Police have arrested a man for using someone else's wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this fairly common practice.

Quote: Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony. Police say Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer. The practice is so new that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement doesn't even keep statistics, according to the St. Petersburg Times, which reported Smith's arrest this week.

Wow, a felony? That means, besides jail/probation/fines, that if you're convicted of using someone else's internet signal, you'll never be allowed to:

• Vote
• Own a gun
• Travel to certain countries
• Find a decent job (maybe you can, but it'll be much much harder)

Suck it up and pay for your internet access!

thats pretty harsh man, but i cant say i totally disagree with it.

I just got my cable and internet bill today. Before reading this I was thinking "Man that's expensive!" Now I'm thinking I don't want to be the new guy on Cell Block 4:

Big Con Named Bubba: "What are you in for fresh meat.

Me: Stealing internet access.

Big Con Named Bubba: Look boys we got ourselves a new plaything!

Me: Oh Crap! Why oh why didn't I pay for my internet. Hey! Stop! That Hurts!

So remember boys and girls ALWAYS pay for your internet!

They will throw people in jail for anything here in FL. I've been stopped twice on my f*cking Sting-Ray. A bicycle for Christ's sake. You would think with such a huge city like Palm Bay with over 90,000 people living here they would have more important things to worry about like the two vehicles that threw things at me while I was riding. First one was a glass bottle, missed me by a lot but had to hit the brakes when it shattered in front of me.

Then some douchebag in a black S-10 had some friends in the bed (illegal) shoot bottle rockets at me multiple times. (attempted vehicular assault?) I have their tag number. Police have been notified.

With any luck they might actually do something about it. They will take all day to convict someone of throwing objects at a bicyclist but they seem to be very quick at stopping guys like me for weaving through traffic. yeah, a lane change at 30mph on my Sting-Ray WHILE SIGNALLING is weaving through traffic. f*cking morons. [/rant]

it almost hard not to connect to someone elses network. the computers in my house detect 4 unsecured networks at any time. our modem got unpluged yesterday so my mom just connected to someone elses network. she didn't seem to even realize that it was someone elses network either.

Damn right! I had to fork out to buy my wireless router and pay my ISP monthly why should someone else use mine for free.

Chairman - Understandable and I'm sure the fuzz wouldn't charge anyone for accidantally connecting to the wrong network, but lets face it - sitting in your car outside someone's house ain't exactly and accident.

Maybe he should of encrypted his wireless signal.

If my neighbor plays his CD's at high volumes, can I be charged with music piracy if I open my window to listen? If someone knowingly makes something available to me in my own house, why should he be able to sue me for using it?

Yup, stealing internet is still wrong. But broadcasting an unencrypted wireless signal is like leaving your car running out front for the night. Or carrying around an armful of cash rather than keeping it in a wallet or bank. At some point, the owner has to be at least somewhat responsible for reasonably taking care of his/her posessions.

All the encryption in the world will do you no good on a wireless setup. WEP is one of the easiest encryptions to bypass and can be done by a 9 year old laptop as was proven at Dallascon.

Also, anyone with a semi-current version of Phlak can get into virtually any wireless setup without hassel. By no means do I support or suggest that people go war-driving, but the fact remains that it is simple enough to do and most don't get caught. Until they get stupid and setup camp right outside somebody's house for 3 days straight....

I would think that it might occur to this guy that someone would notice him sitting in his car with a laptop, but hey, that's just me.

Quote: Originally Posted by chevellec8 I would think that it might occur to this guy that someone would notice him sitting in his car with a laptop, but hey, that's just me.

You ever see those commercials for health insurance? The ones that say "People do stupid things."? That applies here.