Is it wrong to hijack your neighbours router?

[Action Jackson]

Originally Posted by cookie_365

At the risk of feeding the troll:

Jeez-oh, what's this site all about?

I make a point, I'm a troll. I argue my point, I'm a troll. I ask a question, I'm a troll. I make a joke, I'm a troll. I retaliate to someone's insult, I'm a troll.

Is there some kind of troll cut-off limit when I am no longer a troll? I even had some post count snob the other day telling me that because I had under 300 posts then my opinion didn't count.

What's the deal here?

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by Action Jackson

Yes I would actually.


Why do you ask?

I doubt you would be saying that if everytime you wanted to use the Internet someone was hogging your Internet and maxing out the connection.

[Babu]

See BBC story from last week - here

[Action Jackson]

Originally Posted by Nikesh

Well, don't you think you should at least find out whose wifi it is and ask them if you can use it before helping yourself?

I don't do it continually. In fact I haven't used it for weeks.

I didn't realise we had so many angels on here who have never done anything slightly dishonest in their lives.

I take it you have never downloaded a bit of software that you really should have paid for, or some music, or a film? Must be nice to be so pure.

[Nikesh]

Originally Posted by Action Jackson

I didn't realise we had so many angels on here who have never done anything slightly dishonest in their lives.

Well this thread is called Is it wrong to hijack your neighbours router?

It doesn't matter whether we've done something dishonest or not... the answer to the thread title is YES.

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Nikesh

Would you like it if they were using your internet?

was tempted to get a fon router actually

[The Jackal]

tbh I've cracked more wep keys than you could imagine and messed up a fair few routers along the way.

Personally I've always felt very guilty about it and nowadays don't do it (unless its a quick splash check my email and dash). You should really respect the fact that some people are just not technical and would be really stressed out when all of a sudden their internet connection starts to play up.

I've always thought about what the poor souls where going through in a few instances where I noted heavily hijacked APs the owner would be rebooting their router every 5 or 10 minutes in such instances I've banned mac addresses of the abusers.

SO moral of the story is

" NO DONT STEAL YOUR NEIGHBOURS BROADBAND " and in all fairness I think it is theft if you're intentionally using someone elses broadband.

[The Jackal]

OOOOOoooooooohhhh COME ON !

This is the worst one I have come across :

It tells your the admin username and password in the authentication box for the router.... and this happens to be a library where I am currently at.

I'll let them know.

[TheNorm]

Originally Posted by CrC-3rr0r

..." NO DONT STEAL YOUR NEIGHBOURS BROADBAND " and in all fairness I think it is theft if you're intentionally using someone elses broadband.

Sorry to harp on about this, but I still don't understand the reasoning. How can you steal something that is being given away?

If my neighbour waters his lawn with a sprinkler, and some of that water falls onto my property, am I stealing?

[AlabasterLyn]

Originally Posted by TheNorm

Sorry to harp on about this, but I still don't understand the reasoning. How can you steal something that is being given away?

If my neighbour waters his lawn with a sprinkler, and some of that water falls onto my property, am I stealing?

I think there are a lot of people around that don't really understand about routers and that someone could be using their bandwidth.

I spent 3yrs using a router that was unsecured as I had no idea that it could be secured or that someone could easily use my bandwidth. Admittedly it was an old router and there was nothing in the settings of the router to easily secure it with a password.

When I bought a new router a few months ago the first thing I did was secure it as the new router had the option to secure it.

I have to confess that there have been a few times in the past when my internet has suddenly gone down and I've been in the middle of reading emails or ordering something and I have gone onto my neighbours internet for a few minutes, but I would never think of staying on it for any length of time as I don't think it's right.

Lyn

Originally Posted by TheNorm

Sorry to harp on about this, but I still don't understand the reasoning. How can you steal something that is being given away?

If my neighbour waters his lawn with a sprinkler, and some of that water falls onto my property, am I stealing?

If your neighbour had a cordless phone, and you set up a handset on the same frequency, and made calls through his base-station, would that be stealing?

You appear to be confusing physical entities with non-physical; if your neighbour was having a barbie, you are perfectly entitled to enjoy the aroma of the incinerating flesh, but it would be a bit OTT to reach over and take a steak/sausage/tofu burger, which is what anyone who uses their neighbour's broadband is doing, as it is being routed through their neighbour's modem on their neighbour's property, using the bandwidth the neighbour paid for.

Theft is theft - be it burgers, jewellery, bandwidth, or intellectual property. If you are going to do it, just do it - don't try to justify it with specious reasoning.

Aren't metaphors wonderful (and often so misleading ).

Originally Posted by foreverwar

If your neighbour had a cordless phone, and you set up a handset on the same frequency, and made calls through his base-station, would that be stealing?

You appear to be confusing physical entities with non-physical; if your neighbour was having a barbie, you are perfectly entitled to enjoy the aroma of the incinerating flesh, but it would be a bit OTT to reach over and take a steak/sausage/tofu burger, which is what anyone who uses their neighbour's broadband is doing, as it is being routed through their neighbour's modem on their neighbour's property, using the bandwidth the neighbour paid for.

Theft is theft - be it burgers, jewellery, bandwidth, or intellectual property. If you are going to do it, just do it - don't try to justify it with specious reasoning.

Aren't metaphors wonderful (and often so misleading ).

Finally a post I can rep.

[TheNorm]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

...Theft is theft - be it burgers, jewellery, bandwidth, or intellectual property. If you are going to do it, just do it - don't try to justify it with specious reasoning...

Your post has the hallmarks of a Sunday sermon - uplifting and rousing, until you subject the words to some scrutiny.

Theft of burgers and jewellery deprives the rightful owner of their property. Theft of intellectual property deprives the rightful owner of earning money from the product of their intellect. In these examples the person is (or might be) out-of-pocket. But theft of bandwidth? What, precisely, is being stolen? "He took 2.47 gigabits, your honour." At what cost? And again, how is it theft if I am not entering my neighbours property to gain access to the signal? Or are you suggesting that uploading a few bits of data to his router is trespass?

If, on the train, I look over someone's shoulder and read their paper, is this theft?

[Berezovski]

Originally Posted by TheNorm

But theft of bandwidth? What, precisely, is being stolen? "He took 2.47 gigabits, your honour." At what cost?

You neighbour cannot max out because you are using some of his bandwidth...
You are stealing his microwaves

Nevertheless, I do use unsecured connection at rail stations to check/send my e-mail on route to work

[TheNorm]

Originally Posted by Berezovski

...You are stealing ...

Using someone else's wireless internet service without their permission breaks the Communications Act, which prohibits dishonestly obtaining a communications service.

Communications Act 2003, section 125

Dishonestly obtaining electronic communications services

(1) A person who-

(a) dishonestly obtains an electronic communications service, and
(b) does so with intent to avoid payment of a charge applicable to the provision of that service,

is guilty of an offence.

While many people may not mind someone using some of their bandwidth, allowing someone else to use a network presents a risk for the network owner.

http://www.out-law.com/page-7969

I think the key word is the one I've highlighted in red. If I "hack" my neighbour's WEP, or download illegal material, that is dishonest. Checking my emails on an unsecured network is not.