Morality
>1. Open Wi-Fi point isn't like leaving your door open for people to enter; rather
> it is like leaving all your belongings out on the street for others to take at their
> liesure!
It's still wrong to take them, even things in a skip aren't yours to take.
>2. All Wi-Fi Access Points can be configured for encryption and other security
> measures. If the owner isn't using those measures, then it is their fault.
We know perfectly well that many owners don't understand the equipment to that level. An arrogant "weak people deserve what they get" attitude. Is uncivilised and immoral.
>3. Many people (myself included) happily run part of our wireless networks
> as an open to all network (the bandwidth is throttled so as not to affect my
> own surfing, but it is more than adequate for average browsing/email).
Good for you, a very generous service, but you do realise that you're acting as an ISP and may well be breaking your terms of service with your provider?
Presumably you make it clear that it's deliberately free? Notices? A named SSID?
>4. There are plenty of other crimes taking place on the street (car theft,
> mugging etc) Why are the Police bother some bloke sitting in his car? Even if
> he was on the internet, he could easily have been using a built-in 3-G
> datacard, or using an open access point, or reading previously cached
> data or any number of other legal activities...
There's murders happening, why are the police bothering people committing a burglary? Should the police halt all operations until the most serious crime is sorted out and work down the list?
(Although why he admitted the crime is baffling, denial would surely have got him off)
>In short, long may bandwidth borrowing continue. If you don't know how to
> drive a car, you should expect to crash; if you don't know how to setup
> security on your PC expect to get viruses or become a Bot-host;
If you don't learn to fight expect to get hit?
Whatever the legality of it, people pay for bandwidth and it's assumed that unless there is a notice saying otherwise, they aren't giving it away.
It's basic morality, it's not yours so don't take it. Not hard is it really?