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Man arrested for stealing broadband

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  • madfrenchgirl
    madfrenchgirl Posts: 1,729 Forumite
    Well, sorry, but if you are intelligent enough to be able to use the internet, you should be intelligent enough to know how to put a freking password on your wifi network. It is exactly like people leaving their cars unlocked and idling, bikes not locked to a fixed object, house unlocked, etc etc

    If you want an example placed in the age of information, then an IT company is held responsible by the client if vital information has leaked, it being through state fo the art hacking or plain stupid laptop left on a taxi by a senior executive.

    if you don't want to get your precious car, bike, laptop, or broadband connection stolen: keep it locked.
    "Don't cry, Don't Raise your Eye
    It's only teenage wasteland"
    The Who - Baba O'Riley
    Who's Next (1971)

    RIP Keith Moon
    RIP John Entwistle
  • normanmark
    normanmark Posts: 4,156 Forumite
    peter999 wrote: »
    Why waste the time & money ??

    Most trivial cases are dropped eventually.

    If you listened to wrong radio/tv station, do you think they should be prosecuted ??

    peter999

    I'm not going on about whether its morally right or wrong.

    I'm saying police are duty bound to follow up on a complaint from someone. They saw that someone had broken a law (no matter how silly you think it is) and the person who had their broadband 'stolen' wanted to press charges. The police are not at fault here.

    Whose the silly one? The one for sitting taking broadband off someones wireless network or the one pressing the charges? Thats your opinion on that one.

    Irrespective what the article doesnt cover is the important bits, for all you know that person could have been doing it over an extended amount of months, little more than the 'browsing web pages & email checking' that the usual trolls would say that the person 'stealing' the broadband was doing. Unless you have all the facts in front of you, you cant sit there & think its a pointless law. In this age new acts like this will come into force to protect those who arent that technological savvy & theres been a few news articles on how securing wireless networks need to be made easier to users.

    But like one of the posters said if they used the connection for illegal activity then you wouldnt be so quick to judge? But then i forget, you have all the info to hand ;)
  • JAYMARSH2005
    JAYMARSH2005 Posts: 2,718 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I wonder If virgin media staff will get arrested for stealing all our broadband !!
  • peter999
    peter999 Posts: 7,102 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    So you'd be happy if a stranger used your connection, causing you to exceed your bandwidth limits and be 'throttled' or charged extra? What if they used your connection for some illegal activity and the police came knocking at your door?

    Don't understand the reference to radio / TV stations. They are designed to be available to everyone and WANT people to watch / listen to them.
    If you go wireless, you need to control your connection.

    If you leave any resource open to others, they will take advantage.

    Leaving wireless internet connection open is waiting to be used, like open TV/radio frequencies.

    peter999
  • Voyager2002
    Voyager2002 Posts: 16,286 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    So you'd be happy if a stranger used your connection, causing you to exceed your bandwidth limits and be 'throttled' or charged extra? What if they used your connection for some illegal activity and the police came knocking at your door?

    I would be happy for a stranger to use my connection, yes. The only reason we have the internet is because of the "open source" philosophy, whereby people shared what was theirs (technologies that they created) in order to build a resource that was available to all, and provided value for everyone who wished to use it. The current law came later, and it is quite possible that had it been passed years ago then the internet would never have been created.

    And yes, if I found that my connection were being used to such an extent that I was running out of bandwidth, then with sadness I would encrypt it. But I would wait until there was a problem before doing so, and quite possibly that time would never come.

    Illegal activities present another problem. For what it is worth, users of illegal pornography have mostly been caught via their credit card details, so I don't think I would need to worry about false accusations of that kind. More generally, I would imagine that an examination of my computer would prove my innocence of most computer-related crimes fairly rapidly.
  • tomsolomon
    tomsolomon Posts: 3,613 Forumite
    I would be happy for a stranger to use my connection, yes. The only reason we have the internet is because of the "open source" philosophy, whereby people shared what was theirs (technologies that they created) in order to build a resource that was available to all, and provided value for everyone who wished to use it. The current law came later, and it is quite possible that had it been passed years ago then the internet would never have been created.

