I wonder: http://blog.privatewifi.com/wifi-sno...-that-illegal/


By assuming that wifi hacking is illegal, the members and staff at linuxquestions.org--myself included--may have been giving a false sense of security to many wifi users who believe they have legal recourse against eavesdroppers.

First of all, this is regarding the United States (which you include in the title, so there's no problem), but the law is no doubt different in other countries.
Secondly, it sounds more like it isn't illegal to connect to an unprotected access point. I'd bet that it's different if you actually "hacked" a password protected access point. But I'm not a lawyer so I can't say for certain.

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In the USA anyone with an appropriate receiver can listen to any open communication legally. Back in the early days of cordless phones which operated at 54 MHz and no encryption it was quite easy with a programmable scanner to listen on your neighbors telephone calls.

The blog is stating that an open wifi access point where anyone can connect even though it might not be considered public isn't hacking. If the signal isn't encrypted/protected how can there be a sense of security?

If you're referring to this thread:

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...me-4175638054/

The specific rule violation wasn't "it's illegal". Posts about hacking in any context other than a clear whitehat one are against the rules here, period.

Hacking in any legal context is white hat. It's only when one breaks the law that it becomes black hat. But I suppose the forum rule covers any type of hacking that 'could' be used to violate the law.

I'm glad I noticed this interesting thread, since it was I who advised the OP in the thread in question. For one thing, we definitely shouldn't assume that people who post on LQ are from the United States and, unless the OP specifically states their country of operation, have to assume they could be anywhere. For another, there may well be a difference, depending on jurisdiction, between snooping on unencrypted traffic and cracking wireless keys to undertake said snooping.

I have no idea what the OP in that thread intended to do. I merely offered advice. I was actually more concerned at the fact that there was a potential for the poster to get themselves into trouble. I was hoping that the OP would reply and talk a bit about what they intended to do, but they haven't done to date.

In addition, many US states prohibit the unauthorized access to an open wifi i.e. similar to the law that entering a house without permission despite the fact that it is unlocked is illegal.

Wow pretty good illustration (keyword "Trespassing"), but i think if the Open WiFi is a Honey Pot then I guess the person or the team managing the Honey pot won't mind other people accessing it.

Maybe there should be a law, open wifi but no trespassing.