Communications Act 2003 - it's an offence to dishonestly attach to a network with intention to avoid paying for the service. Exact wording in section
125.2 parts - dishonest connection and intent to avoid payment
If deliberately piggybacking so as to get a 'free internet connection' without the permission of the network controller then both conditions are present.
Its also covered by the computer misuse laws and maybe the anti terror laws if you connect to some networks. The only thing that stops the convictions is the difficulty in catching the criminals.
Policman son is a criminal then
Policeman son also speeds in town and jumps red lights. I think it is a case of pulling his warrant card out and getting let off.
Dave
Until now I've been reading this thread as "Policeman's son", imagining this self-styled legal expert on wi-fi to be the offspring of some copper you happen to know, and wondering why you apparently give him so much credence. (I geddit now...!)
David
Post his details here and he won't.
If you google for "open wifi legality" you will find that cases have been decided in both directions. Most legal experts say that the issue has not yet been determined.
A German court has even ruled that a person running an open network is responsible for fraudulent or other misuse by anonymous users.
I believe my original point remains valid. Even if it is easy to break WEP encryption there is still a vast legal difference between running an open network and running one with WEP encryption.
Police in this country are 99.9 percent corrupt anyway
Nope, in this case the SSID is disclosed _by the network card_ that is disconnected.
If your hacker is promiscuously sniffing air bourne packets he will see the network interface (laptop or whatever) running through it's own stored list of SSID's as used in previous access point associations, attempting to gain access with the newly found "hidden" router.
If your "hacker" is just somebody casual with a laptop / iPhone and is looking for a free ride and doesn't know about tools such as netstumbler, then hiding the SSID is maybe of benefit, but not absolutely.
Securing a broadcast SSID properly with WPA/WPA2 is of much better benefit than switching SSID off and hoping ....
(which is a situation I have found some folks doing with stuff that came "working why fix it" out of the box)
If you can, and it's a big if, locate the router so that the wireless signal passes through walls at as near right angles as possible. At shallow angles the apparent thickness of the wall material increases considerably and reduces the signal accordingly.
Really? You will have to be more specific as I ain't going to troll through tens of thousands of pages and there weren't any in the first 100.
Not much use in uk law though.
How? It is the same crime to use either without permission.
If needs be, there's always the option of putting in a repeater or a through-the-mains wireless bridge.
Umm... 2.4 Ghz will be absorbed and diffracted at random....
No, place the router closer to entry points to the room. Signals don't travel much through walls - they travel through space, bouncing like light. The hallway/stairs area is a good one for most residences that share multiple rooms comming off.
I've finalised my Mum's needs now using mains bridge/wifi gear from Solwise as per my reply to John Rumm, however I'm still interested in this from my personal perspective.
I have pretty poor wifi coverage in my own home courtesy of the wifi router being in a poor location - it sits under my desk connected by a whole bunch of ethernet cables to hardwired sockets in the stud partition wall, my PC, a VOIP router, the incoming cable connection etc
- would be pretty hard to move it o ut into the hall without a lot of ugly and awkward rerouting of cables etc.
Isn't there some way of having just an aerial or similar out in the hall, fed back to the router in it's current position, or is that being too simplistic?
David
So your ADSL modem has the wifi and ethernet switch built in? Be better to split things apart, bung the ADSL modem bit as close to the BT NTE as possible, put the wifi in the best place for coverage and the ethernet switch where all the cables are.
For starters why not buy a small ethernet switch and move the ADSL Modem/wifi to the best wifi location? Only two cables one for the unfiltered phone line and another for the ethernet back to the switch.
Depends if the aerial(s) on the box you have are detachable but what you gain by moving them you may well lose again in the feeder. 2.4GHz doesn't really like going down cable, even good finger thick stuff.
You can use one as a repeater .. ask Solwise they'll tell u but make sure it isn't interference from any and everyone else's box!..
You might indeed be able to connect an external aerial. But I would get a cheap wireless access point, connect it by cable to your existing router.
This would appear to do everything you could ever want (there are a couple of cheaper models on the same site). Note: It supports
802.11b/g/n - but probably only one at a time.Just remember, make sure you only have one DHCP server on your network!
(I have had an Edimax WAP which was fine. I also have used Edimax USB and PCMCIA dongles with excellent results - where other makes were crap.)
Did you get my email on that? If not, then drop me a line.
You can do that - if your router has a detachable aerial (many do). Then you can insert an extension lead.
Failing that a homeplug device will normally fix the wiring issue if you have power close to where you need the wireless.
I've used these several times: (a quality 180 degree antenna with 5m lead for £16 all in)
This type of directional antenna focuses almost all of the energy in a wide cone in front of it, so you have to think about placement. I used one in the loft of a three storey house shooting downwards through the floors - worked a treat and covered the whole house. The house had foot thick internal stone walls, hence the loft mounting - nothing else would have worked, without lots of repeaters.
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