    I agree whole heartedly. Comuters, and more importantly information, and the means to access that information should be open source. And if it was'nt for Microsoft capitalising the computer industry it would have been.

    Software, music and dvd's are another area where this kind of mentalism comes into play.
    The fact that these companies scream about rights and then create a program that will allow anyone with the know how to copy these types of media is beyond belief.

    Networking and information should be available for EVERYONE, and if it was available to everyone then you wouldnt get people abusing the system.:beer: people should share more especialy when it comes to knowlege. You have to pay for knowlege these days, it used to be called apprenticeship, where generations would pass on information and skills to their peers.
    To travel at the speed of light, one must first become light.....
  • BWZN93
    BWZN93 Posts: 2,182 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker

    Illegal activities present another problem. For what it is worth, users of illegal pornography have mostly been caught via their credit card details, so I don't think I would need to worry about false accusations of that kind. More generally, I would imagine that an examination of my computer would prove my innocence of most computer-related crimes fairly rapidly.

    But would you even want the situation to arise where your PC was taken away and examined while you were under suspicion for something you didnt do?

    More generally for myself, If I saw some random person sitting on my wall outside my home/in a car outside my home with a laptop id be quite worried in all honesty. Its not just thieving my broadband connection that would run through my mind, and I would be on the phone to the police pronto.

    As far as I am concerned, theft is theft, and I would expect the appropriate punishment to dished out on the basis of the level of the crime committed. Its irrelevant whether this is my broadband connection, my moped, my credit card details, or some laundry off the line. I work for the money to pay for them so in essence my time is being stolen. Theft is legally and morally wrong imo, there are no two ways about it really.

    Jo x
    #KiamaHouse
  • tomsolomon
    tomsolomon Posts: 3,613 Forumite
    jw1096 wrote: »
    As far as I am concerned, theft is theft, and I would expect the appropriate punishment to dished out on the basis of the level of the crime committed. Its irrelevant whether this is my broadband connection, my moped, my credit card details, or some laundry off the line. I work for the money to pay for them so in essence my time is being stolen. Theft is legally and morally wrong imo, there are no two ways about it really.

    Jo x

    What were talking about here is the theft of knowlege.(If thats at all possible)
    In my experience the only way to truly obtain knowlege from a person is if that person is willing to share that knowlege with you. The fact that you have to pay for knowlege these days is a crime in itself.
    There is a skills shortage plain and simple and the more people have to pay for learning the more the skills shortage will grow. Thats why isp's are now offering FREE Broadband so people can access this knowlege. Soon enough you will be able to access the internet virtualy anywhere, then stealing someones bandwidth wont be a problem.
    Untill then, if you dont want to share your internet. Lock it.
    Viva La Penguin:D
    To travel at the speed of light, one must first become light.....
  • tomsolomon wrote: »
    What were talking about here is the theft of knowlege.(If thats at all possible)
    In my experience the only way to truly obtain knowlege from a person is if that person is willing to share that knowlege with you. The fact that you have to pay for knowlege these days is a crime in itself.
    There is a skills shortage plain and simple and the more people have to pay for learning the more the skills shortage will grow. Thats why isp's are now offering FREE Broadband so people can access this knowlege. Soon enough you will be able to access the internet virtualy anywhere, then stealing someones bandwidth wont be a problem.
    Untill then, if you dont want to share your internet. Lock it.
    Viva La Penguin:D

    Yebbut the Internet has a virtually infinite amount of knowledge available. I have learned a tremendous amount from those who have freely made their knowledge available (and tried to give something back by sharing my knowledge and experience where I can). I could never have learned all I have by traditional methods such as buying books or going on courses.

    The Internet infrastructure has to be paid for somehow, and 15 quid a month from each user seems a reasonably equitable way of doing it to me. How would you fund it?
  • peter999
    peter999 Posts: 7,102 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    jw1096 wrote: »
    If I saw some random person sitting on my wall outside my home/in a car outside my home with a laptop id be quite worried in all honesty.
    Now that would be stupid.

    I'm not sure what business someone using a laptop in car outside is of yours.

    peter999
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