[wplug] On the subject of wardriving...

[Bill Moran]

John Harrold <jmh17 at pitt.edu> wrote:
> Sometime in March Bill Moran assaulted the keyboard and produced:
> 
> | This is the kind of assumption that is liable to get you in legal trouble.
> | 
> | It's like saying that you tried the door and it was unlocked, so it's
> | obviously OK to come in ... and since nothing was bolted down, it's
> | obviously OK to take whatever you want.
> 
> I don't believe that me walking into some random persons house and taking their
> possesesions is any comparison to me using my girlfriends wireless
> access when I'm in town. In the legal sense, I believe breaking and
> entering is a criminal offense where breach of contract is a civil matter.

Not true.  That was the point of the presentation that occurred in Harrisburg
on the 5th.  With new laws enacted in 2002, unauthorized use of a computer or
network is a _criminal_ offense.  (in PA, anyway).  So don't try to
disassociate these two examples, as they are now very similar in the eyes
of the law.  The big difference is that the "house" case has come up in
court many times, whereas the computer case has not yet been tested in
court.  So (assuming you were using the network in an unauthorized manner)
the breah of contract would occur _along_with_ the _criminal_ charges of
unauthorized use of a computer network.

> | If their TOS say it's not OK, then it doesn't matter what configuration
> | they ship their stuff in.  If you want to test the waters to see what
> | you can get away with, that's your decision, but the presumptions you're
> | making are unlikely to stand up if they ever come to court.
> 
> Just in case someone was wondering. The verizon terms of service (at least
> for the 412.441 exchange) have the following:
> 
> http://www2.verizon.net/policies/tos_printable.asp
> 
> 3.6 If you subscribe to Broadband Service:
> 
> B. You may connect multiple computers/devices within a single home or office
>    location to your Broadband modem and/or router to access the Service, but
>    only through a single Broadband account and a single IP address obtained
>    from Verizon.
> 
> Also, they mention nothing expilicitly about wireless access. I assume with
> the stuff I said previously, and 3.6.B up there, that it is ok to share
> wireless access.

Yup, sounds to me that you're OK to share that connection with whoever you
damn well please, as long as they're in the same location.

But that doesn't change anything about my previous assertation.  If their
TOS specifically forbids a certain type of use, and you use it that way,
you are using their network in an unauthorized manner, and that is a criminal
offense at this time, based on current laws.

Whether or not you think it's OK or not doesn't really matter.  All that would
matter at the point at which Verizon (or whoever) found out was whether or
not they actually wanted to file criminal charges or not, and how good the
lawyers on each side were.

My point is not that Verizon is good or bad (we all know how evil they are),
my point is that unauthorized use of a computer is now criminal in the state
of PA, and that wardriving (depending on exactly how you _define_ wardriving)
can be illegal, and a _criminal_ offense.  I am not even going to get in to
any discussion on whether wardriving is morally right or wrong, I'm just
passing on the information that was provided to us on March 5th by someone
who has first-hand knowledge.

Because the laws are new and untested, wardriving is a very grey area.  If
you want to do it anyway and take your chances, or if you want to do it as
a form of social protest or whatever - that's your decision.  My only point
is that that the way the new laws are written, it _may_ be illegal - and a
criminal offense.

It's good that this kind of discussion occurs.  These laws are very new, and
there's a good chance that some of them are very wrong and need to be fixed
up.  My only point is that you should be aware of them before you go flying
around town with an 802.11 receiver.

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