Is It Illegal to Use Other People’s Wireless Internet?

The topic of stealing WiFi Internet access or legality of using someone else’s WiFi Internet access is always entertaining because almost everyone has an opinion on this subject and in almost every case each person is convinced that their view is right. I’m no different — my method to determine if using wireless Internet is illegal answer the question below.

Did you get permission from the owner of the WiFi hardware to connect to it? Permission could be verbal communication or a sign that indicates that the WiFi connection is free.

If your answer is “NO” then you are stealing Internet service and it is against the law. Don’t believe me read this.

Internet Connection Is What They Really Want

An access point is basically connecting users wirelessly to a wired network. Other than hackers, most users that connect to an open wireless network want to get connected to the Internet which is a service that the owner of the wireless network is usually paying a monthly fee for.

So while someone could justify connecting to an open wireless network and convince you that they have done is not wrong. Once they use the owners ISP connection they are stealing a service.

Some folks may argue that if a WiFi connection is not secured then it can’t be considered stealing. Not true, even open access points technically use the SSID to “authenticate” users on to the access point with a process called “open authentication”.

ISP Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) and Other People’s Wireless Internet

If you get permission you may OK but the person granting the permission may have violated the ISP’s rules. In almost all cases, the person giving the permission may not be allowed to share the Internet connection based on the service provider’s Terms of Services (TOS) and/or Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP).

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Filed under: WLAN Legal Matters