
Getting free wireless in airports and hotels - mcxx
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/getting_free_wireless_in_airports_and_hotels.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
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jgfoot
This sounds like stealing to me. DNS/ICMP tunneling is a clever hack, but the
end result is that you are using someone else's bandwidth without paying for
it.

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petercooper
Sounds like making use of the generous DNS and ICMP features they're providing
for free to me.

"Stealing" is an overstatement for stuff like this. In the grand scheme of
things it's like taking a penny from the penny tray, like plugging your
computer in for power at a tech conference, like "testing" a few grapes in the
grocery store, or like picking a pretty flower from a hedgerow.

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eli
The pennies in the tray are explicitly put there for you to take one. The DNS
server is _not_ there for you to avoid paying for the internet service you're
using.

It's a small thing, and I don't personally think it's a big deal to steal
wifi, but the idea that because something is easy to steal means it's not
theft is ridiculous.

~~~
petercooper
As a tort, doesn't theft require that you're taking someone else's property
and depriving that person of its use?

Using someone's bandwidth surreptitiously isn't really "theft" as much as it's
virtual _trespassing_. Just because you're checking your mail doesn't stop
someone else still using the connection (or even blocking you with a single
click).

 _the idea that because something is easy to steal means it's not theft is
ridiculous._

I'd agree with that, but I don't think it's "theft" (so my counter examples
were poor, I'd admit ;-)). It's more like someone jumping in your swimming
pool without permission, rather than actually stealing the water.

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mishmax
Anyone know how this compares to the instructions at dnstunnel.de, which uses
ozymandns perl scripts? I've been using this method, and though it works, it
is horrendously slow (takes a minute or more to load gmail...)

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dw0rm
Once I've been using free wireless in the JFK airport. But my laptop ran out
of the power. I found power socket in the floor near the phone booth, and
plugged in my laptop. After some time security guy came and told me that I
shouldn't do that. So when I was passing to the plain, they looked through all
stuff from my luggage. Then they apologized "for the mess"

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Zev
I've never had issues plugging in at JFK (or ROC - the two airports I fly
between). A security guard has politely asked me to move before, but that
usually happens when I start hogging the outlet for > an hour (layovers, wait
before flight if its a long flight, etc). And I can understand wanting to keep
the outlets free incase someone else needs to use it; usable outlets are
sparsely spread out at airports.

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tvon
Be wary of ad-hoc networks in airports. Ever time I've fired up a wireless
device in an airport I've seen a "Free Wifi" ad-hoc network which was almost
certainly some dude with a laptop trying to steal peoples data.

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allenbrunson
or it could be due to a very strange windows xp bug. here's the best
explanation i could find, after not much googling:

[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us-
co/2008-February...](https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us-
co/2008-February/003261.html)

~~~
tptacek
It's pretty straightforward; WinXP just remembers and rebroadcasts ad-hoc
SSIDs, so once you connect to "Free Public Wi-Fi", you're "infected". It is
indeed pretty hilarious.

