was using his unsecured wireless to do all that child porn downloading. After further investigation LE found out who the guilty neighbor was and nailed him.

 

[d_jedi]

you could, i dunno, ask? before using it. but that would require talking to the person, so probably a bad idea.

Ask whom?
From where I am right now.. I can see 14 wireless networks (all secured, FWIW.. ). Unless the SSID is something like "Starbucks free wifi" or something, there is no indication of who owns that network.

 

[rhuarc29]

Ask whom?
Unless the SSID is something like "Starbucks free wifi" or something, there is no indication of who owns that network.

Then I would assume none of them are acceptable connections for me to make. The only WIFI I've used that wasn't my own was at restuarants with posted signs saying "free WIFI".

 

[simon482]

i loved when i lived in an apartment building. i always had no less than 6 open net connections to pick from.

 

[wet_suit_one]

Yes. Though if it were unsecured WIFI and you were in a coffee shop you might reasonably claim you thought it was complementary internet access. But yes, it's illegal to steal someone else's connection.

Cite please.

 

[fuji]

Cite please.

342.1 (1) Every one who, fraudulently and without colour of right,

(a) obtains, directly or indirectly, any computer service,

(b) by means of an electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device, intercepts or causes to be intercepted, directly or indirectly, any function of a computer system,

(c) uses or causes to be used, directly or indirectly, a computer system with intent to commit an offence under paragraph (a) or (b) or an offence under section 430 in relation to data or a computer system, or

(d) uses, possesses, traffics in or permits another person to have access to a computer password that would enable a person to commit an offence under paragraph (a), (b) or (c)

is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

 

[Clear History]

I remember a few years ago Toronto Police arrested some guy from Brantford I think it was doing exactly that. His was caught with his pants down quite literally driving around a Toronto neighbourhood in the middle of the night with his laptop surfing kiddie porn using people's unsecured installations.

He should think himself lucky they did not download kiddie porn, there would have been a knock at HIS door......

 

[Brill]

People now pick and choose which laws they'll obey because some are silly. Nobody cares if you're smoking a joint on the street openly or if you go to an incall to exchange money for sex.
Same with downloading music or movies.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Yes, moral ambivalence is wonderful. But at the end of the day someone has to build the network and customers pay to use it.

 

[benstt]

Someone has been stealing my brothers WIFI, and his usage has tripled, therefor his bill has tripled this past month. He has locked it now, but is there anyway to trace who did this. The IP address is for his connection, right, not for everyones individual computer?

The IP address would have most likely been assigned by your router to the intruders computer. It is useless information to have.

What might have been handy is the DHCP name that the intruders computer used when it requested the IP address. These might actually be descriptive, something like 'Dan-PC'. It likely wasn't logged, but maybe only seen during an active session on the router.

There would also be a MAC address registered during the wireless session. These might help you determine what kind of computer it was, and if you find the computer, uniquely identify it.

You can hire a geek to set up a trap - open/easy wifi access, lots of logging, and packet analyzers to see if you can catch them logging into a POP/IMAP server, etc. Lots of effort though - best to just move on.

 

[Clear History]

There would also be a MAC address registered during the wireless session. These might help you determine what kind of computer it was, and if you find the computer, uniquely identify it.

Is there a "WHOIS" or an ARIN.NET type of site that you could look up the manufacturer based on MAC address?

 

[fuji]

Is there a "WHOIS" or an ARIN.NET type of site that you could look up the manufacturer based on MAC address?

So then you might know who made the wifi adapter... it won't narrow it down even to a laptop vendor. Plus you can spoof a MAC address with a few mouse clicks.

Much better idea just to move on. If the OP absolutely has to know who was stealing his internet, set a trap. Re-open the WIFI but with hooks in place to scan the traffic and find out who it is. Lots of work, for what gain?

 

[OddSox]

342.1 (1) Every one who, fraudulently and without colour of right,

(a) obtains, directly or indirectly, any computer service,

(b) by means of an electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device, intercepts or causes to be intercepted, directly or indirectly, any function of a computer system,

(c) uses or causes to be used, directly or indirectly, a computer system with intent to commit an offence under paragraph (a) or (b) or an offence under section 430 in relation to data or a computer system, or

(d) uses, possesses, traffics in or permits another person to have access to a computer password that would enable a person to commit an offence under paragraph (a), (b) or (c)

is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

All very interesting, but I suspect the key word is 'fraudulently' in the first paragraph. An open network is no different than an open road or an open door.

In Toronto in 2003, a man was arrested with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop in his car, partially undressed. He was tapping into unprotected wireless networks to download child pornography. Ultimately, however, he was charged not for piggybacking, but for the pornography instead.[SUP][3

][/SUP]

 

[blofeld]

Grow up. If you value it, protect it. If you're technologically challenged, ask someone for help (like the store you bought it from).

 

[benstt]

Is there a "WHOIS" or an ARIN.NET type of site that you could look up the manufacturer based on MAC address?

Yeah, there are database lookups like

http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/

Chances are that it would be limited help. Might tell you an Apple from a Dell though.