On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 13:09:27 +0100, Cynic in message
<news:626ke1lnv59vn98nf58c2na6mink3bcl1m@4ax.com > wrote:

> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:41:45 +0100, Paul Harper <paul@harper.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Having an unsecured and fully-announced wireless network is like
>>leaving your door not only unlocked, but wide open with a "please help
>>yourself" sign outside. In such an instance, I definitely have no
>>sympathy.
>
> No sympathy for *what*? What harm has been done by using the person's
> network? They probably would not know about it and never find out.
> So why should they get upset at all?
>

Well the harm *may* be that they may be using the connection for criminal
purposes.

Or they may be using a lot of bandwidth - quite a few ISPs charge by the
amount of bandwidth used, and he wouldn't know which ISP the hacked user
was with.

With Plusnet, for instance, you can have services capped at as little as
1Gb/month.

And even if they don't, all ISPs base their charges on what is a
sustainable level of usage for them. If this type of connection sharing
becomes commonplace, then the total useage per subscriber will be higher,
and costs for everyone will rise.

> I guess I am a bit unusual, in that I have always been pretty
> unconcerned about people using whtever I have when it of no
> diadvantage to me.

Which is no problem, except that it *may* be of disadvantage to you here.

>
> I have never really thought deeply about the possibility that doing
> such things may be seen as suspicious or put me at significant risk of
> legal action.

I don't think it does either, in itself.

It does put you at risk of *investigation* for any criminal activity that
is traced to your connection. Whether that is a significant risk, I would
not like to say.


--
Alex Heney
Global Villager
If I save time, when do I get it back ?
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTPLUSDOTcom