A man who was spotted in the street using his laptop to access an unsecured wireless connection has been arrested. … When questioned he admitted using the owner’s unsecured wireless internet connection without permission and was arrested on suspicion of stealing a wireless broadband connection. The man was bailed to October pending further inquiries. Dishonestly obtaining free internet access is an offence under the Communications Act 2003 and a potential breach of the Computer Misuse Act.
Next they’ll be arresting people for illegally smelling the perfume and aftershave of people as they walk past. Or illegally hearing conversations spoken aloud in a public place. I’m going to assume that the OWNER of the broadband has to press charges here?
Every day, the Government invents new stupidities to amaze me.
So, what to do.
- 1. You could start using BT’s expensive and slow BT OpenWorld network.
- 2. You could use your mobile carriers expensive and slow network.
- 3. You could join an organisation devoted to Free and Open Wireless using Mesh networks, distributed gateways and supported by goodwill.
[UPDATE: There are some on this BBC Magazine comment list who would compare stealing wireless as being the same as stealing pens, stealing a car or warming your hands in someone else’s pockets (brrrr, scary analogy). If this is the case, the onus should be on the owner of the Wireless Access Point to secure their network in simple steps. Ignorance of the proper operation of a device is not really an excuse. ]
Why don’t we all write to the police and let them know our wireless internet has been deliberately left open for anyone to use.
– pj
Better still, why don’t we EMAIL the police.
Can you imagine the reaction.