Is poaching an open wireless connection illegal?
According to a recent article, it appears that it may be illegal to do so. The St. Petersburg Times (FL) reported that a man was arrested and charged with unauthorized access to a computer network, which is a 3rd degree felony. Egads!

I believe that this has much larger ramifications. I don't think anyone disagrees (ok, maybe there are some who do) that poaching a neighbor's wide open wireless internet connectio may not be the most ethical thing to do, but it certainly shouldn't be compared with stealing software, as one person in the article suggests. What are your comments or thoughts? Is it ok to do this? Do you personally secure your wireless network? I do.
- posted by Ben Winzenz @ 8:32 AM