Am I in danger if I allow my next door neighbor use something called WIFI

[garmentvarmint2004]

The  kid next door to me needs  to do  some of his homework on  a  computer.  His   School  requires  this.  His parents have  a very low income.  So all they could afford was to buy him  a low-priced LapTop.  He needs  access to  the Inernet--but cannot afford  to pay  those  high  montlhly  fees. 

Is  it ok  for him to   use  WIfi--to  get what he needs.  Or  will  I  get in  trouble if he  does  this. 

[chinohighcowboys1963]

Yes, you could get in trouble if you allow someone in another household to piggyback off your WIFI system.

Don't allow the kid to use your computer, either, to do his homework on.

None of this is your problem.

He could go to the library and use a computer there.

[lex-talon]

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@garmentvarmint2004 wrote:

The  kid next door to me needs  to do  some of his homework on  a  computer.  His   School  requires  this.  His parents have  a very low income.  So all they could afford was to buy him  a low-priced LapTop.  He needs  access to  the Inernet--but cannot afford  to pay  those  high  montlhly  fees. 

Is  it ok  for him to   use  WIfi--to  get what he needs.  Or  will  I  get in  trouble if he  does  this. 

---

Allowing another person to use your wifi is a serious offense. Have him go to a public library or 

a Starbucks where they have public wifi. It's not your problem if your neighbor can't afford wifi.

[garmentvarmint2004]

CHINO..

Thank you for this information.  I will  pass  this  along to my  nephew--who  told me  a   few days  ago---that he thought  it would be  safe  for me  to  let him  do  so.  He seemed to  believe  that since  this  "signal"  ia just freely moving around my  apartment---that it was legal  for me to I am  him  to  do  this.

Although  I certainly  would never  allow either him---or  anyone else  to   come in and use my  Computer.    I am just not that  trusting  a person.

HOWEVER,  I am confused what you  said  about Starbuck's.  So  it IS legal   for him to use  THEIR   WI-fi???  How come? Does he pay them a  fee or something?  And  then  does  Starbuck's  pay  someone else  a  fee---to  offer this Service   to their coffee customers?

[dollybeauty]

I may be entirely wrong, but this is the first time I have  heard that it is ILLEGAL for you to offer wi-fi to whomever can receive your signal.

To combat this, wi-fi routers have the option to set a network password. That option is not a manditory use option.

Note the use of "without their permission" in the following.

"Piggybacking commonly occurs when a person uses their neighbor's wi-fi without their permission, or when a person sitting in a car near a home accesses the resident's wi-fi. Piggybacking is illegal according to the laws of several states, and also according to federal laws such as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act."

You might check the laws in your state, but I believe, you can give permission for others to use your wi-fi. Is this a good idea? Maybe not.

If the neighbor creates an eBay account, eBay will connect the two accounts together. If one does not pay, the other faces restictions until the bad account is fixed.

There may be other organizations that will do similar.

There have been many cases of pedophiles using open wi-fi connections to download kiddie porn.

If you wish to allow the neighbor to use your wi-fi, establish a network password on the wi-fi router,  and give them the password.

[candd205]

Not illegal if you allow it.

McDonalds and other fast food places have free wifi.

It could slow internet down for you if the entire other family start using your wifi.

[garmentvarmint2004]

CADD..

Thanks  for asnswering this.  One  repliyI receved from  the "Tools" Board  was  quitw negative.  But  I could not understand why they said   that  I could get in   trouble.  Because one of those  Posters  said I should send my  neighbor's  child to  Sarbucks.    So  I would like to know  how  Starbucks  can offer rhis  Service  to  their customers---without  getting in   trouble themselves.  (??)

[buyselljack2016]

many public places have free wi-fi

Town 12 miles away pays for public wi-fi in the center of town during the summer.

A tourist perk

[garmentvarmint2004]

CANDD...

I do not need to  worry  abbout the rest of  the family.   The father does not know how   to use a  computer---an he has  said to me,  he never intends  to learn.  Infact,  these he parents  both avoid ayything electronic.   They have never  even owned a  Television Set!   I cannot imagine what it  was like  for this nice kid--in this  day  and  age---to  have  grown up  with no  computer  and  no   TV .    I   imagine he  does not  even understand  some of the  conversations  he  tries  to   be part of--with his friends   at  school.  

[candd205]

If you do decide to give your wi-fi code to this student, and things do go wrong (such as him giving the code to his buddies who are visiting his house which slows you down), then there is a fix. You just change your wi-fi code again and it's over.

[garmentvarmint2004]

CANND...

Huh?  H e could give the code to his  buddies??  But what would  they do with  it?  Don't they have to  also live next  door to me---to pick up  a  Signal?

Some of the responses  I am getting on this Thread are certainly  confusing!  I think  some rseponders   are not  all  that knowledeable  about how  Wi-Fi works.

I would  rather hear from  Techie people-.   Sorry, but  I really  don't want to hear from  those  those who  are just  taking guesses. 

[candd205]

I'm not a techie, but I do have a little experience with this is all.

