Harold Feld has written an excellent piece about the implications of people using other people’s open WiFi networks using devices like the Slurpr and the discussion about the legality of using other people’s networks. Harold Feld has written an excellent piece about the implications of people using other people’s open WiFi networks using devices like the Slurpr and the discussion about the legality of using other people’s networks. He writes (in part):
“Numerous websites that follow wireless news have reported about a new wireless box called Slurpr, which allows someone to aggregate up to six open wifi access points at once. In just about the next sentence, of each of these reports warns of the potential legal consequences of “stealing wifi” by using an open network that the operator does not intend for open use. Or, as Glenn Fleishman put it: “This might get you arrested six times in one day.”
“But will it? And, perhaps more importantly, should it? With the rise of applications like FON, wifi enabled phones, and now the introduction of Slurpr, we need to get this issue resolved sooner rather than later. Otherwise, we can expect to see more arrests of folks unaware they are committing a crime and another equipment/application industry killed off by regulatory uncertainty.”
Indeed, I recently wrote about an application called WeFi you can download to your computer that allows you to find and log on easily to an open network. What’s wrong with that if the owners of the network want others to use it?
Read the rest of Harold’s excellent piece here and post your comments below.
[disclosure: I am on the advisory board of WeFi.]
IMO, if you don’t want ppl using your network, lock it down. It’s your responsibility. If you don’t take responsibility for your own security, why complain when someone leeches your bandwidth? Furthermore, how can there be justification for bringing the law down on someone for using it if you are publicly broadcasting an open network? I understand it’s like virtual trespassing, but these are microwaves we are talking about. In that sense, there is no clear way to delineate where your transmission stops and someone else’s begin.