Sharing

While catching up on the news on cnn.com (I should definitely be getting royalties), I spied one of those vote/opinion poll boxes. Ever willing and ready to contribute to mindless voter polls, I looked to the question: "Should it be illegal to access a neighbor's Wi-Fi connection without permission?" I answered with a resounding no, but found that I was grossly outnumbered (76% to 24%). I realise that it might be considering stealing, but actually, it's not. If I were to use someone's wireless, they aren't losing anything; I've taken nothing from them. If I am stealing at all, it's from the internet provider and I have absolutely no problem with that.

I know that I was able to take advantage of a neighbor's wireless while I was a wee poor college student one summer and I was entirely grateful. It just may have been the one aspect of that summer that allowed me to keep my sanity. Also, I would like to point out that you can stop people from "stealing" your wireless by installing a password or some such technological nonsense. I know this because my generous neighbor eventually put a password on the access. I am curious about these people who are upset with the stealing of internet access. Why not just put up a password?

When I get rich and famous (as teachers tend to) and get wireless, I will not put a password on. Maybe I'm missing some ethical point here, but what is the harm? I hope that I can help some disadvantaged person get access (a disadvantaged person who can afford the little wireless card necessary for all this stealing). All this little poll did was remind me to check and see if any of my neighbors have wireless so I can stop paying for dialup (dialup, people!!) that is slow and horrible. If I was meant to be shamed, CNN, you have failed.