XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11   
   From: G6JPG@255soft.uk   
      
   On 2025/12/2 11:21:33, Daniel70 wrote:   
   > On 2/12/2025 8:33 pm, wasbit wrote:   
      
   []   
      
   >> Whether it was accidental or not he connected to his neighbour's wifi.   
   >> Once he realised,   
   >   
   > ... *and knowingly continued* ...   
   >   
   >> without permission it was theft.   
   >>   
   >> In the UK it is an offence under the Communications Act 2003 & possibly   
   >> the Computer Misuse Act.   
      
   []   
      
   I'm not even sure he had to realise, let alone knowingly continue, for   
   it to be an offence _in theory_; _in practice_, I very much doubt if   
   action would be taken unless either he used it so much that it impacted   
   his neighbour's service, or he used it to download or upload something   
   dodgy (such as the usual two bogeymen), or possibly to download   
   something for which payment would otherwise be required. Or perhaps if   
   he poked around his neighbour's computer/network, rather than just   
   (ab)using the internet connection.   
      
   Unless, of course, the authorities were after him for some other reason,   
   in which case they could use the "offence" as an "in". But that applies   
   to all sorts of "offences" - I've always assumed they'd use, for   
   example, copyright infringement as such an "in" in almost any case (how   
   many of us have _no_ copied material, be it audio, video, or even just   
   documents).   
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   "Who came first? Adam or Eve?"	"Adam of course; men always do."   
   Victoria Wood (via Peter Hesketh)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)