Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary L
Some peoples set up can automatically connect to open WiFi that are in range anyway. I'm sure there's plenty of people that connect to open ones without realising it, or even knowing it's illegal...
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Yep. This happened to my sister earlier this year. She got her first ever computer (laptop) for Christmas. To get her going on the internet I set up a dial-up connection for her round my house.
The first time she used it at her own house she plugged the modem into the phone line & started I.E. While she was using it, she phoned me on her mobile to tell me how quickly it connected & how fast eveything was loading (windows updates, AVG updates etc.). Out of curiousity, I told her to look at her network connections. Sure enough she had connected to a wireless network.
She insisted that nothing appeared on screen to indicate that she was about to use a wireless connection, or to give her the choice as to what connection to use. It was all automatic.
Luckily the SSID was actually the Christian names of her elderly neighbours who live opposite her. I told her to let them know, as anyone within range could use it. Her neighbours didn't have a clue about how to secure their connection. They said it was set up by their nephew for them. They did say that they didn't mind her using it.
It is still unsecured today!