Sniffing open WiFi networks is not wiretapping, judge says

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/sniffing-open-wifi-networks-is-not-wiretapping-judge-says/

by nswanberg • 14 years ago

48 51 14 years ago

aidenn02• 14 years ago

Hasn't receiving radio signals sent "in the clear" always been legal? That confused me with the Google case too. There are exceptions, particularly surrounding cars (radar detectors, police scanners are both illegal in cars in some states)

[edit] The issue isn't receiving, it's recording, duh!

rosser5• 14 years ago

How is sniffing open WiFi networks different from standing in earshot of a conversation being held in public?

aidenn02• 14 years ago

Your comment made me realize why my comment was wrong: the issue isn't listening in, the issue is recording. Recording someone else's conversation without the permission of a participant is illegal in most states.

dmishe• 14 years ago

What if you memorise it and then put on paper?

rosser5• 14 years ago

Exactly. Even in the "one-party" consent states (which is most of them), where a conversation, phone or otherwise, can be recorded if only one of the participants is aware of the recording, it's illegal almost everywhere to record a conversation you're not a party to.

tedunangst4• 14 years ago

What about recording the police beating somebody on the sidewalk?

joshAg7• 14 years ago

I think that it is legal to record someone else's conversation without permission if it is in public, since there is no expectation of privacy in a public place.

smokinjoe2• 14 years ago

I see this more analogous to walking into an unlocked house.

While the doors are all unlocked, it's still illegal to open, enter and search.

laserDinosaur2• 14 years ago

Except this isn't a house, this is wifi. Driving around picking up wifi signals from public networks through automated systems is very different. I've seen nothing but crappy analogies since this whole thing started.

jlgreco5• 14 years ago

How is standing on the sidewalk watching people in their homes with a FLIR gun any different than watching people normally?

The important part is what people expect to be private.

ddunkin• 14 years ago

If you're shouting your password at your roommate loudly, and a neighbor overhears it, then how is that really snooping? Once the extremely loud signal leaves your property, I'm not sure you can be responsible for that data. It doesn't take any sort of high-end equipment to intercept this data, it's being thrown at us constantly.

16s• 14 years ago

It's a radio signal. It's broadcast and if you are in range, you can tune in and listen. There's no possible way this can be construed as "wiretapping".

wglb• 14 years ago

If you are in line with a telephone microwave tower and have the appropriate radio, you are able to tune in and listening. That does not make it not wiretapping.

rosser5• 14 years ago

Intercepting cellular signals, even before they've hit the tower and are being transmitted on actual wires is still wiretapping.

joshAg7• 14 years ago

cell signals are encrypted, though, aren't they?

Sniffing open WiFi networks is not wiretapping, judge says

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