Watch your wireless: ‘Net mooching is here

Would you feel cheated if someone tapped into your phone line
and started making calls on your dime? Of course.

Would you feel cheated if someone tapped into your Internet
connection and started surfing on your dime? Maybe.

With the exciting new technology of wireless Internet, people no
longer need to be chained slavishly to their desks. Instead, they
may wear figurative leashes of about 150 feet.

Now, people may be seen pacing around the room while illegally
downloading music. People may be seen cooking while buying a fire
extinguisher off Amazon.com. They might even be seen watching porn
while vacuuming the living room. But even more scandalous, people
may be seen sitting across the street while mooching off
another’s Internet connection.

In case you haven’t bothered to steal Internet yet,
here’s the basic idea: First, you need a laptop with a
wireless networking card. Next, you find a wireless network that
extends into some public space ““ or your apartment. Finally,
you sit down, make yourself comfortable, and start pissing off your
neighbors.

At first, this mooching seems almost inconsequential, something
people can make fun of or brag about to their neighborhood police
officer. But given a little more thought, this type of behavior
starts to resemble a little too closely other forms of illegal
activity.

Making phone calls on someone else’s bill or stealing
cable come to mind. In a sense, borrowing the neighbor’s car
without permission (when they’re not using it) isn’t
that different than stealing someone else’s wireless
services.

So the essential question is this: Is it OK?

To answer this, we need to look at who is hurt by your cavorting
with another person’s Internet.

Perhaps the owner of the wireless network? Well, some might say
they ought to lock up their wireless network using what’s
called a “WEP key,” which prevents others from
mooching. But a missing lock on a home is no excuse for robbing
somebody blind.

Instead, we need to look at how the owner is harmed by stealing
of their Internet. Almost all Internet service providers charge a
fixed monthly rate now, so it’s unlikely this practice will
actually drive up costs.

Possibly the only real disadvantage can be found in decreased
bandwidth. In other words, if the moocher and the mooched try to
surf the Internet at the same time, they may be reminded of the old
days of 56k modems.

And no one wants to be reminded of modems, or their God-awful
siren calls. So we can agree that mooching can be mildly annoying
to the intended user, though generally it’s not the end of
the world.

Perhaps the Internet service provider is hurt? After all, each
user who isn’t paying for Internet service steals from their
business and their bandwidth. Perhaps it’s a small burden on
their pipelines, but those who practice the art of mooching are a
relatively rare breed, and are probably of little consequence.
Instead, it may be the loss of potential customers that is most
damaging for service providers.

But again, we may have missed the point. Maybe the essential
question is not, “Is it OK?” Maybe the essential
question is (spoken like a true college student), “Is it
illegal, and if it is, will I get in trouble for doing
it?”

Usually Internet contracts don’t limit the number of users
allowed to access a certain connection. So the Internet service
provider wouldn’t be able to touch you.

On the other hand, mooching someone’s Internet without
their permission is a lot like mooching someone’s car without
their permission. It’s illegal.

But will you get caught? Rejoice, dear moochers, probably not.
And if you do get caught, will anyone care? Rejoice again, probably
not.

And maybe there’s something wrong with that. After all,
copying music CDs wasn’t a big deal before, but now those who
steal music face fines and lawsuits. As the technology of wireless
Internet becomes more widespread, perhaps the practice of stealing
Internet bandwidth from others will become more taboo, and even
policed by the law.

But for now, this issue is almost invisible, so what do we do?
We give wireless Internet a hard look straight in the eyes and say
““ for now ““ “Every man for himself.”

For those with wireless networks, WEP keys are your friends.
After all, your Internet connection is not a charity fund.

For those mooching wireless networks, be careful. You may
someday be fined for each megabyte transferred, instead of for each
MP3 downloaded.

Whichever side you’re on, keep your eyes open. This war
may soon turn bloody.

Schenck is a first-year undeclared student. E-mail him at
[email protected]. Send general comments to
[email protected].