Is this illegal?

Katykat

I have wireless connection. My OH parents in their 80's dont even have a computer. They have family in Australia inc a new great grand daughter they have never seen. I want to set up a webcam connection with the aussie relly's. Whilst I was at parents house yesterday, I put PC on & found an unsecured wireless connection. I don't know whose it is. Now, would it be illegal for me to connect through this connection? What would be the implications for both my computer & the other persons?

Minxy_Bella

Basically you'd be stealing someone's bandwidth which is theft. Don't do it - it's not fair.

jweb2k

Theft and as such, illegal. And obviously this person could in theory monitor your internet and take your passwords, view any sites you visit etc

Not_so_wise_one

It is theft, and you can very well be prosecuted for it.An old story but still applicable. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4721723.stm

"The Communications Act 2003 says a "person who (a) dishonestly obtains an electronic communications service, and (b) does so with intent to avoid payment of a charge applicable to the provision of that service, is guilty of an offence".

Just get a cheap ISP with a reasonable amount of bandwidth etc and set them up with their own internet. If it was me and I caught you using my internet, I wouldn't be happy to say the least. Why should you be able to steal what I am paying for?
Basically it is a big can of worms..

Lum

Unless the access point is named something like "free wifi" then don't do it. If it's named "linksys", "netgear" etc. then the owner is just an idiot who hasn't secured their router, basically what you are doing is the same as assuming that because someone has left the front door of their house open it's ok to go in and use their toilet.

Even if someone is nice enough to provide free wifi to anyone who wants it, running videoconferencing over it is a bit of a selfish thing to do anyway.

6022tivo

You could get a payasyougo vodafone usb dongle.
The credit never runs out of time, so one top up could last years if only occasional use for a web cam chat from time to time.

£$&*"($£&(

Is it a BT Openzone or BTFON connection - this are supposed to unsecured but you can only use them if your a BT Broadband customer or if you pay to use them.

Taffybiker

Even if you do see a connection that states "free Wi-Fi" or similar, be certain that the connection is infrastructure (to a router), and not ad-hoc (to another computer).
A friend of mine discovered this a few months ago when he connected and checked his bank account. Next day not only was his bank account emptied but also in the overdraft to the limit. He is not a stupid guy, but he now knows this was a stupid thing to do.

[Deleted User]

Katykat wrote: »

I have wireless connection. My OH parents in their 80's dont even have a computer. They have family in Australia inc a new great grand daughter they have never seen. I want to set up a webcam connection with the aussie relly's. Whilst I was at parents house yesterday, I put PC on & found an unsecured wireless connection. I don't know whose it is. Now, would it be illegal for me to connect through this connection? What would be the implications for both my computer & the other persons?

Sure it's illegal. But if it's a one off then why not. Live life on the fun side!

Lum

Taffybiker wrote: »

Even if you do see a connection that states "free Wi-Fi" or similar, be certain that the connection is infrastructure (to a router), and not ad-hoc (to another computer).

Even if it's to a router, visiting your online bank is pretty stupid. Whoever controls the router can control, read and modify all your internet use activities while you're on their network. Some people do this just to play pranks, like the "upsidedownternet" program that flips every image you download, or just replace every image with goatse, but sniffing your bank details is pretty easy too.

totalsolutions

oh go for it, it won't be for long they prob switch it off to save power, etc. or the people in the world send you to gaol. Its free like the air and the blackberries down the lane, never been scrumping? Full of meanies here. Next time don't ask, just keep stum.