MattyJ wrote:
Why does everyone like to characterize it as stealing?
Because it is. You are taking something you have not paid for where it
is not explicitly understood that it is yours for the taking. Not least
of which because you haven't asked your neighbor if it's okay.
The car analogy doesn't work any better than the house analogy. Maybe
because it's not analogous? You might be closer if your car didn't
even need keys, there were no license plates, VIN, or other ownership
information anywhere accessible, *and* you parked in MY garage.
Well, you left your garage open with no clear signage stating that I
can't park in there, so why not? You only have one car and there's
plenty of space. What's the harm?
See how poorly the cars and computer analogy is. The only counter
argument you can make is even more specious than mine. But then I didn't
use it to begin with but rather played along with the game.
And the harm is you trespassed. I didn't come onto your property to use
your net connection. You directed (even if unintendedly so) your
connection onto *my* property. If you didn't want me or anyone else to
use it, all you had to do was properly protect it. The burden is on YOU,
not on me.
My garage is on my property. You have to come over to use it. See the
difference?
More correctly, you paid to rent time on someone else's network. And
it's not out of my way at all. In fact, your sending me everything I
need to know to use your network makes it quite trivial on my part to
do so. Your radio signals are in my house unprotected.
You are right. *I* pay to be on someone else's network, not you.
Then you should do due diligences to protect that other entity's network
and not let vermin like me into it.
Do you put locks on your trashcan? Let's say a neighbor of yours is
cheap and refuses to pay for municipal services, so they do not have a
trashcan. You only fill yours half way each week, so they simply put
their trash in your unsecured trashcan on trash night.
They have to trespass onto my property to do so. If I continually put my
trashcan on my neighbour's property, I shouldn't be surprised if it gets
filled (or thrown though my window). However, if my neighbor empties his
trashcan onto my property, and I find something useful in the trash,
guess what? I keep it.
You're telling me
you don't feel this is any kind of moral violation, not one little bit?
Of course, but then your trashcan analogy is no more analogous then your
garage analogy or the the car analogy, or the house analogy, all of
which presuppose that the offender comes onto/into my premises to do his
dastardly deed. So what does it matter.
Unused trash bandwidth is just up for grabs because it's on the same
curb that everyone has access to?
Yep.
The neighbor's trash didn't
accidentally find itself in your trashcan any more than live network
links magically connect to your computer. It's trivial to connect, yes,
but it does take effort to scan for networks and connect to them, which
indicates some level of forethought.
Have you actually ever used Wifi?
Let's see: on my XO I see a little circle. I click on it. I'm connected.
I don't even know where it's at, let alone who's AP it is. For all I
know if might be an intentionally public hotspot. How do I tell?
It takes less skill and effort than tuning the TV. Or driving your car
up my driveway into my garage.
You *know* you're doing something
you shouldn't be doing and you're simply taking advantage of a
neighbor's ignorance. Congratulations on being a good neighbor (or, at
least in this moral tale, taking the side of the scoundrel.)
-Matt
My neighbour is not being a good neighbor to begin with by blasting me
with his radio (in the forced scenario where creating or using rogue
radio waves is bad).
The real neighborly thing to do would be to say "Hey, you know you're AP
is running wide open such that I can use it, and I'd suggest that if you
don't want me or anyone else to use it, you'd better secure it.
Otherwise I'm going to continue using it, and I thank you in advance for
your kind generosity. Want a beer?".
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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