[jasondavies]

Passive sniffing is one thing. Active unauthorised access to a computer using FireSheep is definitely illegal in the UK according to the Computer Misuse Act:

  (1) A person is guilty of an offence if—
   (a) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to
       any program or data held in any computer, or to enable any such access to be
       secured;
   (b) the access he intends to secure, or to enable to be secured, is unauthorised;
       and
   (c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that
       that is the case.
  (2) The intent a person has to have to commit an offence under this section need
      not be directed at—
   (a) any particular program or data;
   (b) a program or data of any particular kind; or
   (c) a program or data held in any particular computer.

I think passive sniffing may also be illegal in the UK according to RIPA [1] as it is unauthorised interception of public telecommunications.

[1]: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/part/I/chapter/I...

[mike-cardwell]

Yeah, definitely illegal in the UK. I'd be surprised if it wasn't illegal in the US too.

So he's basically just blogged about committing a crime. I wonder what would happen if one if his "victims" read this and then contacted the police. I bet Facebook has enough information logged about which accounts were accessing Facebook from that IP at the time, and which of them received his messages.