How to: Build Your Own Travelling Swiss Army Knife
Published by Steve Litchfield at 9:58 GMT, January 12th 2009
One of the delights of the web is just how much useful stuff there is out there for travellers. From running round on a trip and trying to remember which hotel you are booked into, how to get there and working out if you have enough credit left in the local currency, is exactly what a smartphone is good for. While there are a number of “Travellers Toolkit” applications out there, with a mix of free and premium functions, most of these services can be found for free online or replicated with the built in S60 applications.
"One of the linchpins of the travelling tool-kit is how much your money is worth in the local currency, and the endless fascination that some applications (such as Worldmate Professional) have with pulling up real time data from the internet to help the travelling smartphone user. I have two problems with this. The first one is that if I am in a foreign country, there are very few reasons that I would initiate a roaming data session – the cost would just be crazy. The frequent traveller may well have a local sim card, or a global card such as MaxRoam, but data is still pricey. And you can't always hope find an open Wi-Fi connection."
Categories: Miscellaneous, Editorial Thoughts
Platforms: General
News Discussion
"[readers are advised to practice the art of finding open Wi-Fi hotspots in suburban neighbourhoods! - Ed]"
Isn't this illegal in most jurisdictions?
According to UK acts: Communications Act 2003 and the Computer Misuse Act 1990, it's an offense (in the UK, obviously). The key phrase is "without permission"; so I would say unless you have asked the owner, or you can see a sign of some sort (whether that be a physical, on a big pole sign, or the SSID of the access point is something like: "Free Public Wifi"), you haven't understood that you have permission.
If the owner of the hotspot didn't want to allow me in, he/she should have configured the security options. Just my 2 pen'orth.
If you don't want others to use your open Wi-Fi network, it is your responsibility to ensure that the signal of your wireless router stays on your own property and doesn't extend into the public streets.
So if I found one being openly broadcast, with no password, Im going to assume I can use it.
As to the legal standpoint, thats another issue.
| If you don't want others to use your open Wi-Fi network, it is your responsibility to ensure that the signal of your wireless router stays on your own property and doesn't extend into the public streets. |
| I think the legality of using of open hotspots is very much open to question. |
Some countries have laws explicitly forbidding access to any connection (open or closed) without prior permission, so people should be careful.
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Originally Posted by Tzer2
The morality of it may be open to question, but the legality often isn't.
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There are about 200 countries on the planet. Some countries may have strict laws on using open wireless signals, but there are plenty of places where it's 100% legal to go online through open WiFi routers if their radio signals spill into the public roads. There is not a single legislator on the planet with worldwide jurisdiction.
| If you play your music so loud that it can be heard outside your house, would it be immoral or illegal for passers-by to dance to it on the street? |
Morality = whether something is right
Legality = whether it obeys local laws
If there's a local law saying you can't use open connections without prior permission, then it is illegal to do so. I'm not trying to defend such laws, I'm just saying that such laws exist.
Banning dancing might seem extreme but I think the Taleban did so in Afghanistan, so pretty much everything is potentially illegal in one country or another.
| here is not a single legislator on the planet with worldwide jurisdiction. |
If you're going to travel round the world (which this article is about) then it's a good idea to find out what the local laws are in the places where you intend to use Wi-fi. (Some countries have had total bans on wi-fi altogether because the radio frequencies aren't authorised for public use.)