Comments on: Leave your wi-fi open

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:45:44 +0000

That’s also not a bad idea, especially if you could otherwise be charged for exceeding a fixed download amount.

As far as illegal file sharing goes, I’d like to think the burden of proof would be on the accuser. But the RIAA, for example, has obviously dragged people into court time and again with the flimsiest of cases. I remember hearing about a defendant a few years ago, for example, who didn’t even own a computer.

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:04:01 +0000

Here in the UK, a good reason for NOT leaving your Wi-Fi open is that most contracts only allow fixed download amounts and you get charged for going over those amounts. Also, there’s a lot of talk in the EU of action against illegal filesharers – how do you prove, it was or wasn’t you?

However – my ISP does allow you to sign up to a program to share your Wi-Fi. You have 2 streams – a private network and a “public” network, and the private one gets priority for bandwidth. Anyone who signs up to share their Wi-Fi can then access any other Wi-Fi point in the public network. More info here: http://www.bt.com/btfon

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:06:49 +0000

I’ve got to admit, that makes good sense.

By: Antonia

Antonia — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:02:45 +0000

Terrific idea.

My neighbour is on Rogers. I’m on Sympatico. Sometimes he’s down. More often, I am. We just use each other’s then.