War Driving

[skybolt_1]

Hey does anyone know if there are any hard-n-fast laws reguarding war driving? I and my buddy were doing some war driving on a white-hat basis, doing things like turning on router firewalls and stuff like that. Are there any laws pertaining to the general legality of war driving?

Just curious. We live in MA by the way.

skybolt_1

[vass0922]

Its illegal no questions asked
You are intruding on their networks, their private property.
Regardless if you're just sending love letters to a girlfriend its still illegal.

[skybolt_1]

Even if it's an open network? No encryption etc...?

[nomaxim]

Well, look at it this way.

If you left the door to your home unlocked, would it be legal for me to go in and rearrange your furniture and look around in your desk?

[phenious]

There are a number of people who are kind enough to leave their networks open for public usage, granted a large number of the people who do leave their network open dont know they are doing it. Try to find some websites for your city that talk about open wireless networks and where they can be located at. Some also include areas that have hotspots that are provided by residents that are open for use. However, if I had a access point open and someone came in and changed my settings without asking me I would be pissed, granted my router password shouldnt have let you in but never the less I dont think it is your duty to police the wireless world, a better approach would be to e-mail the owner or knock on their door or something. just my $0.02

-: phenious :-

[vass0922]

Originally posted by nomaxim
Well, look at it this way.

If you left the door to your home unlocked, would it be legal for me to go in and rearrange your furniture and look around in your desk?

Exactly

Drive down to boston and leave your car windows wide open and go watch a baseball game fora few hours.
I think you'd be a LITTLE upset if people were getting in your car and playing with things.

Yes its still very illegal.

[blackwatch]

my thought is, if you have to ask if its illegal, you already know the answer.

[skybolt_1]

Yeah you guys are right. Makes sense.

Probably should stop doing it. :-(

Too bad!

skybolt_1

[kwebb]

WarDriving itself isn't illegal. You can look for AP's, just can't associate to them and look around. The act of intrusion is the problem, not the discovery. The open door analogy is extremely old but still relatively pertinant. WarDriving is like driving around a neigborhood looking at houses if your in the market to buy. What your doing, at least what you inferred, is like walking in those homes, and turning the water on in the tub after plugging up the drain, or writing on the walls. If your downloading data it would be analagous to stealing the washer/dryer. Come on by my place though. I have a nice honeypot for **** that think it's ok to F with other peoples networks. I love it when someone tries to get on my WLAN. They will get on one of them and they'll have a nice little suprise as a result of it.



Last edited by Fingers

[phenious]

....ok then....

-: phenious :-