Wardriving

[Tony Wasson]

> On Thu, 7 Nov 2002, Matt Alexander wrote:
>
> > Anyone up for a game of "Let's incriminate ourselves on a public mailing
> > list"?
> >
>
> Only if you're up for a quick round of 'Hi, I'm a jackass.'
> You seem to be uber-informed, please enlighten us as to the specific
> (il)legalities involved with war driving. Please devote extra time to the
> distinction between active and passive monitoring, because I'm extra
> curious about that.


I with billn. Using an open network that isn't a 'free-net' would be wrong.
(Hey guys, when are we going to start a freenet project here for the greater
Phoenix area?) Collecting information about wireless networks and the use of
WEP or other safeguards is not wrong. it's like birdwatching -- identify,
categorize and count, but do not disturb.

>From the wardriving.com FAQ:
http://www.wardriving.com/doc/Wardriving-HOWTO.txt

3.1  Is it legal?

There is no cut and dry answer to this question, but simply driving around a
city searching for the existence of wireless networks, with no ulterior
motive cannot be deemed illegal. However, if you are searching for a place
to
steal internet access, or commit computer crimes then the wardriving you
performed was done in a malicious manner and could be treated as such in
court. Don't forget in the US, simply receiving radio transmissions on the
Cellular telephone frequencies (895-925 MHZ) is illegal, a similar law could
be written to discourage this, but this isn't likely.
------------
Interesting read:
http://mailman.real-time.com/pipermail/tcwug-list/2002-May/000515.html