[wplug] On the subject of wardriving...

[Petrucci, Joseph]

You are right I should not have addressed "The list" as a whole I apologize for my wording. And I agree with J Billings (he was the person that took offense to my way of making a living), that if someone breaks into a network in order to get work it amounts to extortion which is a paraphrase of what he said in response to my original e-mail I wrote it quickly and did not mention I was hired to do this. 

I do have a question: 
>5) I spoke with Jon Nelson of the PA computer crimes unit after his
>   presentation at CPLUG on March 5.  He showed me a section in the PA
>   laws that specifically states that it is legal to do anything that
>   the owner of the system permits you to do.  Thus, you can break in
>   to their system, or wardrive their networks, or whatever ... so long
>   as they have given you permission to do so.  I (again) recommend that
>   you get this in writing, so you won't take the fall if there is
>   any miscommunication.

Who do they consider the owner? The person purchasing the Bandwith or the supplier? 


-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Moran [mailto:wmoran at potentialtech.com]
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 12:27 PM
To: General user list
Cc: Petrucci, Joseph; netrek at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [wplug] On the subject of wardriving...


"Petrucci, Joseph" <Joseph.Petrucci at ddiworld.com> wrote:

> I am a little confused on wardriving. I was jumped on a few months ago by
> this list because I (with the companies permission) broke into there
> networks to find weeknesses. Now the same list considers it reactionary
> that people are concerned if someone rides around in his little
> "geek squad" VW and find clients by breaking into there networks and
> showing them what he can do before he asks for money to fix it. Where
> is the guy that called me an extortioninst why isn't he speaking up
> about this practice? 

1) You don't honestly believe that you can address this list as a single
   entity that has one big opinion?  It's made up of many individuals,
   who frequently disagree.
2) I, personally, am not criticising the practice of "find and report
   problems", as long as it doesn't come down to _actual_ extortion.
   However, I recommend against that practice because it's too easily
   the beginning of a lawsuit.  If you don't like it, jump down the
   throats of lawyers and lawmakers ... not the members of this list.
3) If you really want to know who called you an extortionist, check
   the list archives.  If I remember correctly, nobody called you an
   extortionist, but people warned you to be careful that you didn't
   get labeled that by the people you contacted.  I, specifically,
   seem to remember warning you to ensure you got the agreement in
   writing so you could protect yourself if the company decided to
   use you as a scapegoat.
4) We're all confused on wardriving.  It's a very controversial subject.
   That's why we're discussing it.
5) I spoke with Jon Nelson of the PA computer crimes unit after his
   presentation at CPLUG on March 5.  He showed me a section in the PA
   laws that specifically states that it is legal to do anything that
   the owner of the system permits you to do.  Thus, you can break in
   to their system, or wardrive their networks, or whatever ... so long
   as they have given you permission to do so.  I (again) recommend that
   you get this in writing, so you won't take the fall if there is
   any miscommunication.

-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com