• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

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 jschenck@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.