News Piggybacking teenager faces jail

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/12/20/Piggybacking_teenager_faces_jail/

 

Not jail worthy I don't think.

He should have gone to his neighbours and said "Excuse me, would you like me to teach you how to secure your network?"

I've made loadsa new friends and got free drinks that way.

 

I got to agree with DE above, not worth jail time, specialy not with UK jail issues. I have helped neighbours secure there wireless routers before. Moved to a new house a week ago and all the locals have Sky BB wireless, comes with WPA enabled by default....bit of a pain as Im still waiting on my line to be enabled spose I could knock and ask.......

 

If you have an open network then its your own fault if people connect to it. You wouldnt leave your doors open for anyone to walk in nor woudl you leave your keys in your car.

An unsecure wireless network is like having your stereo on loud then complaining that your neighbours are listening to it and that they should put ear plugs in and ignore it. Sure you cant hear a wireless network but when its sitting there on your PC saying "wireless network available" you cant help but connect and take a look around.
Maybe they are offering some sort of free service, like a local neighbourhood internet incentive. who knows.


I did create loads of folders on my neighbours computers saying "please secure your network and email me if you need help, and your music is crap but i needed those lost episodes"

soon enough it was secured.

 

lol, QFT

 

Yup, it is a fair point, leave a wireless router unprotected and it will get used. Want to stop that? Secure it.

The jail time was not really needed in this, sure it is technically theft but I would have held a lot of the blame back for the owners of the unsecured network.

 

But even if you did do that, it's no excuse to steal.

I agree, if someone hasn't set up their network properly and their neighbour is able to access it, then it's their responsibility to let them know and perhaps help them set it up...all part of being a decent human. If they're going to instead take advantage of someone's naiveness and be downloading/uploading 24/7 however, they deserve to be punished in my books.

 

i can't agree more that there might have been a better way for that kid to go about things however he did what he did. i think that it might be better to teach him a lesson however i do not think that jail time is a way to do it. fines may do it because his parents will have to pay those and then rake the kid over the coals themselves. i would think that community service might be a better way of going about things. they could even get creative with it and have him help others learn to secure their wireless networks...just my $0.02...

-MrBurritoMan

 

Half of Singaporeans are convicts by now right? What new crazy laws will they come up with next?

 

I agree with DriftCarl, with the caveat that if you have a wireless router on open broadcast, then I see that as an invitation to use.

This is slightly different to A88's point, which is correct if you leave your front door open or keys in your car thats not an invitation to steal.

I don't see the difference to an open wireless router in McDonalds, airports etc to an individuals.

It should be the owners responsibility to setup their router for personal use only.

This is perhaps something the wireless router manufacturers should consider in making part of the setup simpler (i.e. tickbox only) to ensure a network setup is secure or not and if not display an appropriate message to inform the owner of the implications.

So no to jail sentence, no to the fine and should probably counter sue for damages due to the effects of the wireless signals on his brain cells, that and going blind from the porn he saw, which he would'nt have had access to if the network had been secure.

 

rofl. lost. im curious to what kind of music it was

 

I thought this was a joke at first. How can you fault someone for using an open wireless connection? I don't think the car analogy above is quite right. I think a better one is if your neighbor had an FM transmitter for listening to his music in the living room from his bedroom. You just happen to pick up on that signal and like the music, so you listen to it. You don't know where it is coming from but you like the music. Who would get in trouble in this situation? Wouldn't it be the person transmitting the signal?

The responsibility of protecting the wireless network is the person who made the wireless network. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to connect to an open wireless network.

 

Thats good, but none of my neighbors are close enough to get anything from and they are alll old people.

Use your examples to convince someone to secure their network, it would work a lot better than saying because you should.

I see unsecured wifi as fast file sharing, in my friends appartment you can access routers in every direction.

 

I heard of somone downloading the instructions to secure their neighbor's network and then printing them on their neighbor's network printer. They got the hint.

Still, jail is excessive for somthing that is merely rude. This is why I won't even fly through Singapore.

 

Not everyone, very few people as a matter of fact, have any clue as to how to secure a wireless connection. Just because something is accessible to you doesn't mean you have any right to use it. Using something that is not yours is, at best, extremely disrespectful of others. (This world would be a Much better place if only we could all respect each other)

 

As other people have stated, it's the neighbours' own fault for not securing their network, and now they're making a 17 year old pay for their mistake.

 

Not Worth It at all neighbors fault. I swear society of law is becoming more and more of big brother or like the movie V for Vandetta. Were no one has the freedom to do anything anymore. I swear next thing I know I am going to go to jail for having sex with my wife in my house with the window Open LOL ha ha my house my rules LOL

 

Actually, if your window is visible from the street or a neighbors house, you would be guilty of indecent exposure and maybe a few other sex crimes. No, I'm not making that up.

 

I am normally just a lurker here, but I somehow feel compelled to reply.

Because I am a Singaporean.

Yes, our authoritarian state is pushing it's measure to extend its powers to cyberspace and I feel this is somehow related to it...

Funny someone should mention about V for Vendetta... because I feel it's exactly a film about Singapore when I saw it. Except that fact is stranger than fiction in our little island state. We have those people that might put a black hood over your head anytime if you somehow 'offended' people 'higher up' too. Its called the, hush hush, ISD (Internal Security Department) here in Singapore. We have a satirical blogger that got fired from his newpaper journalistic job because he 'joked' about the government.

It's all going down...

Sorry for going OT.