netbook usefull?

I don't think that is correct. It's akin to saying that if my bicycle is not chained up you can ride off with it.

G

Well, not exactly. You wouldn't have a bike anymore, but the unsecured wireless network owner still has internet access.

Dan

Depends if it's locked in another way or not but if not then yes you're right.
Yes it's wrong but in a way you're envoking it to be ride on by somebody else by not securing it, it would be hard to get your right in this.

Not if the thief returns the bike again

But slower access. Stefan has ridden off with some of your bandwidth; perhaps quite a lot of it. Even now, he is probably downloading forbidden videos.

These are difficult times.

G

FWIW in the US there have been convictions in cases where people have used unsecured wifi without authorisation. Not sure about the UK.

it's one of those things that has yet to be properly tested in court. I reckon it's at least bad manners to use someones internet connection without permission.

A man in Germany was recently declared liable for illegal downloading on his wireless broadband even though he could prove he was away at the time and therefore it must have been done by someone gaining unauthorised access. To extend Georges analogy, that's like saying if you leave the keys in your car, someone nicks it and uses it in a bank job then you're an accessory to said bank job.


@ George regarding Ubuntu and software, it comes with GIMP pre-installed but not UFRAW, however the Ubuntu Software Centre is simplicity itself to use and allows you to install UFRAW with a few clicks. I agree that software installation difficulties are one of Linux's barriers to wider implimentation, but most distros are getting better at it.

Ubuntu isn't necessarily "better" per-se, but it has become very widely used which means that if there's a pre-compiled package for any distro, there'll probably be one for Ubuntu.

My Dad now has the latest version of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix on his eee 700 (the very bottom of the range 2GB one, we had to put Ubuntu on an SDHC card because it doesn't fit on the SSD!). It's impressively snappy for such a low spec machine.


I guess the thing I like most about my eee on holiday is it means I'm unlikely to find myself in the situation I mentioned in an earlier post again. I was in Canada and wanted to give my Canadian relations a gift for letting me use their house. I decided a framed photo of their house (which they built themselves) at sunrise would do the trick. I had use of their computer, but it was the aforementioned PII 450 with about 128MB of RAM. Thankfully, Silkypix trial edition and GIMP aren't too picky about what they'll run on but man was it slow.

My eee running Ubuntu is still not going to win any speed contests, but I know it's capabilities and I have suitable software to work within them.

Yes and that's the only thing they can do really, it's hard to figure out how damaging the act is.
And even some devices automatically connect to the strongest network sometimes so who is wrong then?

From what I understand here in the Netherlands an unsecured network is seen as provoking someone to use it so it's not punishable by law if you connect to it.

In Germany (precisely what Mongoose was talking about) has just let that you must secure your wireless network or as you can pay a fine off €100 if somebody else downloads illegal files with it.

Wireless security is getting so much easier to set up, I believe it's a problem which will go away of its own accord before long.

basic WEP security is fairly easily bypassed, but the fact that someone had to break in removes any ambiguity about weather or not they were supposed to be there.

Thanks, Mongoose. As you say, the popularity of Ubuntu is itself a good reason for selecting it.

G

Yes precisely
However standard passwords aren't accept by the German law because that's what happened with the man that was on holiday what you talked about.