Clueless Woman Calls Tech Show When Her Stolen Wi-Fi Disappears

[Teacher Mark 53]

Yeah, everyone has stolen Wi-Fi at one point or another, but not everyone has called into a tech show in order to complain about the fact that someone put the kibosh on said stealing.

Meet Jennifer, she had been unwittingly yoinking Wi-Fi for more than a year and a half when the gravy train ran out, after which she called into Leo Laporte’s Tech Guy radio show in a state of utter confusion.

After hitting YouTube (YouTube) this weekend — the show aired on Saturday — the video depicting Laporte interviewing the confused woman has gone viral, racking up 122,661 views at the time of this post.

Maybe it’s Jennifer’s innocent confusion (“Yeah, well they should bring that cost down”), maybe it’s Laporte’s gentle/yet amused explanation that she was, in fact, putting her Internet privacy at risk while simultaneously breaking the law (“So you have — silly question, but I’m gonna ask it anyway — you have a wireless access point to begin with?”), but something about this vid is striking a chord with Internet denizens.

Have you ever stolen Wi-FI?

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http://mashable.com/2010/02/22/stolen-wifi-confusion/

[Nagishkaw 510]

What an idiot.

[Teacher Mark 53]

What an idiot.

He homed right in on the problem didn't he?

[Nagishkaw 510]

Yup!

[Niels Bohr 72]

Wi-fi hopping isn't 100% illegal yet.

[luckytxn 2,265]

I use a lot of wifi and many times an open wifi system. It is amazing how many there are. Oh and if anyone ever tries to figure out the code to go onto most hotels wifi.......it is usually their phone number.

[Ali G. 37]

I use a lot of wifi and many times an open wifi system. It is amazing how many there are. Oh and if anyone ever tries to figure out the code to go onto most hotels wifi.......it is usually their phone number.

I never put you for a tight azz. Not very capitalistic now is it..

[trillium13 84]

What is wrong with people?

Hilarious. That guy handled it well.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

lol, some people will just never 'get it.'

[Anna C. 4]

OMG people can be so dumb.... But she seemed to know that someone else paid for it, since she complained how expensive it is....

[scandal 951]

This is not as ridiculous as one might think.

In the early days of WIFI, the idea of piggybacking on your neighbor's connection was much more accepted and the technique of 'warchalking' to let others know of available WIFI access points was quite fashionable.

E.g. - this article from 2002 explains the phenomenon http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2144279.stm

Today there are businesses and even municipalities that promote free WIFI.