Is it legal to use an unprotected wireless access point that

Is it legal to \"use\" an unprotected wireless access point that you discover in a public area? Is it ethical to use it? Hypothetically, if you were at an event and your computer detected a wireless network which was not protected and that was not sponsored by the event or its organizers, would you use it? Justify your answer based on legal and security regulations, not personal opinion.

Solution

There were a lot of different opinions on the issue. In the last case we discussed, the wireless network was using some form of security measure such as WEP or WPA and a reader wanted to crack the key in order to use the internet.

I would like to pose a slightly different question for discussion. Is it ethical to use someones wireless network, solely for internet access, if theyve left it wide open?

If network is unsecured it\'s usually because the owner does not know about it or does not know how to enable it\'s security. But he will learn his lesson as soon as someone use his connection\'s full bandwidth. That\'s like someone would leave a key and opened doors in his car on the driveway. And then did (not) find it in the morning. That mainly depends on your neighborhood.

And using someone\'s unsecured network is almost the same risky for him as for you. You can dump his data the same way as he can yours.

So, first think and decide how you want your data to be secure in this kind of network :)

I dont feel like this one is black and white. In my opinion this falls into the grey.

You could argue that it is black and white because the ISP is losing money, but even that is a weak argument. What if the person who owns the wireless network (and therefore is paying the ISP) used encryption but decided to share the key with all of the neighbors. Yes the ISP is losing the neighboring customers, but its well within the wireless networks owners a rights to distribute his key and share his network. So let as assume then that the network owner intentionally left his network open in order to share with his neighbors. Here as the grey.

When a network has been intentionally left open and you have no malicious intent, is it okay to use the network. The owner may not even know me, but the signal is open and within range of my wireless card. In my opinion, I think its okay. I am causing no harm and didnthave to crack anything to gain access.