Anyone know the answer to this -

If I find an unsecured wireless network in my neighbourhood can I just log in and use this resource without breaking any laws?

Obviously this connection belongs to somebody but unsecured is unsecured.

Quote:

Anyone know the answer to this -

If I find an unsecured wireless network in my neighbourhood can I just log in and use this resource without breaking any laws?

Obviously this connection belongs to somebody but unsecured is unsecured.

************************************
Probably not. Theft is theft.

If you find an unsecured door use it to enter a property and take something from that property do you think you could be accused of theft?

I'm not a Belgian lawyer, so I'll apply English law to the question.

Theft involves taking someting which belongs to another without authority and with an intention permanently to deprive the owner of that thing.

So what is there to steal?

If the owner of the connection pays an ISP for a volume of uploaded/downloaded data and you use some of that volume, it could be argued that the volume of data is what you stole.

It could be, of course, that the owner of the connection has unlimited data transfer and it could then be argued that that which you took was infinitesimally small. Not really a good argument, because there are bound to be finite limits to the amount of data which could be transferred. It may be, however, that to avoid any argument about whether the quantity of data was significant, you would be charged with 'stealing electricity' - that's the charge used for telephone offences - and the courts are familiar with the concept of stealing electricity.

'Permanently to deprive'? - No problem there. Once you've downloaded/uploaded some data, using some electricity the owner couldn't use that electricity again. It's used.

'Intent'? Probably not too difficult to prove - unless your computer happened to be turned on unattended and happened to make an automatic upload/download (does happen - but as soon as you became aware that the computer was using the connection you would be obliged to disconnect if you intended to use that as a defence.

'Taking without authority'? Possible defence here. You could argue that because it is widely accepted to be standard practice to safeguard a connection and because there are connections made available to members of the public at no charge (public hot spots) you thought you had implied permission to use the connection. You would use that argument as a defence; *you* do not have to prove that you believed you had permission - the prosecution would have to prove (persuade the jury) that you knew you did *not* have permission.

The practical question is whether it is likely that a prosecution would be brought in the first place. The person bringing the prosecution would look a right prat (assuming you had a half-decent lawyer, it wouldn't be too hard to make everybody see how stupid the owner of the connection had been. He (particularly if it's a large corporate 'he') might not want that.

It may well be that the CPS (whatever their equivalent is in Belgium) might be unwilling to waste the court's time over such a trivial matter; if the individual who owned the connection brought a private criminal prosecution then the court might just throw it out.

If he decided to bring a civil action then the action would be to recover damages and he might have some difficulty in quantifying those damages (certainly in quantifying them to the satisfation of a judge.)

It may well be illegal to pirate a connection, but I doubt you would be prosecuted unless you had used the connection for another (somewhat more nefarious) act.

thanks very much!

I have no need to use my neighbours internet (I have my own connection of course) - its just that its there and I know it is and if I had the mind to I could log in any time I want and download to my heart's content. Personally I don't file share but if I did, I wouldn't use my connection I'd find idiots like these!

I just find it bizarre people don't secure there networks - but I read in article somewhere that 60% of people don't