Wardriving guilty plea in Lowe's wi-fi case

Hello ronjor

Many people have gotten their definitions wrong. War driving is not a crime. It is merely looking for as many open networks/systems as one can find usually as a sport. It is not unlike airplane spotting where the hobbyists try to spot as many different kinds of aircraft as possible in a given time period.

When any person enters another persons' network without permission then it is no longer war driving but criminal trespass. Many people wonder why anyone would want to look for open or unsecure networks if they were not intending to enter the found network and use it or cause some harm. Most war drivers do not attempt to enter another's network but have fun just trying to find them. In some cases they alert the owner of the network (not using the network) that their network is open and unsecured in the hopes that the owner of the network will take heed and secure the network. This actually helps everyone as well as contributes to national (Homeland) security.

This reminds us of one other wrongfully used word - hacking. Hacking is not illegal. Hacking is for example if you want to change something about your operating system and there is no designed method or setting or check box for you to change but you learn ways to alter the settings anyway like changing registry entries. Changing your registry is not illegal. If someone attempts an entry into someone else's computer and/or website then that person has committed criminal trespass and has ceased to be a hacker. Clear? Even though one hears the media and the government using the words inappropriately we still can choose to use them correctly.

War driving and hacking are pastimes. Breaking and entering into a network, computer, web site or server for whatever reason without permission is criminal trespass and ceases to be war driving or hacking.

Thank you for your time in reading this. Please do not allow others to hijack your language.

 

You are so right. Did you know that not even a wired network with no outside access is not even secure? We cannot say more but we *know* this is the case.