What do you think about people stealing your wireless?

In my opinion if the wireless has secured and you try to open it to connect that was stealing but it the wireless is not secured for me it's not stealing. Someone doesn't mind to put a security their wireless co'z they doesn't cared if someone use it also there is really a free wireless connection in different area.

I used to "steal" my neighbors internet but then they locked it. I dont see anything wrong with it. If its open your allowed to use it.

That's why you go to places that allow you internet access? coffee shops have wireless that you're allowed to use. If you pay for your own internet at home, use it and don't steal off the neighbourhood. Whether or not you use it for business. Just because you think that you should be able to steal internet off others simply 'cause you pay your own bill at home doesn't make it right. It's stealing, and theft is illegal. I think you're stupid if you don't secure your wireless, not that it makes a difference, you don't pay extra if someone else is using your connection. I hope your files get hacked into for using an unsecure connection. That's just wrong..

This is a hard question. I do not like the idea of stealing anything, if I did have a wireless, I would more then likely ask permission if I could do it, especially if it were for an emergency. However I would not know how to do that. I do not like taking advantage of someone's failure to secure their internet. And I also do not know if perhaps they do not mind. It might be that they kept their internet open because they had nothing of importance on their site. The trouble is that they have to pay for their internet as well and it might be that they have to pay by the hour instead of a regular monthly bill.

You asked the same question that I was going to present to you. Why do you secure your internet? I think that it maybe wrong, if your using the connection for other than just checking email. There might come a bandwith issue with taking someone elses connection. I personally dont have my home network secured, could care less who is recieving the signal. I have done it, and I am sure that others will do it after me. As long as your not out to cause harm to anyone, the issue recieving a signal should not be a issue. Technically your not stealing, your borrowing. They will still have a signal even if you use it for a bit. Once you leave the area, your giving it back, or to the next person who is lining up to borrow the signal. Anyone who is against this, just please secure your signal, and no one will be using your connection as theirs. If your in my areas, which by the way I am not going to give. You can use my connection, because I dont care. Happy Lotting

Well over here if internets are private then they are secured and got some passcodes if they are open to everyone then they are free. but rarely i take my laptop to m college if needed rather i never need internet service much in my college only at times when we need an urgent mail or some details via them. at home my internet is ofcourse a paid one so its on 24/7 only shuts down if server problems either times i never give a rest to it because i need it always

We had a recent case where someone stoile the wireless onnection of a foriegner and send the teror mails from them so may be its risky and if caught you get busted for life. Its better to opt for a secure connection what if someone stole your connection and send an email through your network and you get apprehended by the law wnforcement authorities. WIth the times we are living in its better to avoid getting in to such kind of ugly situations.

I honestly don't know why people don't secure their internet. When I first got my laptop, I was able to connect to Netgear. I never found out who owns it, or would just use that name. Well, I got tired of being kicked off line a lot and not having my own. So I went out and got everything I needed to get online. Weird thing, every once in awhile, I would still get disconnected and get logged on through something else and had no clue why or who it was. I see some weird names in my area that's secured. It's not hard to get a secured wireless connection, might have to pay extra for the things you need, but it's worth it.

If it's not locked, then it's free. You don't steal it. There's a good smattering of people across the country who don't lock their wifi ON PURPOSE, for the reason that they believe people should be able to have free wifi. And SOME lucky ducks live or can go to hotspots which're designed to be open to the public anyway. In the city we lived in last year, the library did that. You just went in and got the password, they let anyone do it. Their wifi was boggy though, 'cause so many people used it. There was also a coffee shop in town that would let you use the wifi for as long as you wanted as long as you came in and bought a drink. Me? I'll lock my wifi when it needs to be secure, but I'll leave it open most of the time...because I'm one of those people who believes that everyone should have free internet.

