--- Don Erickson wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jul 2005, Jeremy Fowler wrote:
Somebody else paid for the bandwidth, and if you
don't
have permission to use it, you're stealing it.
...
I frankly don't see why wifi networks that advertise their existence and give out free IPs are viewed ANY differently than any other internet service that allows access. The only explanation that I can think of is that it all happens within one legal jurisdiction with wifi. Sort of like looking under the lamppost for the missing keys.
I have a what if. Let's roll the clock forward say 10 years. Let's say now that wifi has become ubuiquitous, and that 60% of homes have wifi (probably not an unrealistic scenario). The density of wifi now would be so dense that one home might be getting a connection from a home several houses down, and that house is in fact getting it's connection from several blocks away, etc. Now we are talking about being able to track the original source of the internt connection, which might very well be on the other end of the metropolitan region. In a place like New York or Dallas we could be talking a range of a 100 miles or more. So in the scenario put forward by Jeremy all the homes are filled with criminals. Or perhaps wifi illiterate people. And we all know that ignorance is no exceuse for breaking the law (actually that is more of an Urban Legend than an absolute truth, but that's another can or worms). Of course if wifi ever gets that kind of foothold, there'll be all kinds of new laws to prevent people from forming "local internets" and thus competing with ISPs/cable companies/Ma Bell.
Personally, I feel that wifi should come locked down and that anyone who wants to have wifi in their house needs to know enough to configure it. There are responsibilities that come along with anything useful in life. Computers are no different. If you are a reckless driver you will lose your license. If you leave a wifi open and some cracker uploads a worm that takes down the internet you should lose your right to have a computer. Plain and simple. Computers are important enough today that people need to be responsible for knowing how to use them and care for them. Just like with: guns, planes, cars, children, etc.
Brian JD
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