restaurant has WiFi

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Since radio waves are in the public domain, it's hardly the same thing.
If the "owner" provides the signal, the public may use it, plain and
simple. It's up to the owner to determine whether the signal is "public"
or "private", and the use the provided method to make it private if they
don't want it to be public access.

Although it's a somewhat gray area, at least in some states
(California, for example) it's specifically prohibited. Read here:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/08/technology/personaltech/internet_piracy/index.htm
or http://tinyurl.com/m4b4m

 

[Bob I]

Although it's a somewhat gray area, at least in some states
(California, for example) it's specifically prohibited. Read here:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/08/technology/personaltech/internet_piracy/index.htm
or http://tinyurl.com/m4b4m

The reason it's "gray" is because the "law" that is being used to charge
them is for "unauthorized access to computer or equipment". Now the
question is "DID the owner authorize it by making it publicly
available"? Throw that in to the mess and the charges become a lot
harder to make stick. The freedom of airwaves thing is the general rule.
That's why the broadcasters have to encrypt if they want to prosecute
for theft of signal. And to top it off there are some locales that have
laws about securing the signal, thereby making the owner responsible for
putting is wireless. So, the whole mess goes round and round. ;-)

 

[Phisherman]

A local restaurant has WiFi. If I was just outside the building with a
notebook that has WiFi, would the signal pass through the wall?

Only if you buy some food.

 

[Bill Sharpe]

A local restaurant has WiFi. If I was just outside the building with a
notebook that has WiFi, would the signal pass through the wall?

Even if you weren't outside the building the signal would probably pass
through the wall...

Bill

 

[none]

All of you guys SLAMMING, BERATING, BELITTLING etc. ought to be ashamed
of yourselves. Sadly I see this kind of presumptuous immature predatory
behavior happening more and more in these groups. It speak VOLUMES of
your lack of maturity and character!

To answer the OP's question: PERHAPS!
I was at a local convenience store and saw a young man in his truck with
a laptop. Stopped to talk with him (an out of state traveler) and found
he was using the stores FREE wifi and gaming on the internet. This store
has a big sign in the front door saying they have it as well. Some
merchants use this as an attraction to generate more customers!

So there are PLENTY of *FREE* wifi locations around the world and there
are plenty of ways to find 'hotspots' (free wifi) in your area. Here are
a few sample web sites with info and examples:

enter your zip code and voila
http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/

this is a nice site but currently down (I don't know if it is
permanently down)
http://www.wififreespot.com/

http://www.freenetworks.org/

http://www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm

So there are plenty of FREE wifi hotspots, but there are also PAY
hotspots. In other words, you may see a wifi signal but will only be
able to log onto their network with a paid subscription, password etc.

Heck, I've heard many McDonalds have wifi and people use it a lot, but
you have to pay for a subscription.

___

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

If the signal isn't userID/password protected, then it's technically

So that means if someone takes something from your wide open car/house,
it's not stealing? Awesome!

Try getting your insurance company to cover theft if they find out you were
robbed when you haven't been taking the most basic precautions, like leaving
your car/house doors unlocked while you're away.

In other words, yeah, you can argue it's still theft, but the owner still
bears some responsibility and you'll get very little sympathy.

 

[b11_]

I do not have a notebook but I might get one in the future.
_______________________________________________________

 

[PD43]

I do not have a notebook but I might get one in the future.

Unbelievable. All of this and you don't even have a freakin'
notebook.

I can hardly wait for the day that you get one and start posting more
ridiculous crap here.