Have you ever used a neighbours broadband connection without asking them??????

[RTKangaMummy]

Cos I am at the moment

It is weak but it is working

When DH is away he takes his laptop & often sits in car parks or business parks (before or after meetings) switches on (to make notes etc) & there is quite often a signal available!

apparently some people leave it unsecured deliberately, as a public service. there's a feeling among computer types that software etc should be shared more freely and made available to everyone.

the sort of people who hate Microsoft and go for all the Linux, openoffice, type stuff. the same applies, they say, to wireless connections

so you're OK Kangamummy, they are doing it on purpose for you.

Its theft by procuring services without paying for it ie an internet connection.

not if its out there and available for everyone to use. like fennel says they could be sharing anyway

You shouldnt assume anything, and how ridiculous quite frankly. Kanga doesnt know thats what they are doing, so as far as this argument is concerned, it is actually stealing.

I can't put a password on our airport network cos DH has an older operating system and can't log in if I do. It's got a firewall though so no one will be hacking in to our computers.

I've checked and next door can get the signal but it doesn't reach far enough for anyone else. I can see their wireless network. To be honest I wouldn't be that fussed if they did use ours occasionally.

Fennel we did that where we lived before. Told our neighbours and used to get lots of wine

Oh thats it i'm losing the plot, i thought this thread said 'have you ever used your neighbour's HUSBAND connection without asking'!!!' I've lost the plot. Sorry to interrupt! :o

As long as you left a few bottles of wine

To be fair, that's not a good analogy.

The wireless connection is being BROADCAST into RTKangaMummy's home. It's effectively being advertised (whether inadvertantly or deliberately as a public service).

A better analogy would be for me to get stroppy with you because you'd viewed my website. "But," you say ... "it was freely advertised - there was nothing stopping me going in." It's a legal and moral grey area precisely because it's a new technology and the airwaves aren't "property" in the traditional sense of the word.

As I said, a moral grey area. With the DVD analogy it'd be more like I'd hired a DVD and projected it onto a white cinematic screen in my garden perfectly viewable by my next door neighbour. There's nothing stopping them watching it too. Strictly sensible on either of our parts? Probably not...

Incidentally some (all?) windows laptops connect to the strongest available wireless connection by default. It's perfectly possible to be on the "wrong" wireless connection without even realising it, just because next door's router is sending out a stronger signal than your own... Not the case here, I know, but still possible.

Yes Georgina- i agree- it's not like walking into someone's house at all. They should secure it as its being broadcast

fennel we do that! ours is available for anyone close by to use... and we're in sussex fwiw kanga so maybe it';s ours you're using

he's apparently even going to put a chalk mark on our house to let people know it's there

and yes... the machine is totally Linux too

or go and tell them and see what they say. or just keep schtum about it and don't mention it on here again

dp says another analogy is if your neighbour buys a cd and plays it so loudly you can hear it... is that stealing?

you could even argue that they're being a nuiscance in not blocking it

could stop your eqpt from working (if you had it)

starlover: ah warchalking - I thought that had died a death... cool :)

(shows herself up as a sad geek)

it probably has! lol

dp is impressed that there are people on mumsnet who "get it"!

he "romanced" me by making me hold the laptop while he drove around town trying to pick up signals all over the place

starlover my dp wants to know from your dp how to set up a wireless network without jeopardising your local machines.

??? lost on me.

what is chalking? are there specific signs?

i mean the open wireless network for others to use too, of course.

sorry

\link{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warchalking\Warchalking via Wiki}

you need to either firewall the connection to your own machine , but this may still leave your communications visible

so the best way is to ensure that your traffic and the "public" traffic is kept separate. the "best" way to do this would be to acquire more (capable) hardware where you can have both a secure and an insecure network

Bob's personal favourite is treating the wireless network as you would the internet and take the same precautions as you would when connecting to any public network.

I hope that makes sense, because it means noithing to me!

thanks GeorginaA and Starlover.

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