Moral Dilemma - Do I take advantage of "free" Broadband

thedougster

Just use it for god sake. The reality is that if you are using it to check your emails now and again you will only be downloading a very little amount. There is only a very small chance that anyone will ever have to pay additional money for you to do so.

I myself have an MSc in IT and web design and I choose to leave one of my networks open. I don't mind if anyone else piggy backs on it as i don't pay any additional costs. I would only have issues if they start sucking up all my bandwidth.

Just remember guys and girls.......sharing is caring .....lol

caspol

I've just recently had the opposite of this dilemma. Temporarily living in apartment block and have internet access through my own wireless router, unsecured. Checking one day recently I noticed a MAC address I didn't recognise and thought internet access was a bit slow....so I secured it using WEP. Two days later a guy living upstairs knocked on my door and said he would pay my internet access for a month if I would give him access as he was only staying here for another 4 weeks and he was not a heavy user. Having thought about it I realised (a) that he was the person tapping into my supply and (b) I had no easy control over what he was downloading and it could be kiddy pron that I would legally be responsible for. So I told him in no uncertain terms that I didn't appreciate him hijacking my connection although it was my fault for not securing it and that I wouldn't be accepting his offer as legally I would then be responsible for it. A tricky situation alright...

albertross_2

It is really is foolish attaching to any unsecured network, or leaving your own open, don't be surprised if your own PC get's hacked, and do you really want a neighbour to have access to your PC/emails/passwords/pictures/browsing habits, and pass you a worm while you are at it? It is not just the neighbour with the router that can do this, it is anyone within range.

It also doesn't endear you to the neighbours when they find out.