Benjamin Smith III will likely be seen in court this month after his recent arrest for stealing bandwidth on a wireless network he was parked within range of accessing. The officials are charging him with "unauthorized access to a computer network" which in Florida is a third-degree felony.

Richard Dinon called police after seeing the man in his SUV at two different times appearing to be using his notebook and the first time quickly closing it as Richard spotted him.

There has been much talk about wardriving and illegal wireless access. Many details can be found in our wireless guide talking about risks and security and what you can do:

Wireless Guide

I thought I read that the man caught was OJ!

I can understand if you were still in your house and did that, but parking a car in front of someones house. You are bound to get caught doing that.

Can you get into trouble if your own your neighbor's network and he doens't have it protected w/ a password?

The man who was broadcasting the signal should be arrested for encroaching his signal onto private/public property. If my neighbor sprinkles his lawn with water and some of that water lands on my grass is that theft? Neither is wardriving. This is another reason why we're almost dead last in the civilized world for broadband access.

Only in America do the idiots get protected.

Yes, it is illegal to use someone else's network for your own use.

this is lame, the dude shoulda secured his network if he didn't want anybody using it, its not that hard! Lame-o!

If your access is not protected it is therefore a PUBLIC signal. Whether or not he pays for it is moot. If he doesn't want people using his WiFi then he should protect it. If not tough ****. He should get NO legal recourse because of his ignorance. The wardriver (according to the articles I've read anyways) was not cracking passwords to get in.

BTW The broadcaster is no doubt violating the rules of his ISP by broadcasting unprotected access signals for everyone in the neighborhood.

Couldn't have said it better myself!!!! Dumb ASS should protect his network otherwise, the other dude isn't unauthorizing any type of use its unprotected that means come in

Exact same story happened to me 2-3 months ago in europe.

I resume:


I was parked in a shopping center sending email on a free wifi.
I was parked close of a shop entrance door, laptop open , sending email for 30-40 minutes...

2 cops in civil came show their badge, grab my laptop, place it on the car, took a picture of my screen.on the screen was printed "xxx(name of the shop)"on the connection page .Bingo, I was caught!!!


then they asked me to come in their car, went to police office. asked me questions for 40 minutes.I explained them how wifi worked.
the cop said: "ha i see, it is like in the airports..."

After they looked at my files (the other cops was on my laptop all the time)in my computer, I signed a deposition.

1 month later, 500$ fine, plus criminal charge for 1 year and a promess I will not do it again (from the procuror)."oops baby I did it again"

ah ah ah!


I sent a full opposition with an explaination sent by post letter, I wrote things like that: " broadcasting, internet sharing, unprotected wifi, responsability of the broadcaster, no law in my country"etc etc

now, here 2 possibilities:

1. the guy give up!(the shop owner where I was parked a few feet in front of his entrance door)

2. the guy is really mad at me, and go further. It means judge, attorney,paperwork, money, long waiting time...

for my part I am ready to see the judge(I will not have the choice if i dont want be fined for a non show up anyway) ,I will not pay for an attorney or ask for a free attorney. I can defend myself.I hope it stops here!

Personally I think the guy will give up. Apparently he doesnt know anything about computer and jsutice here can take months, years,....they have thousand of criminal to prosecute, people waiting in jail, illegal immigrant to kick out,...do you think they care of a simple guy like me sending some emails to friends?

many people think they just have to buy a router with a wifi or a wifibox sold when they signed up for ADSL, and they do not realize that their equipment is broadcasting publicly all around with a coverage of 300-500 radius.they are unaware of this small antenna on their system or unaware its broadacsting beyond their shop , home, or garden.Like if radiowaves know exactly where to stop!

or they are clueless how to install and to configure properly their system (no encryption key , no passcode,...)

People doing that are stupid or they want share their internet connection with other(like me).
I have installed same system at my dad' home, and it is public for everybody who want parc near the house. what would happen if my father start to sue the poor guy connected on his ADSL?

If I am guilty of"stealing internet" and I become a criminal, I could sue the department of telecom in my country. I could sue the shop who sold me the laptop, I could sue intel, microsoft. Com'on, call your technician and install properly your system if you can not do it yourself!.

I even found a portable wifi detector.it costs 30$.


BTW ,during 3 months, I was connected on the cops' adsl....from a cafeteria just close of the main police office.("oops I did it again baby")
if i have agreed to pay the fine sent by the procuror , it means I am making a crime 3-4 times a week because I continue to send emails from cafetria,parking slot,... and I dont want to have a criminal file unless I am (properly)found guilty.

the law in my country says something like that:"it is illegal to fraud a paid public service , by mean of computer, ..."it doesnt say more.nothing about ADSL, wifi,...

have fun with that!
(sorry for by broken english, not my first language)

Intersting,,,,,Let us know how it goes!

People who leave their network open like that, and then prosecute the people using it are asking for trouble. I wonder if when the story hits the local newspaper if he ever gets to use his wireless connection again.

Hi John. 1. Do you think someone who works running a free PUBLIC WiFi "hot spot" in your area could maybe help with your defense by explaining this to the judge? I mean if someone neutral could come in and explain the nature of WiFi. 2. Is it possible to take the position that you thought for sure that there was WiFi provided in that area (are there alot of shops nearby) ? 3. Is there a local club of free access advocates, because maybe they could be some help. I don't know about in Europe, but here in America the telecoms and cable companies are doing all they can to squash the concept of "free access". All kinds of municipalities that are trying to start it are being met with teams of lawyers and opposition from some pretty wealthy foes. I'm afraid they may use this case to set precedence to prohibit all wardriving and other possibly legal access issues. Hope I'm of some help. I wish you all the luck with your defense.

You should have just said you had no idea what was happening. You opened your laptop. Left it on the car seat. Left for 10 minutes, left car unlocked. Came back. Saw that suddenly you were connected to the internet. And went at it . 'I dunno'