Legalities and wardriving

“Can’t we just use wireless? C’mon, Oliver. I can get a Linksys wireless card from Staples for $100; what’s this $6,000 @#$%?”

Yeah, I love wireless networking. I almost never make a sales pitch for it, because I’m usually not the one who comes up with wireless as a possible solution. I mostly stick to Cat5e cabling because there just aren’t that many must-have-wireless situations out there.

But then they see the cabling bill, and some tie-wearing genius who just finished strolling through CompUSA looking for his copy of “Doom 3” remembers those little blue boxes and those rock-bottom price tags. And that’s when it starts. Usually, I just whip out the PowerPoint presentation I made a couple of years back for a Wireless Security 101 lecture I had to give at some industry event or other. Then I remind them how much money they just spent on upgrading network security and — if I’m really lucky — maintaining compliance with one of the new data protection acts. Then we start talking about Bluesocket or Trapeze Networks and the cabling bill often doesn’t seem that outrageous.

What does seem just a bit outrageous to me is this attitude I keep seeing from folks who run around wardriving. For those who don’t know, this is the act of moving around — usually in your mom’s Volvo — and finding open Wi-Fi connections. Any time a wardriver finds he or she can connect to some yokel’s unprotected access point and, even better, get out to the Internet that way, the site is marked. That’s called warchalking, because it typically takes the form of a symbol code marked on the building or site with chalk, though the folks in New York use spray paint just as often.

First off, how much spare time do these people have? When asked, they don’t admit to hacking, trading illegal warez (Where did that spelling start?), or any other nefarious activity via this open and — for them — anonymous Web connection. So, of course it never happens. Many of them claim they’re simply doing “wireless-network cartography.” I’m not sure what that is, other than a nationwide map of where to steal free Internet access from mom’s Volvo, but let’s put that question aside. They also say that the packets they capture (including your Windows 2003 Server’s DHCP assignments) are public domain. Therefore the activity should be legal and they shouldn’t be prosecuted.

Now these folks are up in arms about the apparent conviction of one Paul Timmins, who recently pleaded guilty in a North Carolina federal court to one count of committing “fraudulent and unauthorized wireless access” to a private WLAN. Timmins confessed to finding the network while engaged in wardriving, possibly from a mom-owned Volvo. Timmins got a green link light, grinned, and started surfing. And the network was run, undoubtedly, by some hapless Linksys quick-start user at the local Lowe’s store. Not too bright, but does that make his Internet bandwidth public domain? Some freaks think so.

Let me ask these freaks some questions, as I desperately gnaw on an Advil. Are you connecting to the Web through my network while sitting in your mom’s Volvo on the curb? Answer: yes. And am I paying for the bandwidth that connects me to the Web? Answer again: yes. And is this bandwidth that connects me to the world a finite resource? Yet one more time, the answer is: yes. And am I paying to connect you or my employees to the Web? Answer: my employees. So in what sense of the word could this possibly be considered public? Ummmm …

The argument is actually a mite more complex than that. There’s an additional element of wardrivers, who argue that as long as the data they capture isn’t private corporate data, siphoning off your access point is OK. After all, it’s out there broadcasting; all they’re doing is listening from inside the Volvo. But what are they listening for? That’s like saying that casing your house is OK; after all, you’re turning your lights on and off, all they’re doing is recording when and how often. They haven’t stolen anything yet.

This line of thought is out there, folks, and there’s undoubtedly someone in bad need of a shower and a haircut in some mountain shack somewhere writing a wireless wardriving manifesto that delineates the supreme logic of taking what’s yours and using it for himself. From mom’s Volvo.

I’m not a lawyer, so I suppose I’ll never understand the argument. But to me, it’s akin to saying that everything in your house is public property if you leave your door unlocked. Now in my local haunts of New York and New Jersey that last argument is true. Your $4,000, 37-inch Sony plasma HDTV is definitely public domain if you leave your doors unlocked. But at least swiping it isn’t legal.