Screw with People Who Steal your WiFi

whilst this is hilarious, and very clever, they are technically not stealing unless they actually hack your wireless.

They’ve tried to connect to your router, on their behalf their computer has gone “hi, can I have permission to use your wifi” to your router, then, on your behalf your router has said “ok then, you have permission” and allowed them to connect to it. Unless you set the router to default deny access then you are granting permission for anyone to connect.

Actually, if you’re in the US, stealing wireless internet is a crime. While I do not agree with most of the punishment people get, it is still considered a crime. It is a crime of theft. You are stealing a service someone else has paid for.

I think going ahead and screwing with them in this manner is much more rewarding than bringing the whole legal system to a halt because some lazy and cheap person can’t call their local service provider. And hey, they made xkcd’s website by doing it, that’s very awesome!

Look at it this way: if you leave a door unlocked in your house and someone climbs in and steals something (or, to be a more accurate analogy, makes themselves at home, eats your food, etc.) they have still illegally gained entry to your house. The fact that a window was unlocked is not an open invitation for anyone to walk in and make themselves at home.

I think “omg” has it right. The router on your behalf is saying come on in, if you cant be bothered to setup some kind of security, WEP, WPA even MAC filtering or run your start up CD like every single package tells you to before you even turn your router on, or call tech support to get them to walk you through the steps then its your own fault. Many people have given the climbing in an open window analogy to try and show it as a crime but this is not even like that at all. The signal is being sent out into public property or someone’s property so they dont have to do any trespassing to access it. This is more like watching your neighbors television through their open window. Internet waves are no different from any othe media waves so by the government’s logic, listening to the radio coming from someone’s car is a crime because I did not ask their permission to listen to the service they paid for, I was cheap and bought a car without a radio.

I don’t think it is at all like someone walking into your house and using /eating your stuff. That wireless hardware is BROADCASTING the information INTO the neighbor’s house. The analogy is more like, you are throwing your food and stuff into the neighbor’s house, and he/she is going ahead and using what you have put into their space without asking permission. As litigious as the US is, I’m waiting for someone to sue their neighbor for broadcasting into/onto their property; some nut, maybe, who things that the waves are potentially dangerous.

I agree with the above dave.. IT is like they’re throwing their food at your house.. but I’d put it more like they’re blaring music and you’re listening to it. Or if you want to go even more specific lets say they’re broadcasting music over their own radio waves and you have pulled a radio out and are tuning into it.

Just so you know if someone accesses your wireless network you are legally responsible for what they do on it, it is also illegal to gain access to a network without the users express permission.

I’d rather block their access and not risk them going on illegal sites when they realise you are screwing with them.
It may seem funny but you are liable for what goes on throughout any network you run.

you people who claim it’s not stealing are morons lol…either way you look at it, it’s stealing. If you take bread from a dumpster at wal-mart, even though its trash you can be prosecuted for stealing. If a Brinks truck dropped a bag off the back of their truck and it rolled to a stop, after crashing through your front door, its still stealing if you keep the money. Just because you have access to something doesn’t make it ok to use.

If you do not pay for a “product”, that is not free, and you have not been given explicit permission to use it, you are stealing. Regardless of the “product” involved.

First off, secure your wireless router if you are concerned about someone stealing internet. That being said, just because my wireless router (the doorman) lets you have access to the wireless signal (the building), does not give you the right to use the internet service (the pool) that I pay for. In the real world you’d get kicked out or arrested and the doorman would get fired. Access to the openly available wireless signal is totally separate from the internet access that resides on the router.

@sketch

actually taking bread (or anything for that matter) that you find in a dumpster is completely legal provided it is not locked or on private property and it is trespassing, not theft if you violate either of those conditions

according to the supreme court that is

Since when is listen to certain frequencies a sin or a crime. If a build an antenna that can channel in on frequencies 8.2ghz to 12.1ghz, will I be arrested? No, because as long as they are open frequencies with no encryption there is no crime. If I break through that encryption then there is a crime. However, When one purchase a router there a purchasing a radio. Their router broadcast their ssid( or name) into the air, like real radio stations go figure. I am allowed to listen( meaning watch or see) with my adapter, but if I do not have permission to connect to that broadcast(like fire or police radio stations) it is crime for me to access that channel with out permission. The only permission one has is to look. Making connection is unauthorized unless, I have consent from the owner. It’s like a very attractive redhead with green eyes, you can look but don’t touch without permission.

I name my netword “Disabled” and have a password that seems to keep most network kiddies out. Not sophisticated, but most people who look at it say “Oh…disabled”, and go on to something else

In the state of Connecticut if you have a password set or not IT IS illegal. The crime is called, “unauthorized access to a computer network.” You ARE stealing a service someone has paid for and not given you permission to be on. Perfect example…You have a cordless phone broadcasting on 813mhz your neighbor has the exact same phone on the same 813mhz. He has no phone line plugged in picks up his phone and gets a dial tone on your line and starts making phone calls. Yes, you are broadcasting the signal but that does not give people an open invitation to use it!! I’m not saying you shouldn’t secure your network cause you should! And if you are a piggybacking from your neighbor, it’s just silly! My neighbor asked me if he could piggyback and I gave him the password to get on the network. With the bandwidth of broadband in residential homes these days being so great you’ll hardly notice one extra PC on it.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/07/technology/personaltech/wireless_arrest/

If someone is using your WiFi
PUT AN ENCRYPTION ON YOUR ROUTER
and or screw with them using this method

If they Persist
Then maybe you should take it further but dont be an ass and skip the first step
how many people do you know (including yourself) that has snagged a nearby WiFi signal to do school work, check email, or any other low bandwidth task. How pissed would you be if you got caught stealing internet while you were using it to set up your own internet connection

If YOUR using your neighbors internet
be considerate of your provider (neighbor)
dont suck up all the bandwidth
dont hack theyer computers
dont put them in an awkward legal situation