It has finally happened! A man has been charged with and has admitted to stealing a Wi-Fi signal. He was sitting outside in his van and using someone else's signal on his laptop. The owner of the signal noticed and reported it. It's so easy to find Wi-Fi signals that spill over because people do not protect themselves. According to the article, borrowing of Wi-Fi signals is a common occurance. Have you ever done it?

Man charged with stealing Wi-Fi signal
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/07/wi.fi.theft.ap/index.html

A few friends (all judicial and IT security specialists) and I were one day discussing what is right and what is wrong. And I came to a conclusion that if I am paying for a broad band connection, I think I am not breaking any law by hopping on to someone else's broad band connection--since wireless connection signal may cross each other. I am not justifying that I am dedicatedly using someone else's wireless signal, but that if my wireless card happens to connect to my neighbor's wireless router (and not mine) it is still under the law since I am still paying for my broad band connection (whether I use it or not). And so does my neighbor.

Can this guy get any dumber than he already is? I mean c'mon, you could've sat in one of Starbucks coffee places and surfed all his hearts content for free! If you think not purchasing anything and just using their free wireless connection is unethical, so does charging 4 bucks and some change for a cup of "elegantly pronounced" coffee names. But I do pay for them anyhow...

No, I have never done or, nor do I know anyone who has done it. I just don't see why people steal things...INCLUDING SIGNALS! I mean, people are so darn cheap! Also, hopefully they'll try to catch more people doing that. It would figure that there's quite a few others doing that.

I personaly haven't done it, but my sister works for the school district as a computer intern. And ofcourse she gets her one G4 laptop(I'm' sooo jealous). And her laptop connects to the fastest wireless connection. So my sister can connect to my neighbors internet if it's faster then her own. (the school provides her with internet but it's really slow) So she's not really doing it illegally, just...uhm, legaly?

In your sister's case, KuBi, it may be illegal. Your sister is not "paying" for her internet service and it is a personal usage. To explain, her school that she works for provides for her...not that she's paying out of her own pocket. Who's really paying are the tax payers of her school district to provide her with "accommodating" internet service. Therefore, she is doing wrong to your neighbor. Your neighbor pays for the fast connection and your sister is just free-loading that neighbor's hard earn money.

What happen to that guy? Is there a law that says don't steal wi-fi signal? I can't believe this happen, what if this is unintentional? It is easy to find signal but hard to gain accessed if the security is tight. So, maybe it is the owners fault why he or she leaves the computer unsecured.... Here in the philippines there is no law that says no wi-fi signal stealing....

Well I think there's nothing to steal about wireless signal.. If you don't protect it, other people may get the chance to detect your signal and use it since they may think that its a free-to-use signal... It doesn't happen to me.. Even if it does, I won't really bother about it.. My wireless connection is for home use and its not for business, doesn't hurt me anyway.. so why trouble to complain, whine and report to authorities...?