Lately I have seen several pro and con articles on piggybacking - accessing an open wireless network not protected by a password. Good op/ed piece in the New York Times by Timothy B. Lee called "Hop on my bandwidth" explains many of the points. Commented on Globalethics.org in a piece entitled "Wifi Piggybacking: Stealing or Sharing". Basically some people say that by logging on to an open network, you reduce the bandwidth of the subscriber - who will be reduced to a very slow Internet response time. Also the subscriber pays for the use, and you are stealing his bandwidth. Apart from the security issues, and there are tools to monitor these (use a password, monitor the bandwidth being consumed), Timothy Lee holds to the opinion that it gives a helping hand to people before they can subscribe, or just passing through. He feels it is being neighbourly - like giving a cup of sugar. This probably leaves us with the idea that a little use is OK, but on a regular basis you should have your own subscription. Sort of a "how much use is too much" type of question.
Piggybacking is actually against the law.
A London man was fined £500 and sentenced to 12 months' conditional discharge for hijacking a wireless broadband connection. cf BBC article.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4721723.stm
"Gaining unauthorised access to someone else's network is an offence and people have to take responsibility for their actions. Some people might argue that taking a joy-ride in someone else's car is not an offence either," he said.
Gaining unauthorised access to a computer is an offence covered by the Computer Misuse Act."
Posted by: Emily Turrettini | March 17, 2006 at 08:07 AM
I have been using a wireless connection for a few years,problem is that it is not mine.It comes in at 100%,the speed being about 5 Meg's.I would like to split the cost with the people this is coming from.how far away can it be with the strength 100%?
Posted by: Daniel Apler | May 20, 2008 at 02:29 AM