Re: Wireless access (off topic)

[flash flash@xxxxxxxx]

Harry,

≪1. If I connect to an unsecured, non-encrypted broadcaster, am I at
risk?≫

Yes. Your uploads/downloads can be copied by anyone else who has the
necessary equipment (= wireless receiver). And/or a hacker could gain
access to your computer and read files (inlcuding passwords) on your
hardisk. Do you do on-line banking? Are your accounts numbers and
passwords stored on your computer? If so, these could be hacked (read)
over an insecure link, even if you are not doing on-line banking at the
moment the hacker enters your system.

≪2. Is the hitch-hiking moral and legal?≫

Not legal. A case recently came up in which someone would drive round
town in his car snooping for insecured wireless LANs, and, when he found
one, would go surfing at someone else's expense from his wireless rig in
the car. He got sentenced to five years. Whether he serves it is another
matter, of course.