Music Gestapo

[SinisterMinisterX]

...if you find that someone else has jumped on to your router and downloaded stuff, is it really your fault?

Do take all the security advice above to heart. A couple of months ago, my cable modem died. No problem... one of my neighbors had a network that was as wide open as a barn door. So for the couple of days it took to get my modem replaced, I was on his[sup]1[/sup] network. He apparently never noticed. He's lucky I'm a nice guy[sup]2[/sup], because I could easily switch to his network every time I download a torrent.


[sup]1[/sup] A generic "his". Could be a "her". I still don't know which neighbor I was stealing bandwidth from.

[sup]2[/sup] Maybe not that nice, if I never tracked down the network owner. I'm not going to cut off that option entirely... <evil grin>

 

[Ardius]

Jumping on other people's wireless networks is fun. The amount of un-encrypted ones is amazing, especially because most of the time when you setup these routers it does usually ask or say something about it.

Soon enough though, wireless routers will be partially obsolete because of WiMAX and having your internet open to all won't be as much of a problem (though still a problem).

 

[Albie]

Before everyone jumps on to their neighbours router and starts downloading stuff, a thought.....

More often than not, people will not secure their router because they simply don't know what they are doing. However, there could well be some folk out there that know exactly what they are doing and if you jump on to their router, you are on their network and they can then see what is on your PC (especially if you have enabled file sharing - then it's easier to see your stuff).

 

[Perun]

Just to update you guys, I just checked out the Iron Maiden channel on Youtube, and the videos are indeed banned now.

 

[pilau]

...there could well be some folk out there that know exactly what they are doing and if you jump on to their router, you are on their network and they can then see what is on your PC (especially if you have enabled file sharing - then it's easier to see your stuff).

Only half true - even if you have file sharing on but your file and folder permissions are set wisely and your security settings are good you are safe (as long as no one breakes into your system and changes your security settings, which is possible only if a backdoor application was installed on your pc).