Results tagged “wifi” from The Daily Nugget

An Illinois man was fined $250 and placed under court supervision for one year for sitting in his car on the street with a laptop and piggybacking off his neighbor's WiFi connection. I don't agree with this guy being fined and humiliated like this.

This case is akin to having a neighbor with a really strong sprinkler system (wireless router). If I realize that the sprinkler system sprays beyond his yard (private domain) onto the street (the public domain), I should be able to park my car there and get a free wash. I am technically not stealing the water, just using it. Sure, water isn't free (neither are high-speed Internet connections), but the neighbor sprayed his water into the public domain and that makes it public.

Of course, if this guy was in his car attempting to gain access to his neighbor's computer instead of simply getting access to the Internet, then he should get a much more severe penalty. But my understanding is that this was a case of frivolous web-surfing on someone else's connection. All San Francisco residents have done that once or twice. In any case, I am curious to see how this plays out going forward. Stay tuned.

At the behest of Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, Google Inc. submitted a 100-page proposal to blanket the city of San Francisco with free WiFi Internet service so that "anyone in San Francisco could connect to the Internet." Many believe that this is a way for Google to use a real market as a test bed for new WiFi, and maybe WiMAX, initiatives and test location-based technology to improve its popular search services. Some industry experts doubt if Google has the telecom expertise to pull off a wireless service offering, but with $7 billion in cash they could certainly find the expertise in a hurry if needed. Regardless of Google's intentions, having free WiFi in the city would be great and having free WiMAX would be even better. Stay tuned to see if the proposal moves forward.

A man in St. Petersburg, Florida has been charged with stealing a neighbor's unprotected WiFi connection. The man admitted to using the wireless signal while sitting in his car with a laptop. The criminal charge, unauthorized access to a computer network, is a third degree felony in the state of Florida. It will be interesting to see how this case of WiFi theft plays out.

I personally am so paranoid about someone using my home network to commit a crime or download kiddie porn or something that I use WiFi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK) with a highly complex passphrase that is immune to dictionary attacks. WEP is so easy to crack using AirSnort that I stopped using it a long time ago.

However, even though I am paranoid about my own network, this doesn't stop me from using open WiFi access at places like Union Square, Yerba Buena Gardens, or other public spaces throughout the city of San Francisco. This case may change the public's perception about wireless and spur a wave of wireless security initiatives and protocols. Stay tuned.