Controversial Wi-Fi post

There's been a lot of discussion about "wifi theft" recently. This tends to revolve around people using someone else's wireless network to connect to the Internet. This has arisen because many wireless routers, by default, don't have any kind of password protection set, so if you don't change the default settings, anyone within the signal area can connect. When someone does, this is what is generally referred to as "stealing wifi".

However, I don't think that's what is going on here.

Imagine you have a coffee machine in your office, and that one day you go to it and push the button for a latte. Now either the machine will flash up a message telling you to put some money in, or it will spit out a latte. Now, you haven't put any money in, but would anyone accuse you of stealing the latte? Maybe the machine has prices printed on the front. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's supposed to be set up to be free. You don't know. All you know is that there's a latte sat in the dispenser that you haven't paid for. Great! Free coffee! Always a bonus.

So what if I'm sat in a coffee shop with my laptop (it's been a couple of hours since my last cup and I apologise for the beverage related analogies), I search for a wireless network, one pops up and I click 'Connect'? Two things might happen: I may get asked for a password, at which point I've been made aware that I do not have permission to use this network, as I haven't been given the password; or I may connect to the network, and hence the Internet. At no point have I done anything malicious.

What's the difference between these two cases? I'm not seeing one. There was a possibility in each case that something would restrict me, and it didn't. As far as I'm concerned, the coffee machine has granted my request for a latte, and the router has granted my request to connect. Where is the crime?

Note I'm not talking about any form of malicious attack where one sniffs out passwords or spoofs IPs in order to connect to the network. I've simply requested a connection and been granted one. It would have been very easy for the person setting up the router to set it to either need a password, or not to accept unknown MAC addresses, but it hasn't. Now I'm using someone else's Internet connection.

The thing is: they've allowed me to do it. A computer does not force a router to accept its request for access. It asks for it politely. The router in question has granted my computer's request. Whether the person paying for the connection is aware of it or not, he has given me permission to use his wireless network.

I'm not saying that the current scenario is how it should be. I'm of the opinion that routers should be set up to ensure some form of security is available, precisely because of this kind of vulnerability. My point is that I don't think it can be illegal to connect to an open wireless network. It may be illegal for the owner of the network to allow me to use his Internet connection, but that is not an issue that I have to deal with. As far as I'm concerned, I've been given permission, so it's OK.

So is there any evidence that it's possible to steal something you've been given by the owner? I don't think so.

...and we shall name him: MiniSalt

or: What I did in my holidays

So, back at work after the Saltmine SummerSalt Short Break (henceforth referred to as MiniSalt).

My thoughts? Well, I have to say, I really enjoyed myself.

The work started on Monday morning, collecting (we thought) everything extra that we needed to keep me plyed with toys for the duration: two very nice Sony cameras and the relevant control units, a backup Panasonic camera, multiple preview screens and exciting vision mixers.

This was followed by, well, some typical Saltmine faffing before our departure to the Pioneer Centre which happened more or less on time.

So, after arriving at the centre, what followed was the most intense get-in I've ever experienced. We had roughly 5 hours to transform two empty halls into the adult and youth venues.

A brief summary of what went into my (the youth) venue will suffice:

2 dimmer racks, 2 MAC 250s, 2 Studio 250s, 8 par cans, a zero88 Frog 2 for the control of these.

Standard sound rack (MD, CD, graphics, compressor, effects), speakers (Shermans), 2x radio mics, Soundcraft LX7

Laptop for presentations/worship songs, scan convertor, dvd player, preview monitor, Edirol vision mixer (after we couldn't find the shiny Panasonic EX-50 Mark was certain we'd packed; it was later located in Dudley and came up on Tuesday), projector, 14ft screen.

So, that was our venue. Also there were drapes thrown up, a yamaha P120 stage piano (although how it can claim to be a stage piano when it has built-in speakers, I don't know), and a gazebo erected in the corner for merchandise.

On to the main (adult) venue. Oh, they were having fun up there. By the time we'd set up our venue, they'd managed to sort out the staging (lots and Lots of steel deck), had some of the tech in, and were hanging lamps off the truss. Also there were involved conversations about starcloth going on between the members of STC.

We ran some cables, hung a few more lamps, raised the truss and then went for dinner.

Now, I'm sorry to say that food is something the Pioneer Centre didn't manage particularly well. I don't know if it would have got better if we'd been there a little longer (at Ellesmere it took a few days for the kitchen staff to warm to us), but the organisation wasn't great, they didn't seem to have the right quantities of everything, and I'm reliably informed that the vegetarian options were poor. Still, there was generally enough of it, and I wasn't there for the food.

After dinner, a frantic period was spent setting up computers, focussing lights, and then back over to the youth venue ready for the first night. It was something of a baptism of fire, as we hadn't determined whether LiveWords was installed or not (it was, but it took us a while to work this out), we weren't quite sure where all the music they wanted was located, and of course, we weren't sure what the kids would be like. Suffice to say that frantically typing out lyrics to a DVD into a two-line powerpoint file that I could mix with the DVD itself wasn't exactly fun, but worked OK. The kids were generally fine, but were obviously quiet as they usually are on a first night.

More later.