[freetard]

I'd be curious to see how accessing an open wifi can be made illegal. I mean, it's legal to scan for wifi networks, this how we all connect to wifi networks. Now, what happen when my laptop finds an open wifi network? I if I click to connect to that network, my laptop wifi is going to ask permission (through handshake and protocol etc) to the open wifi which is going to accept and grant me permission. How can asking first and receiving a positive response to enter an open wifi be illegal? I mean it's not like I actually broke into it or cracked the password, I actually asked first and got an inviting response.

[wmf]

I'd be curious to see how accessing an open wifi can be made illegal.

Using the magic words "expectation of privacy". If we assume that the general public is clueless about computers and thus many people expect that their open wi-fi is private (even though technically it isn't), then there's a problem. Also see the debate about thermal camera scanning of homes.

...my laptop wifi is going to ask permission to the open wifi...

But that's not what Google did; they were sniffing traffic without associating, so the APs had no opportunity to deny access.

[jrockway]

What's the point of enacting laws that are impossible to prove in court? How can I, a user that doesn't even know that I shoudl have a Wifi password, prove that someone passively received radio waves coming out of my house?

The answer is: you can't. If you can't prove someone did something, it's dumb to make it illegal.