What I mean is when his friends come over to his house or if he has older grown sisters and brothers, they will notice he can get online. They won't want to use up their own time on their phones, so they will want to connect their phones to your wifi when they are visiting at your neighbors house. He will probably give them the code too. So yes, they can only connect when they are close to your house. If that starts happening, your internet will start slowing down.

[berserkerplanet · Accepted solution]

It is NOT illegal to allow the kid to access your wifi, but it MAY be a violation of you terms of service with your internet provider (Comcast, AT&T, Charter, whoever).  You would need to look at the TOS to determine what they allow and don't allow.

I wouldn't worry about the above in general. Even if they do have some sort of legalese in the TOS that prohibit use of your internate outside of your household (or somesuch), the ISP doesn't really care in general until something goes wrong.

The major issue with allowing people to use your internet service is that anything they do is tied to YOUR static or dynamically assigned IP address, and therefore to your internet account.

For example, let's say the kid torrents (downloads) movies, tries to breach other systems, makes threatening posts on Facebook, whatever it is that is illegal. All the traffic leaving his laptop while on your wifi carries your IP address in the packet headers.

When the MPAA (Rightscorp) comes a knockin' trying to extort settlement money out of the movie downloader, it is via the IP address logged in the torrents or download server logs, they go to the ISP with a supoena, and get the information on the account that was asociated with the IP address at that time - which would be you.

Kid tweets some sort of threatening thing and SWAT Team shows up at your door - since your account is linked to the IP address that made the tweet.

Family roused out of bed by SWAT assault team in the middle of the night, because they had unsecured wifi (no password) and guy sittting in car out in the street had downloaded kiddie porn using their wifi signal.

https://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20110425/11220014028/swat-team-raids-home-because-gu...

The above are extreme and unlikely, but possibilities. As the account holder, you are the one everything traces back to when someone uses your wifi (or for that matter sits down and uses your computer)

You wouldn't ultimately be held responsible for movie downloading or kiddie porn, etc because the courts have ruled that "an IP address does not equate to a person", but that doesn't prevent the hassle of being swatted, possibly arrested by overzealous stupid LE that didn't get the memo, or being sued. You would eventually prevail in all the prior, but might incur legal fees, much hassle, etc.

(Kind of like the traffic camera thing - they come after the registered owner via the license plate number, but if traffic cam photo doesn't match he walks.)

Additional issue others mentioned - kid shares your wifi access key with friends and they use it on their phones, tablets, and laptops while within range of your signal - you are on the hook for all the stupid things they do now. And the data usage.

Also as others have pointed out, you overall internet bandwidth and wifi bandwidth are finite resources. If the kid is streaming youtube videos all night long your browsing speeds will decrease (probably a non-issue on 10+Mbps Comcast cable internet, but possibly a big hit on 3Mbps DSL). And everything he does adds to your data usage - if your internet service is capped that could be an issue.

On the other hand, it would be nice to help the kid out especially since it costs you nothing (you're already paying for internet access so tossing him some wifi bandwidth is like giving him a glass of water.) You could discuss it with him, come to an understanding that he needs to use it responsibly. Then again kids can be incredibly stupid.....

If you have an appropriate router with the correct firmware you can run the wifi access in a nanny mode where you can restrict bandwidth, set daily data caps, whitelist and blacklist websites, retrict by keywords, set access hours, restrict access by MAC address (solves any problem with kid's friends using your wifi), etc. [My 12+ year old Linksys WRT54GL wireless-G router running Hyperwrt 2.1b1 + Thibor15c firmware can do most of that, and newer routers have a lot of it and more from the factory with actual usable interfaces.]

tl;dnr version    You are the first person law enforcement and lawsuits come looking for when someone does something naughty on your wifi.

Hope that helps and doesn't add too much confusion.

[garmentvarmint2004]

BERSERKER..

Thank you so much much for your response!    I have  been vaguely aware that I might be taking some sort of risk---if  I do  this BIG FAVOR  for this kid.  However, he is  a  very  conservative person.  Very responsible.  He is NOT  going to do  any  crazy  things  with his computer. 

In addition,  his father watches him  like a hawk.  His dad is one of  those people  who looks over this kid's  shoulder---and   comments on every  single  thing he does.    The kid is NOT  going to  be  dowloading  anything  he  shouldn't be looking at. 

[berserkerplanet]

Great. You know the kid, you are now aware of what the implications can be in the worst case scenario for sharing internet, and you can assess the risk.

This wifi scenario has some parallels to some of the issues here on the boards with "bad buyers", returns, etc. The worst case scenarios can be bad (lose the item, lose the payment, get back a box of rocks), but most people are pretty good Joes in general and things usually work out and/or are just misunderstandings. (I've had I think 2 troublesome buyers out of 1700+ in 13 years of selling, and 5? difficult sellers out of 600+ in 15 years - mostly early on)

Sounds like the kid is a "Good Joe", there shouldn't be a problem for you, and you have an opportunity to help out a kid's education in a meaningful way.

BTW, I conflated 2 articles in my swatting example in the previous post. Here is the other one that involved the family 5 years ago:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/swat-team-throws-flashbangs-raids-wrong-home-due-to-open...