Free WiFi Everywhere!

Whether you live in the suburbs or downtown Toronto, theirs likely to be multiple unsecured wireless networks for you to connect to. So the question is why do people leave them unsecured and is it legal to connect to them. This all boils down to the new mediums used in communications, and the freedom of information in present day. Without the Internet, many users find it difficulty to get up to date information on weather, sports, and to communicate with friends, even though it is much less personal then traditional means of communication.

WiFi is common name for wireless networking, but in fact it stands for Wireless Fidelity. Over the past few years, their has been a dramatic increase in wireless network speeds, and a decrease in hardware costs. Add computer illiterate people and this turns into a mess of free WiFi all over cities. On the other side of the spectrum, some argue that its only common courtesy to leave your network open to others in your neighbourhood to share your Internet connection.

Above is a picture of a sign in Seattle that advertises a location with free WiFi. From personal experience, their has been times where free WiFi has saved the day, as I was unable to use wired Internet, and from others I know where paying for Internet was over their budget. This agrees with the stance taken in the article linked above, but it also brings concerns such as privacy, security, bandwidth, and speed degradation. Educating your neighbours is always a good idea, as most of the time, an unsecured network occurs when customers purchase a wireless router and just plug it in, wireless is automatically enabled, with no password. Anyone within 100meters of your house can connect to your network, steal your bandwidth by downloading large files, which decreases the speed for your needs, also personal files could be exposed through file sharing.

Their is actually a group of enthusiasts known as wardrivers who drive around cities mapping open networks on maps, so people can find places to go with free Internet access when they are away from home. The following documentary video goes into more depth of this hobby.



Since we now know why most unsecured networks are formed, the next step is should we connect to them? Technically it is legal to use some one's WiFi as long as you don't need to crack any passwords to get in, so let the freedom of information sharing begin.

Introduction to Communication. Dr. Alexander Sevigny. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 2005.