From: http://www.mobilepipeline.com/165702232#_
July 14, 2005
Opinion: 'Stealing' Your Neighbor's Wi-Fi
By Dave Molta
Like most laws enacted by civil societies, there's a certain "smell"
test that must be passed before you start locking people up. Laws that
can't pass this test are routinely violated, and law enforcement
officials are loath to get involved. In basketball games where contact
inconsistent with the rules takes place on nearly every play, we
sometimes call this no harm, no foul. So, what if I hop on my neighbor's
RoadRunner connection by connecting to his wireless router? Are you
supportive of the local constable hauling me off to jail?
The recent case of the St. Petersburg, Fla., Wi-Fi Bandit, arrested and
charged with third-degree felony unauthorized access to a computer
network, strikes us as interesting in large part because borrowing the
neighbor's Wi-Fi seems about as serious an offense as driving 70 in a 65
MPH zone. As Wi-Fi continues its relentless march to ubiquity, the
network of free hotspots grows ever larger. In my home, my son sometimes
uses the neighbor's network, from which he gets a better signal because
of the vagaries of RF.
Some assert that there is great danger with these open wireless
networks. Not only are home computers more vulnerable to security
attacks that come from an individual surreptitiously attached directly
to your home wireless router, there is also the danger of anonymous and
illegal cyber-activity, trading in child-porn being the most frequently
cited possibility. But in truth, the danger is broadly perceived as
minimal. Although Wi-Fi sharing is common, reports of horror stories are
rare. The ActionNews team will have to find something else for its 11:00
PM report.
Although open sharing of wireless networks is fairly common, what caught
our attention in the St. Petersburg case was the fact that the bandit
stole his Wi-Fi signal while parked in front of the victim's home. It's
not clear whether the accused was engaging in illegal activities, but
even if not, there seems to be broad acceptance that it isn't socially
acceptable to park your rig in front of my house and catch a free
broadband surf on my dime. It's not that I'm really worried about you
stealing a few bits. I get much more than I can possibly eat from
Time-Warner anyway. But I don't even like it when the neighbors park in
front of my house, except maybe when there's a party. That's my space.
Somewhere, there's a line of rationality where laws balance with human
behavior and social norms. Securing a wireless LAN is a sinfully complex
undertaking we expect users to endure in a technology culture where
ease-of-use is the most coveted computer system attribute. That Linksys
router is about as close to plug-and-play as you can get. And Windows is
all too eager to jump on whatever Wi-Fi network it can. Why mess it up
with a bunch of security hurdles?
Broadband service providers may feel threatened by the soft boundaries
of consumer Wi-Fi networks. In the early days of DSL and cable modems,
providers tried to restrict access to a single computer system, but two
factors condemned that policy to failure. First, there was legitimate
user demand spurred by an increase in the proportion of homes with
multiple computers. And as home routers began to flood the market, often
with features designed to overcome whatever restrictions service
providers might try to use, multi- computer home LANs became the
accepted norm. Once Wi-Fi was added to the basic home router, the
neighbors could hop a ride for free.
I'm not aware of any systematic studies that have measured the number of
people who engage either in deliberate sharing or in anonymous stealing,
but the number is surely quite high--and climbing. For some, sharing the
broadband connection is a neighborly thing to do, an opportunity to beat
the system at very low risk. As technology improves, it will become
increasingly easy for people to share should they choose. The latest
generation of notebook computers offers significantly enhanced range,
and relaxed FCC antenna rules make it easy for an individual to expand
the coverage area. As the popularity of MIMO grows, range will get even
better. And even if service providers have contract provisions expressly
forbidding connection sharing, it's almost impossible to enforce. It
conjures up images of the cable police, busting customers for stealing HBO.
Over time, the web of wireless services will grow increasingly complex,
making it more difficult to control. Policy-makers will be faced with
difficult choices as they seek to balance conflicting interests. Let's
just hope that whatever they do, the smell test is applied.
--
Dana Spiegel
Executive Director
NYCwireless
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.nycwireless.net
+1 917 402 0422
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