Legality of using an unsecured wireless network

Question

If you pop open your laptop and see it has found a wireless connection and you know it isn't a public access point, is there anything wrong with using it?

Answer 1

j.v. wrote:
I pay for my own DSL service, and I lock down my wireless access, so I really don't have a dog in this fight, but if it's not considered to be theft of services at Starbucks, then it would seem to me (granted, I'm no lawyer) that it would be incumbent upon the owner of the service to inform the freeloader that it was NOT an open public access point, if the owner doesn't want the freeloader to use it.
No, as Starbucks is explicitly providing wireless Internet for customer use (and it's not free, either.)
After such notification is given in writing, then I could see continued use being considered theft of service. I've read the analogies here of "if the front door of the neighbor's house is unlocked, is it okay to take his TV?" But how about this analogy? "If the neighbor sits his 60" HDTV inside the unlocked front door of your house, is it okay to keep/use the TV?"
This is the same argument posited by the first satellite "pirates" who used the argument that the signals were being broadcast into their backyards so they were free to obtain the equipment capable of receiving and viewing it without paying.
Though signal providers then scrambled, the "it's being broadcast, I can receive it" paradigm has been shot down in court again and again. Look at analog cell phones in the U.S. - it was illegal to listen to the unencrypted phone calls, and the U.S. Government enforced this by making sale of receivers that could receive the band in question unavailable to the general public.
A TechRepublic blog (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=356) stated, in part:
Many states have criminal laws that prohibit accessing any computer or network without the owner’s permission. For example, in Texas, the statute is Penal Code section 33.02, Breach of Computer Security. It says, “A person commits an offense if the person knowingly accesses a computer, computer network or computer system without the effective consent of the owner.” The penalty grade ranges from misdemeanor to first degree felony (which is the same grade as murder), depending on whether the person obtains benefit, harms or defrauds someone, or alters, damages, or deletes files.
The wording of most such laws encompasses connecting to a wireless network without explicit permission, even if the wi-fi network is unsecured. The inclusion of the culpable mental state of “knowing” as an element of the offense means that if your computer automatically connects to your neighbor’s wireless network instead of your own and you aren’t aware of it, you haven’t committed a crime — but if you decide to hop onto the nearest unencrypted wi-fi network to surf the Internet, knowing full well that it doesn’t belong to you and no one has given you permission, you could be prosecuted under these laws.
A Michigan man was arrested for using a café’s wi-fi network (which was reserved for customers) from his car in 2007. Similar arrests have been made in Florida, Illinois, Washington, and Alaska.
Bottom line - pay for your own Internet and encrypt your network if you have a wireless access point or router to stay legal.