# Legality of using neighbor's unprotected WiFi internet access?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [December 29, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115 "2004-12-29T17:07:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/1 "2004-12-29T17:07:29Z")
I was messing around in my computer yesterday and I found that one of my neighbors must have set up a wifi hotspot in their apartment because I was picking it up. It is unprotected and open to the world.
I searched the SD and saw a few threads regarding this, but none discussed the _bare legality_ of me using their unprotected internet access.
Note that I am not breaking into their computer, I am not looking at kiddie porn, and I am not downloading anything illegal. I am only using their access to surf the web, check email.
Is this illegal?
I will leave ethical debates about it to the IMHO.
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### Author:  [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/2 "2004-12-29T17:28:37Z")
Dunno about illegal. As far as I’m aware, it’s kinda an untested area of the law. Some dedicated wardrivers like to claim that if a hotspot is left open, they have a reasonable expectation that the owner intended to do it that way.
I occasionally swipe access from the restaurant around the corner when I’m in the laundry room. It’s supposed to be for customers only, but my wife and I get takeout there two to four nights a week, so I count myself as a customer.
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### Author:  [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/3 "2004-12-29T17:43:21Z")
You’re using a service that he is paying for and you are not. How is this _not_ theft of services? If I leave my back door unlocked, I’ve left my physical possessions similarly “unprotected”. If you walk in and remove or make use of my posessions and are arrested, just go ahead and try the same argument as these dedicated wardrivers: “Well, I had a reasonable expectation that my neighbor _wanted_ me to take his plasma screen TV.”
You’d get rightfully laughed at for that argument.
To address it more seriously, theft of services, instead of physical goods, is still theft. Just ask [John Rowland](http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1349&dept_id=415622&newsid=13644756&PAG=461&rfi=9). I wouldn’t make use of his/her access without permission or compensation.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/4 "2004-12-29T17:49:33Z")
It’s not good manners but it’s not illegal . Here’s a Slate article on exactly this topic.
[How To Steal Wi-Fi
And how to keep the neighbors from stealing yours.](http://slate.msn.com/id/2109941)
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### Author:  [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/5 "2004-12-29T17:51:47Z")
What if…
I use ISP Xyyzy to access the internet at home. I then buy a laptop and wireless card. I search for networks, and see someone else in my apartment building as having an unsecured connection. I connect and ascertain that they are using Xyzzy as well and, based on a bandwidth test, subscribe to the same level of service.
Is using this connection a crime? I’m going through the same ISP, at the same rate of speed as with my paid account. My neighbor’s apparent speed to his machine may decrease, but Xyzzy’s TOS make no guarantee of being able to provide a certain level of bandwidth.
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/6 "2004-12-29T17:54:13Z")
IANAL, but I would assume the courts would treat it in much the same way as radio and television transmissions. If the signal is entering your dwelling, then it is yours to do as you please.
Illegal? I don’t think so.
Unethical? Yes.
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### Author:  [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/7 "2004-12-29T18:05:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> If the signal is entering your dwelling, then it is yours to do as you please.
Sweet! Who wants a pirate satellite reciever? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/8 "2004-12-29T18:22:08Z")
> [@paperbackwriter](#):
>
> You’re using a service that he is paying for and you are not. How is this _not_ theft of services? If I leave my back door unlocked, I’ve left my physical possessions similarly “unprotected”. If you walk in and remove or make use of my posessions and are arrested, just go ahead and try the same argument as these dedicated wardrivers: “Well, I had a reasonable expectation that my neighbor _wanted_ me to take his plasma screen TV.”
Of course, because it’s totally the same.
If my neighbor has his XM Boombox setup and I can hear it over the fence, what should I do? It seems to me that I should either start throwing quarters over the fence, stick knitting needles through my eardrums, or turn myself in to the police.
But which should I do?
-Joe
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### Author:  [@Bean\_Counter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Counter)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/9 "2004-12-29T18:27:54Z")
> [@Alvis](#):
>
> Sweet! Who wants a pirate satellite reciever? :dubious:
Bad analogy. I assume the pirate satellite receiver is also _decrypting_ the signal from the satellite and turning it into usable TV signal. That is the theft involved – the illegal use of the decryption key.
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### Author:  [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/10 "2004-12-29T18:36:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Bad analogy. I assume the pirate satellite receiver is also decrypting the signal from the satellite and turning it into usable TV signal. That is the theft involved – the illegal use of the decryption key.
Ok, how’s this - that’s saying that it’s OK to listen-in to calls made on those older analog cell phones.
Of course, the laws regarding these parts of the spectrum are different, but I’m just trying to counter “If the signal is entering your dwelling, then it is yours to do as you please.”
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/11 "2004-12-29T18:38:53Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> It’s not good manners but it’s not illegal . Here’s a Slate article on exactly this topic.
>
> [How To Steal Wi-Fi
> And how to keep the neighbors from stealing yours.](http://slate.msn.com/id/2109941)
In the article you refer to, it specifically said:
> [@](#):
>
> Clarification, Nov. 22, 2004: There are some laws that could be used to charge you with unauthorized computer use, but my legal sources say that because there are so many networks left open to the public on purpose, it would be tough for an individual to make the legal case that their intent was to keep everyone off their network if it’s not password-protected.
