Is it illegal to "PIGGYBACK" wireless signals...???

One the neighbors turn them in, strange car sitting in one place for a
long time, the second the car was driving oddly.

Found one of them
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-4_102-0.html?threadID=3730

 

Well that's canada for ya. You probably can't even cough in canada
without getting busted.

When some idiot is driving the wrong way on a one way street, yeah
you're gonna get noticed. Even more so at 5 in the morning. Then, the
idiot had his pants down and was watching the kiddy porn while the
officer was talking to him. I think this guy should get a darwin
award.
There was no mention of the idiot being busted specifically for
"wardriving", it only mentioned the laptop was capable. The
"unaturhoized access" charges were probably tossed in as extra
charges.

 

"Drove around using other peoples networks to download and spread
kiddie porn"

Nope not a word.

 

<BFG>

 

wrote in

Yes, that appears in the news monthly - at least when it's the flavour of
the month for the press.

 

That *should* have been a signal strength meter. My mistake. Just how many
wireless ports do you think a hub has?

There *really* isn't that many people using their wireless ports and besides, each
identifies itself. This isn't analogue radio, computers have handshaking and checks.
Once someone competent has use of the computer hooked to the router and his equipment
handy, he'll be able to trace the other computer by its attempts to download from/log
on to the wireless port.

 

That's a bit dishonest. What really brought the attention of the
police was this:

"The case began two weeks ago Wednesday, at 5 a.m., when Sgt. Don
Woods of 11 Division noticed a vehicle driving the wrong way down a
one-way street in a residential neighbourhood."

The networking and porn discoveries all came after that.

 

What does the number of wireless ports have to do with anything? I'm
questioning the tracking of a piggybacker to his location from the
wireless source location. Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't there be
a multitude of wireless users out there transmitting and receiving at
the same frequency?

It's easy enough to determine that someone is piggybacking on your
connection. I was questioning the traceability of a piggybacker whose
laptop is not available to the tracker.

 

Hmmm...how could I determine if someone is piggybacking on my wireless home
network?

 

Right-- but how do I tell?

 

Not to the same computer and not within range of reception. Microwaves are
*very* short range. They have trouble going through walls. That's why
(along with the wavelength) they work for radar.

It will be transmitting to the router. That signal has to be able to be
picked up by that same router. You trace it from the house where the
router is. Line of sight at worst.

 

Look at the lights. If one is on, that port is in use.

 

OMG.. Truly a clueless idiot.

 

Ahh, you beat me to it. I was going to get the camera and take a photo
of my router... with the WAN light, the two hard-wired PC lights, and
the ... um .. the sixty-three wireless lights!!!

 

Well, technically there IS a wireless light - however it usually has
one of two states - one being idle, the other indicating one or more
connections. So I guess if you don't USE your wireless, sure, just
keep an eye on it and if it starts blinking, you have a problem.

Of course, if you don't use your wireless, disable it.

If you DO use your wireless, chucktards solution is useless.

 

OK, so that means that the thief is within about 300 ft of the source
router. That still doesn't explain how to trace them to their car or
house in a wireless-saturated urban area. And what good does line of
sight do when the signal emanates in a 360° radius?

 

Chucktards an idiot. Known fact. With a good antenna, you can get well
beyond 300 feet.

Especially if your router is near a window.

"Trouble going through walls"?

Clear evidence of stupidity.

Your router works in your house right? You have your router in one
room, and use your laptop in another, right?

Feel free to ignore chucktard.

 

I made a wifi umbrella antenna (usb dongle)and connected to some AP's
400+ feet away with an average signal strength of 25-30%.

It was fun
The "pringles can" antennas are a bit more difficult.

 

Hardly. You can walk down the street smoking a joint and no cop is going
to bother you. We have a *far* more permissive society than the US.

Just do a f*cking google search. They get arrested all the time.

 

Directonal antennas. Look up Yagi and Parabolic antennas.