Well I guess stealing wireless internet signal is not totally stealing. Let us make it clear that when people have internet connection at home and they are paying for it then it should be secured so that others can't use it. It is an individual subscription and sharing the service with only one person paying for it is unfair. But outside there are a lot of free internet wi-fi services like in malls, restaurants like Star Bucks and McDonalds' McCafe and other establishments that would like to attract customers to go and use their free wi-fi provided they will patronage their main service or product. I think those are considered privileges for those who have laptops and wants to use free internet. But in those signals that are secured, I also think they are in the right position to secure their wireless signal. In the first place they are not commercial establishments that wants to get customers in exchange of the free internet but they are paying their own connection just like those in residential. So to sum all, I guess it all depends on the purpose of the owner that determines whether he or she wants to share the wireless signal. But for me I always check if our wireless has SSID and WEP so that others can't avail it. They should subscribe if they want and pay for the service or just go outside, visit some malls with free wi-fi. Besides having someone sharing the use of your connection will make your surfing slower and I am pretty sure we don't want that. We want of course a fast connection.

If it's an open connection, it's OPEN. Securing it is so very simple (and 99% of routers come pre-secured), so I figure if it's insecure then they're happy to let people use it. I'm on someone else's right now.

That's hilarious hahahahahahaha. Yeah, if they don't like people stealing their internet, they should lock it like I do at home hahahaha. It's silly to juse label it with taunting names and not secure it. It's like having an open cookie jar in the sidewalk and NOT expecting people to just get free cookies.

I don't think it fair for us to steal others' wireless connection though it may not insert any influence upon the owner. In my opinion, I will feel a little bit unbalanced when someone is stealing my wireless. It may be excused asking for the owner's permission beforehand. I will never do that due to the unstable signal of wireless.

How does one secure his/her internet? I personally think it is very wrong to steal other peoples' wireless. I am a Christian and the Bible says to obey God. God's Word says "DO NOT STEAL." Even if I can access what other's have, I think it is wrong to take it. I'm not saying that I have never stolen anything in my life. I have when I was not living for the Lord. As far as I'm concerned, I sinned. Just my assessment of what slealing means to me.

I too pay for internet service at home and ofen take my laptop on road rips. I usually get internet from ruckers on he road and at rest stops or fuel stations. I beleive if they didnt want you touse it they would have it secured like one post stated router come secure already....

I have wireless connection at home and I own a laptop. I don't know much about computer security. I imagine that my system is open and anyone could park outside and use it. I live in a cul de sac so I don't think anyone is using my wireless except me. I think if a neighbor used my wireless all the time it would make me think the were mean. I wish to secure my Internet but I have no idea how.

Well, I don't think it is that serious. A lot of people are making use of wireless, and if they want to make their wireless secure, they should set password to prevent others from invading. But if they don't set password, they probably don't mind being invaded. I do not have the access to internet at home, so I often "borrow" others' wireless. I don't think it's wrong to do such a thing because it does no harm to the host.

I live in a WiFi hotspot, two Universities, bookstores/cafes, and in the heart of my Counties seat. All of them have open access WiFi. If the county offers an unsecure signal then I'm going to use it. On the laptops where you can see what signals that are available, why would you get a list like that if you weren't to use it? DCMerkle

I probably responded to the same discussion where the guy was openly stealing and thought it was fine. I don't think you should just blatantly use the next door neighbor's wireless. We live too far away from anyone for them to steal our wireless connection, so we don't worry about that. If a business doesn't want anyone to use their wireless, then they will secure it. We go to the college library with our laptops. You can get online, BUT you can't connect to their wireless because you have to have a password, and to have a password, you have to be a professor, worker, or a student, which I am none of the above. But there are open wireless places in lots of restaurants and businesses just for people outside to use. We see them all time in some of the fast food chains.

Technically it's not right, legal, or ethical. But personally, I think there are bigger problams to get upset about. If someone gets mad you are setaling their wireless, you could probably find something trivial they shouldn't be doing too. People just need to chill out, I think a lot of the people who get mad would think differently if they were in the position of being able to bum off the internet