"* * Chas"
| > >Sorry, it doesn't work like that. Just because someone doesn't fit a | > >front door lock ,doesn't mean you can steal from them. | > It occurs to me that here we are trying to teach ethics to a person | > that OBVIOUSLY has none! | > If the OP has no feelings of wrongness, then there is little anyone | > can do. We COULD of course keep any eye on the news because the OP | > WILL get caught and it WILL be in the paper and on the net! | > Another analogy is the person that runs into the local store and | > leaves the keys in the car, is it legal to then take that car? OF | > COURSE NOT! Well you say the car was not locked and the keys were in | > it AND it was paid for! DOESN'T matter, it is still STEALING! | >
| | These analogies are moral/ethical issues. Using someone else's wireless | connection without their knowledge or consent (and in many cases even | with it) can be considered theft of service, more so if the "victim" is | using a cable connection. It's the same as tapping into someone's TV | cable and providers take a dim view on those kinds of activities.
Providers take a dim view of anything other then the 'missionary position. At one time they charges for second drops/jacks. When it developed that the process tended to PO customer (who rightly saw this as being nickel and dimed) and was unenforceable the practice stopped.
Much like the current push by providers to use congress to bock municipal WiFi systems. In most cases the providers claim the ROI is not there for the system and won't provide the service but don't want anyone else to provide either.