Is using someones eles wifi illiegle?

Question

if you use one of your neighbors wifi is it illegal? Do they know if your using it? Can they see what sites your going to?

Answer 1

if its unprotected it is their own fault, but if they have protected wifi and you somehow hack into it then that would illegal.

P.S just opened my wifi and it has my downstairs computer ofcourse and the laptop. No you can't see the websites, i'm sure you can if you had a special program but not a basic connection you can't see what websites other computers have been on.

Answer 2

Seems this question just keeps coming up.

Yes wifi theft in the US, Canada, UK is illegal - period, open or not!  Here are the US state laws for all states

http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/cip/hac...

and the sample of those

N.Y. Penal Law § 156.00 to 156.50

§ 156.05 Unauthorized use of a computer.

A person is guilty of unauthorized use of a computer when he or she knowingly uses, causes to be used, or accesses a computer, computer service, or computer network without authorization.

Unauthorized use of a computer is a class A misdemeanor.

Take note in some states its a third class felony!!! Read these for some already busted under these laws.

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9722006...

http://www.designnine.com/news/?q=node/4...

http://www.dailynugget.com/2006/03/man_f...

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/ar...

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/07/04/State/...

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/2007041...

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/08/uk...

Now all that being said. There are MAJOR risks to you. You do understand that when you connect to a wifi unit you have connected to a network (a local one at that!) If those running that network would like to see where you are going and what you are typing they can very easily "record" all sent and received data!  - Its an identity thevies wonderland for those wishing to steal your information.. so DON"T visit your bank, send email, or login to ebay or paypal.. you may find a nasty surprise! And yes it really is very easy to trap all local packets!  Just read USA today

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/20...

and this one

http://www.wifisecurityguy.com/learn/blo...

So do yourself a favor - KNOW and GET permission to use any network!!!

Answer 3

if the connection is open its fair game, IMO. its up to YOU what you do on that connection to be deemed illegal or not.

Answer 4

Yes it is illegal to use someone else's wifi without them knowing you are using it. And yes they can find out you are using it.

Example: person A is using person B's wifi. All person B has to do is look on his network and he will see the computer. Unless however person A has a Windows vista computer, of which person A can set there computer to be invisible to other computers.

I believe that other versions of Windows can be invisible, but I have not done it, nor have i seen someone else do it.

Answer 5

is it protected by WEP/WPA??

if it isn't protected, then it's questionable if it's illegal or not. There's some places in this world where it is, others where it is not. Even if it's open, you shouldn't do anything illegal, or anything unneighborly.

It really depends on how savvy the person who owns the wifi connection is. They can potentially know what Mac address is attaching to their Wireless router/switch, through the MAC address the owner can reverse search it against devices they own. Thus knowing if it's a device they own, or if it's foreign. You can spoof the MAC address, but that's a different story.

If they are capturing MAC address, they are definitely capturing what websites that device is going to.

I'd be a little careful, you are messing around with questionable legal/ethnic situations.

also read the link, it's a good discussion of the ethnics/legality of "stealing" open wifi

Answer 6

i think you can.

but, you can do this security thing that will make it to where your neighbors cant use it.

I dont think they would know if your using it though.

my did all that stuff when we got our laptop.

Answer 7

I is there own fault if they are not protected