Wireless vigilante group

[THE RADICAL]

Hello all,

I am planning on starting a sort of 'Wireless Security Group' in my area. The concept is quite basic; we go around in our laptops, search for insecure wireless networks, and then if we find open ones stick a note in thier mailbox explaining what thier vulnerabilities are and how to fix it. Also we would give them a web-based e-mail account to send questions to if they had any. We want to be as anonymous as possible for obvious reasons, but we also want to be able to help people who are willing to fix their problems.

What's the point of this post?

I was personally wondering if there were any legal implications doing this? I mean obviously we are trying to help people, however I am sure there's going to be one ***** in the bunch.

Things to know before feedback:
No, we are not looking to break into any ones WAP and screw everything up, laugh, and say here's how to fix it... We are simply going to use Netstumbler to see if the point is open or not, and possibly if they are using WEP, urge them to use something a little less easily crackable perhaps.

Basically our group wants to encourage others to educate themselves on thier wireless hardware/software and secure it.

Feedback and ideas are greatly appreciated.

[Negative]

Legally, there's nothing wrong with doing that (see this post for the details): unprotected APs are in the unlicensed radio bands, and listening to them is no different from listening to a radio station. Keep in mind that not everyone may appreciate your efforts, though

[rcgreen]

"wireless vigilante group"... does that mean we can have a wireless lynching?
I am so fond of lynchings.

[foxyloxley]

Lynching is SO 1800's

This IS the 21st Century ........................

Don't we have WWW controlled rifles out there ??
Might as well get SOME use out of 'em

[¤The¤Spe©ialist]

Keep in mind that not everyone may appreciate your efforts, though

I know that I would not... "vigilante" oh please, what right minded, goodie two-shoes type of individual would want to screw up such a god-send in exchange for such a minor ego boost. Your evil!

[THE RADICAL]

Lol, cut out the 'vigilante' crap then hehe. All I'm interested in is raising awareness, I mean from my very desktop I can connect to two WAPs that are open and unencrypted....

... and no I don't live in an apartment complex... yet

[Negative]

Why don't you make a business out of it?
That's what I did - there's nothing like showing someone how easy it is to steal their bandwidth and then hearing them beg you to fix it!

[THE RADICAL]

Lol, thats exactly what my dad said. Unfortunately, with working a full time and a part time job (starving college student here) has taken up a lot of free time. We'll see what happens tho, you never know. Thanks for the feedback.

[phishphreek]

Why not just post flyers with FUD on them. Then put your voice mail number on there.

Secure them for them at a small fee.

Anyone who doesn't call... go change their SSID to "secure_me" or "im_watching_you".
Could be fun.

[11001001]

Originally posted here by THE RADICAL
I was personally wondering if there were any legal implications doing this?

Originally posted here by Negative
Legally, there's nothing wrong with doing that

Whoa, whoa whoa!!!

There absolutely are legal implications!

It is illegal to place anything in a mailbox that has not gone through the mail.

Even though you paid for it, installed it, and it resides on your property, the United States Postal Service technically owns your mailbox. Federal Regulations designed to protect the mail prohibit anyone other than a postal carrier from placing anything in a mailbox.

If anyone knows the Federal Code on this, please post. I can't find it right now...