Wardriving: you can look, but don't touch

Wardriving --the practice of driving around with a portable computing device and Wi-Fi antenna, looking for open Wi-Fi networks--is not new. In fact, wardialing, or calling up random phone numbers looking for modem connections, has been going on for at least 20 years. There is, however, a new ethical debate surrounding wardriving, whether it's legal, and whether it serves a larger purpose.

Courts haven't exhaustively tested the concept, but the common assumption is that simply discovering open wireless networks is legal. Trespassing is not. In fact, Patrick Ryan, assistant lecturer and PhD candidate at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, sees many benefits from wardriving, arguing in a recent paper published in the Virginia Journal of Law & Technology that by codifying the principles of wardriving, we may also help to define a code of ethics for contemporary computer hackers (that's hackers in the tinkerer sense).

Laws already exist

Ryan argues that by exposing unencrypted, open wireless access points, wardrivers often help owners to make their networks more secure--which is good. Ruling out the potential for abuse, he argues that existing laws, which vary from state to state, already cover cybercrime abuses, such as using a purloined wireless network for downloading child pornography or broadcasting spam. For example, last week, a Los Angeles man accused of using other people's Wi-Fi networks to broadcast adult-themed spam content, entered a plea agreement. The charges against the individual all related to violations of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and not to his wardriving activities. Thus, curious individuals should be able to view open wireless networks, but only a criminal would bother to trespass.

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