Man in Florida arrested who was using unauthorized Wi-Fi

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'

hello,

I have received today (25th august) a letter from the department of justice.
they ask me to show proves for my defense.
I have already this Wi lan detector I have found in a magazin.And I will make a copy of the ADSL installation with the encryption key' instruction to show to the judge he didnt install correctly his WI-FI.

I will have to look for some areas who offer free wifi.

If you can help me about this case , it would be great. I have 10 days only.
I will create an email adress so you can send me some attachments.

Yes, I was connected on the internet in 5 seconds. In fact my laptop "looks" for the best signal and lock on it.

what I need is a graphic of wi-lan system, text of company who say a non protected WIFI is free, anything you can find.
Please post any link that may constitue my defense.

the bad thing is if the judge asks me to come to talk, in 2 weeks I leave to the USA for 2 months.I have better thing to do , but this case starts to be interseting.so let 's see!


thanks

you can write me to johnhamler@yahoo.com

please mention "WI FI" in the subject.

@michael
you are right, I will sent an email to the 2-3 adsl companies to see what they think, and what they can send me.

In my country, there is no law about this matter. And they are pretty much againt everything which is new.

Truth is most people don't know how or don't want to make the process of a wireless network setup more complicated for themselves so they don't add a WEP or any sort of secruity encryption to their wireless network. It's sad but there is nothing we can do. The way I was brought up, I would never accept stealing someones internet that may, or may not, be aware they are broadcasting their internet beyond the boundary of their home walls.

Either way, there needs to be some sort of law besides that poorly designed Rhode Island House Bill #495 to give us users some sort of direction as to what is truly illegal or not.

To me the best possible solution is to have written consent by the owner of the wireless network. If it's meant to be free, just make a html page that you are forced to go to to authorize all users access. Something like that, that's only a quick thought though.

this is not stealing, this is sharing...
for some people, you share your internet , like I did at my father' house by installing the system (close of a lac, so radiowave go miles away), but some people think you steal the internet connection.

How do I know this guy didnt want to have me to be connected on his system, it is not printed Prohibided with a red flag!. He even saw me in my car on my laptop, and he didnt say anything. what he did after 6 months: he called the cops...

How strange is that?.
Ok, you see a guy in front of your house. You know he is connected on your system. You say him hello, you talk with him. if you dont like what he does, you ask him to stop and leave and you ask advice from a friend how to block your system.

or you make a new friend , and you tell him, that you dont care if someone use your line.
does it really bother you that someone can be connected on your line.? what about the respnsability.

suppose a guy downloads illicit pictures in front of your house, are you responsible?or it is the guy who has illicit pictures who is responsible.

what about the responsability of people selling these kind of hardware? wilan detector"be connected everywhere you want"

this problem is worldwide and new, and I think some new laws will come out soon, in the USA, and in europe first.

I gotta agree. I also see an unprotected signal as being shared. If someone doesn't want to share it, then protect it. Now if I bypass the encryption or hack into it (as if I could) then I would be stealing it.