Wireless Networks, The New Cable TV

IT tip of the Week: Encrypt your wireless network.

Last year, my employers gave me a laptop with internal wireless. The idea is that I needed to have a unit that could be used remotely within our facility and from home. Up until last week, I’d been using it primarily as an ITunes Jukebox.

When I first brought it home I turned on the Wi-Fi just to see if I’d pick up a signal. Nothing. I tried it again two weeks ago…bingo! One of my neighbors has set up a wireless network. And just like Tara Reid’s legs at a Frat Party, they’ve left themselves wide open. I can come and go as I please and I’m fairly certain that they haven’t a friggin clue.

Question: Is it wrong that I’m using my neighbor’s wireless network to access the internet? I am at odds with myself, here. I don’t know which of my neighbors it is that I’m piggy-backing on, but I do feel a slight ting of guilt. Slight, because I’m not doing anything illicit and I’m not running out to set up an Xbox Live account. Ok…by “not doing anything illicit” I’m not referring to looking at naked pictures of Willow from Buffy the vampire slayer…I’m talking about hacking into my neighbor’s computer and other assorted bad things that I probably could do, but don’t really know how.

As a side note: Google Images is a great way to harvest free porn. Go there, type in your fetish, and BAM...here's a group of 30 thumbnails to store in the spank-bank. Just be careful though...you gotta take the good with the bad...and there are some shocking images out there. Just remember the keyword: FREE. You get what you pay for.

Back to my problem. Am I stealing? My neighbor is essentially broadcasting access to his DSL connection in a 50 foot radius. How can it be called stealing if they’re sending the data to me? Alright, so it’s a two way stream and I’m sure that argument wouldn’t hold up in court. But, really, am I being bad? (Besides my grammar, I mean.)