WiFi Freeloader Complains She Can't Steal Access Any More

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://consumerist.com/2010/03/dont-call-in-to-complain-about-how-you-cant-steal-wi-fi.html' target='_blank'>http://consumerist.com/2010/03/dont...teal-wi-fi.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Someone named Jennifer called in to the Leo Laporte show a week ago and asked for help on how to get back online. She'd been able to access a Wi-Fi hotspot for over a year and a half from her apartment, but "that's disappeared now for three weeks." She bought a wireless extender and that didn't solve the problem at all. Laporte gently tries to point out that she's being a freeloader, but she's not buying it."</em></p><p><object width="600" height="360" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0zt4opqL18&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;ap=%26fmt=18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0zt4opqL18&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;ap=%26fmt=18" /></object></p><p>Hehe...wow, this is hilarious! I can't believe the audacity of this woman - she <em>knew </em>that she was freeloading on someone else's WiFi connection, and had been doing so for over a year, then she gets upset that she can't connect any longer? Classic! Leo was pretty nice to her - I think I might not have been if I was in his shoes...and before anyone says that maybe the person knew it was open and wanted to give the apartments around them access, if that was their intention, they would have changed the SSID to "FREE-WIFI" or something similar. The default SSID of Linksys gives it away as a clueless user...</p>

[Hooch Tan]

Even with exploiting a likely clueless user, I am astounded by the complaining. It adds to the idea that there's a growing "entitlement" generation. It was free! And now she's complaining about it no longer being there?

Free is one thing, but if you want a reliable connection, you have to pay for it. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch! Live by it!

As an example, I have two hosting companies. One is dirt cheap, and hosts my "hobby" domains. The service is okay, but not five nines. Then I have a premium hosting company that I pay over three times as much a month for all my critical domains, and there has not been a single time it has gone down. Well, short of the eastern seaboard power grid going down that is. :) If you want something to be there, be prepared to pay for it.

[Eriq Cook]

That is hilarious. It baffles me how some people can get so upset when they were using someone else's wifi to begin with, and argue against paying for their own service :rolleyes:

[The Yaz]

Well she's not the only one My next door neighbor who is 72was telling me one day he was going to switch from Cablevision to Verizon Fios because his internet had become so slow.

I also have Cablevision and had no problem with my speed. I said I would look at his setup for him. Turns out he had his router unencrypted. I went ahead and setup WPA on the router and his laptop. Amazingly, his speed improved!

A week later my neighbor whose property abuts my backyard calls me over and asks why I messed around with "our" internet access. Turns out he canceled his cable six months ago when he realized he could piggyback on a neighbors' network and has been streaming shows on Hulu to his TV.

(Now we now why the internet had become so slow!)

He assumed it was my network because my house was closer to his than my neighbor. When I told him that his feeloading had affected our neighbor he scoffed and said that if I was a "good" neighbor, I would share my connection with others :confused:

After I told him where he could go with that good neighbor crap he walked away mad and we haven't spoken since. Meanwhile my older neighbor's internet has been working great.

I tell you some people are just unbelieveable...

Steve:cool:

[Chris Gohlke]

Tell him if that is the case, he won't mind paying for internet for the next 6 months and letting everyone around him mooch off his connection so they can cancel theirs.

[randalllewis]

The whole issue of "free" and the internet is really fascinating. The woman in this story didn't do any harm to anyone and I am certain there are people in the world who believe that interet access is always free because there are so many free hot spots around. The Yaz's neighbor, on the other hand, was causing harm with his borrowing of access.

There are still lots of people who illegally swap music and movies on the internet and install the same piece of software on lots of computers. Most of these people don't consider themselves to be thieves. And I am sure the free loading internet access woman doesn't either.

"Free" as it relates to the internet needs to be explained to mean uncensored and easily accessible; not that I am entitled to steal your property or use your router without your permission.

[Hooch Tan]

The whole issue of "free" and the internet is really fascinating. The woman in this story didn't do any harm to anyone and I am certain there are people in the world who believe that interet access is always free because there are so many free hot spots around.

I would have to disagree with the idea that the woman was not doing any harm. Without knowing what sort of activities she was doing, it is difficult to say whether she was affecting the person's transfer speeds, or even contributing to reach a data transfer cap. It's possible what she was doing had minimal impact though.

Beyond that is the issue of the "right" to use someone else's resources. For me, I'd feel violated, and I would and have not used anyone else's Internet access without explicit permission. I respect my peers that much. I see the hijacking, however naive or low impact, as showing a lack of respect for what was paid for by someone else.

There are still lots of people who illegally swap music and movies on the internet and install the same piece of software on lots of computers. Most of these people don't consider themselves to be thieves. And I am sure the free loading internet access woman doesn't either.

I'm not sure I would consider it to be "theft" in the literal sense, but I agree with you that there is a culture that has developed believing that they "deserve" to have anything they want, and if they feel it is too pricey, to just take it anyways.

Where I think the woman goes way over the line though is complaining that the internet access is gone. She admits to stealing the access, but what makes her think that she is entitled to make someone else provide it for her?

[Jason Dunn]

A week later my neighbor whose property abuts my backyard calls me over and asks why I messed around with "our" internet access. Turns out he canceled his cable six months ago when he realized he could piggyback on a neighbors' network and has been streaming shows on Hulu to his TV.

Wow. :eek: That's pretty incredible! The whole mentality of "If I can do something, it must be OK" is the lowest form of moral reasoning. It's the "if I can steal a cookie from the cookie jar without my mom noticing, then it must be OK for me to do it" mentality. Technology has allowed these types of people to do things they could never do before...and when they get caught, they're even worse than a child because they don't realize what they were doing was wrong. It's truly sad. :(

[Reid Kistler]

At least in Michigan, you can get arrested for "borrowing" an internet connection.

This includes sitting outside of the local Panera Bread and using their WiFi signal, even though that same signal would be "Free" if you simply walked in & sat down at one of their tables.

Of course, MOST people who enter a business with Free WiFi will buy something from them, however small. And most stores seem to post either a "For Customers" or some sort of "Please refrain during busy times..." signage - but have never seen any of our local hot-spots enforce those.