On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:18:10 -0500, "Armond Perretta"
wrote:


Based on my quite limited experience with wireless laptops (I own 2 but
haven't traveled yet with them) I suspect that just sitting on a bench
somewhere will allow you to connect, check mail, etc., with few problems.
The knowing folks call this "piggybacking."

This can be done on an unsecured network, if you can get close enough.
Typical wifi networks are pretty short range. Google "wardriving" for
techniques and equipment. On even a minimally secured network, you
have to know the magic word or have a MAC address the access point
recognizes or both.

Bear in mind that unless the network was specifically intended for
casual use by passers-by, tapping into it is at best a grey area
legally. At worst, it is criminal unauthorized use of a computer
resource. Hacking, in other words. Harmless, but given an aggressive
cop and a DA that wants to run for governor next year, who knows what
could happen?

People are more suspicious and observant nowadays. Walking around
with a high tech device trying different angles and positions to get a
good signal looks suspicious as hell. If there's a guy in that town
that's been "piggybacking" kiddy porn and you get mistaken for him, it
could be a bad day. Good luck rounding up the pictures of yourself
doing the "perp walk".

Not that this worst case scenario is particularly likely, but most of
us have a lot more to lose than the kids who normally do this sort of
thing. I'm not being judgemental here. I don't see using someone's
spare bandwidth fora few minutes as particularly heinous. I just
think people should realize the downside before casually hacking into
someone else's network.


__________________________________________________ __________
Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at world wide wiley dot com
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