A Thread About The Legality of Using Others Bandwidth- Renamed From the Original

[Scoobie Newbie]

When I try www.army.ca it takes me to http://wsearch.net/?unknown
not sure what the hell that means.  www.milnet.ca works fine as that is how I am sending this.

 

[armyvern]

When I try www.army.ca it takes me to http://wsearch.net/?unknown
not sure what the hell that means.  www.milnet.ca works fine as that is how I am sending this.

Hmmm. It took me to the army.ca homepage.

Are YOU a Rogers customer!!??  :-\

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

well its back now.  Weird gremlins.  Not sure who I am using.  Someone here (Borden) didn't lock their wireless.

 

[aesop081]

Well, i never type in www.army.ca

thats because its just http://army.ca/

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Now to add to the weirdness.  I clicked on the email link indicating I had a response which took me to Army.ca no problem.  When I closed the tab, opened a new tab and clicked on my favorites for army.ca I get that same page again.

 

[dangerboy]

When I try www.army.ca it takes me to http://wsearch.net/?unknown
not sure what the hell that means.  www.milnet.ca works fine as that is how I am sending this.

Have you done a virus and spyware scan on your computer.  Sometimes they can play havoc with your browser.  

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

CDN Aviator clicking on your link worked.  It is weird though because since I can remember I always clicked on my favorites and it worked fine.  I have changed nothing.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

I use a Mac.. so no.

I used the link provide and made it a favorite, disregarded the last favorite I had and it is working again.  Weird.  Since its me I guess its a non-issue.

 

[StirlingDyer]

It's most likely a piece of spyware.  Ad-aware should be able to clear it up.

The other possibility is a faulty DNS Server at the ISP. Doesn't happen too often, but I've seen ISP servers get virused and start redirecting customers.

 

[davidk]

Spyware for a mac is pretty rare...I'd be more tempted to go with a faulty DNS server - it's happened to me too in the past (though not with this site.)

 

[GAP]

run a full scan with your antivirus....you have a redirecter....

 

[aesop081]

redirecter....

I read that wrong the first time 

 

[Michael OLeary]

I use a Mac.. so no.

There's your problem, it's trying to find some tree-hugging artsy alternative to your right wing warmongering choice of websites.  ;D

 

[Zell_Dietrich]

I'm tempted to simply say DNS server.  Army.ca does ... become unresponsive for extended periods and with timeouts it can happen that your browser would bump you to a search page.

Try typing in a url that you know doesn't exist,  see if you get bumped to the same search page.

(*joke below*)
That failing you might have been infected by the pre election "orange virus" which was sent out after last election.  It is designed to act like the great firewall of china and filter out any website that exposes the reader to controversial "opinions".  (controversial meaning contrary to acceptable doctrine of the ndp  ) 

 

[Rodahn]

That failing you might have been infected by the pre election "orange  NDP virus" which was sent out after last election.  It is designed to act like the great firewall of china and filter out any website that exposes the reader to controversial "opinions". 

 

[DBA]

Your ISP (Rogers) is doing that. In this case on the SMC router they gave you. They also do the same on their name servers but to

http://www20.search.rogers.com

instead. Whenever a DNS look up fails instead of giving a failure notice they return those webpages so they can make money off the ads shown.

Thread on DSL Reports about this: rogers inserting advertisements into my browser.

 

[garb811]

well its back now.  Weird gremlins.  Not sure who I am using.  Someone here (Borden) didn't lock their wireless.

If you don't know whose wireless you're piggybacking on and don't have their permission to do so, stop using it!  You're committing a Criminal Offence if you are doing that.

 

[Snafu-Bar]

Piggybacking someones "open" wireless isn't commiting a crime as far as i know, it's called hotspotting. Anyone who owns a wireless a router can choose to run it open or locked. Internet cafe's and many other places are running a wireless hotspot providing people in range free i-net. If someone is running thier router wide open then it's thier own fault.

Hacking the wireless or the host would be committing the crime, using free i-net open to public access due to owner malfunction and lack of password is called a freebie. 


Cheers.

 

[muffin]

The "Legality" of using unsecured wi-fi is sometimes legislated by the province/state/city etc.

In canada it is part of the criminal code : http://www.canlii.org/ca/sta/c-46/sec342.1.html

This is part of the same legislation that governs password protection etc outside of the Information Security Scope of the NDSI's.

Some New York counties have made it illegal ... and there have been some arrests made in the past in the states for "accessing wifi for the purpose of avoiding having to pay for a communication service" and this fellow in Michigan was charged in 2007 ( http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9722006-7.html ) He was charged for using it outside a coffee shop; had he been inside (a patron) it would have been ok.

Wikipedia has a site on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_piggybacking

I think it's crazy to leave your net open for anyone to surf anything on. If they are doing something illegal it will be traced back to you - and although you may be able to prove later that it was someone else's computer on your network I don't know what sort of liability you would have.

I often hear "if I leave my car unlocked it's still illegal for you to take it for a ride" or "if I left a gun unlocked I am resposible for what someone does with it" ...

Some ISP's limit DHCP available to a user so only 1-2 users can log in at a time, keeping "intruders" out - but not all of them.

muffin

 

[aesop081]

Oh Muffin, i love it when you get all techno-geeky.............