Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Gina Norman" <gina.norman AT nortelnetworks.com>]

Title: RE: [internetworkers] ethical hacking

> The official answer is yes.  Connecting to a wide open
> network, wireless
> or wired, is trespassing if you do not have permission to be on it.

Though I am by no means a legal expert, I think the analogous situations might be using someone else's phone lines without their permission (granted, if would be sorta weird, in that you'd have to trip over the cable and somehow accidentally splice yourself in) or perhaps camping on someone's property (again, with no "No Trespassing" signs posted).  I think in either case, a court would rule that illegal, and the same might hold here. 

Even aside from the legal aspects, from a moral standpoint (*to me*) it's rather rude.  You just don't decide to use someone else's stuff, unless they've explicitly said you (specifically or the public at large) can.  You wouldn't go for a ride on someone else's bike just because they didn't have it locked up, would you?

My $.02, YMMV.

-Gina