The ethics/legality of leeching WiFi Options

[Hartmann]

I was at IAH yesterday and had a meeting at the President's Club, Continental's club for people who pay for it, and noticed a man outside on the floor, using the club's "free" WiFi connection.

The wireless connection inside of the club is fairly good but to access it outside of the club you have to be sitting right by the door.

What are your thoughts on doing this? I think it's somewhat sleazy as I pay a decent amount of money to access the club and use its services, including the WiFi, why should someone be allowed to essentially leech the signal?

I've made my case to Continental to add password protection to the network but they still have not. I know that most people say "well the network is open so it's fair game" but I see that as a cop out, as you wouldn't take something from a neighbor's yard because it was "out in the open".

Thoughts?

[theIncredibleEdi...]

I am sorry, but if you leave your network open, whether you're a business or an individual you're just looking to be leeched off of.


If you owned a store, would you just leave it unattended and expect to MAKE MONEY? No, you would be robbed.
It's just responsibility...you can't control other peoples' actions, so you control what factors YOU CAN.


I don't want my neighbors using my connection that I pay for, therefore I lock my shit down.

As for Continental's response...it's not that much more work to just type in a password.


EDIT: on a somewhat similar note, I hear that Starbucks is ditching T-mobile's WiFi services and going with AT&T. I really like this, because I have AT&T DSL Pro, which means I get to use AT&T Wifi (in places like McDonalds and Barnes & Noble) for free, so this will expand where I can use free WiFi at. Cus we know how damn ubiquitous Starbucks is.