And I refer you to, as an example, Virginia law:
> [@](#):
>
> Theft of computer services.
>
> Any person who willfully uses a computer or computer network, with intent to obtain computer services without authority, shall be guilty of the crime of theft of computer services, which shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
There is no authority for the proposition merely failing to password-protect a network creates a reasonable inference that the owner intended it to be open to all. “Without authority” creates a duty on the part of the user to take an affirmative step to reasonably assure himself that he has authority.
In short, the blanket statement “It’s not good manners but it’s not illegal” is wrong, and readers should not rely upon it.
I agree that the chance of prosecution is slight. “Slight” does not mean “impossible”.
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### Author:  [@meowpossum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meowpossum)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/12 "2004-12-29T18:40:07Z")
I piggyback on my neighbor’s WiFi all the time. That’s how I’m connected now, in fact. His unprotected network extends into my living room where I’m sitting on my own sofa, and I don’t feel guilty at all when my iPAQ detects it and connects. The burden isn’t on me to block my computer’s access or insulate my living room with kryptonite or something; it’s on him.
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### Author:  [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/13 "2004-12-29T18:44:29Z")
While I’m on my analogy roll… 😃
> [@](#):
>
> The burden isn’t on me to block my computer’s access or insulate my living room with kryptonite or something; it’s on him.
So by that logic, there’s nothing wrong with sneaking into a movie theater without paying? They should have better security, after all, and it doesn’t cost them extra to show the movie to one more person.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/14 "2004-12-29T18:58:38Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> I agree that the chance of prosecution is slight. “Slight” does not mean “impossible”.
And I wonder in addition to that if the term “protected” will be extended to home wireless networks under the 1996 Amendments to the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). In _Shurgard Storage Centers v. Safeguard Self Storage (119 F. Supp. 2d 1121 (W.D. Wash. 2000))_.
From: [http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/2001-all/burke-2001-01-all.html](http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/2001-all/burke-2001-01-all.html)
> [@](#):
>
> The court noted that the 1996 amendments to the CFAA expanded the scope of the Act to cover so-called “protected computers.” As used in the Act, a “protected computer” includes any computer “which is used in interstate or foreign commerce or communication.” The court found that, although earlier versions of the CFAA addressed outside hackers who attacked federal interest computers, the subsequent amendments to the CFAA broadened the scope of the Act sufficiently to cover the behavior alleged in the case – namely, that of an employee who uses his employer’s computer system in a disloyal way.
>
> The judge concluded that the CFAA was “intended to control interstate computer crime, and since the advent of the Internet, almost all computer use has become interstate in nature.” The court had no difficulty in quickly concluding that Shurgard’s computers, attached to the Internet, were indeed “protected computers” within the ambit of the CFAA.
>
> **The Act makes it unlawful for any person to access a protected computer “without authorization.” That same section also forbids a person who has a legitimate and authorized right of access from “exceeding the authorized access.” If such an access “without authorization” or “in excess of authorization” results in the person’s obtaining information from the protected computer, and the conduct involves interstate or foreign communication, then a violation of the Act is established.**
(emphasis added)
If nothing else, many believe it’s unethical to the same level of pirating MP3s, if not moreso.
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### Author:  [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/15 "2004-12-29T19:20:17Z")
I think the analogy with hearing your neighbor’s stereo is spurious. When you do anything with his WiFi you are directly cutting into bandwidth for his communications over it. The fact that you leave your front door unlocked is not an excuse for your neighbor to come over and drink your beer.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/16 "2004-12-29T19:32:13Z")
> [@meowpossum](#):
>
> I piggyback on my neighbor’s WiFi all the time. That’s how I’m connected now, in fact. His unprotected network extends into my living room where I’m sitting on my own sofa, and I don’t feel guilty at all when my iPAQ detects it and connects. The burden isn’t on me to block my computer’s access or insulate my living room with kryptonite or something; it’s on him.
What case law or statue do you believe creates that burden for your neighbor?
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/17 "2004-12-29T19:47:59Z")
> [@Alvis](#):
>
> Ok, how’s this - that’s saying that it’s OK to listen-in to calls made on those older analog cell phones.
Actually, IIRC, there was a case that decided this was legal.
Again, this is a case of where it is legal, but not ethical.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/18 "2004-12-29T19:51:18Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#):
>
> Actually, IIRC, there was a case that decided this was legal.
>
> Again, this is a case of where it is legal, but not ethical.
What case was that, precisely?
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/19 "2004-12-29T20:19:10Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> What case was that, precisely?
Again, memory here. But it was a case in the mid-ninties where a congressional aid was using a police scanner to listen in on the calls of his boss’s rivals. The aid was not successfully prosecuted but lost his job and (maybe) was sued in civil court.
I could be wrong. Perhaps someone with more knowlege and a better memory than me will chime in.
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### Author:  [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-using-neighbors-unprotected-wifi-internet-access/282115/20 "2004-12-29T20:35:02Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#):
>
> Again, memory here. But it was a case in the mid-ninties where a congressional aid was using a police scanner to listen in on the calls of his boss’s rivals. The aid was not successfully prosecuted but lost his job and (maybe) was sued in civil court.
This is a completely different situation. You aren’t listening in on a neighbor’s communications, you’re accessing your neighbor’s property in a way that directly impedes your neighbor’s use of it.
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