Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:
Originally posted by Jeb Hoge:
Too bad. My next-door neighbors sometimes crank their stereo up loud enough for me to hear, too. Under licensing restrictions, this is technically illegal because my listening in constitues them publically "broadcasting" the music.


It is a shame this point was glossed over because it is a good one. What about people who use FM modulators in their car? Don't they "broadcast" content that people should have to pay for? So if I'm in traffic and pick up Sirius on the vehicle next to me on 88.1FM, aren't I just as wrong as the person lifting a wi-fi?



No. And there's at least 4 reasons why it's different:

1> As mentioned, the user is broadcasting it to you and forcing it to your radio on that frequency whether you want to or not. While wireless is broadcast to you, you have to actively seek it to use it. It's rare (and is a problem with securing your own PC) if it is logging onto a network without your express permission. You are actively clicking a button that approves your PC to log on to a network that you know isn't your own.

2> Broadcasting sattelite radio via an FM modulator is a byproduct of the way that service as designed by the provider functions, there's no way around it. Wireless on the other hand, with the rare exception of those companies that do explicitly provide wireless (as opposed to broadband) service, is broadcasted by a consumer, unbeknownst to the person providing that consumer with the service.
The difference between a broadband and a wireless provider is important. Most providers that offer an explicit wireless service understand that the broadcasting of its' network is a byproduct of how its' product functions, and the fact that some people are going to 'steal' it is built into the business model. Many of them even have service structures that not only allow, but promote this. I believe that it is SpeakEasy which allows someone who buys their service to allow others to log onto their network and use their hardware -- in turn the original consumer gets a discount, and the secondary user also gets a discount. With enough people, the 'original' user can even make money on his 'purchase' of the service by allowing others to use his hardware. It's a win/win for everybody involved.

3> Most importantly, unlike sattelite radio, bandwith costs money. Waves from space are free, no matter how many people are consuming them. Broadband costs go up incrementally with every user that consumes more bandwith. A broadband providers charges a consumer charge based on the average bandwith that a consumer will use in a month. If 2 or 3 or 4 consumers are using it, that number will increase exponentially. If a business model is built around the fact that a consumer will use $10 in bandwith and pay $30 for it, and suddenly they're using $30 in bandwith and paying the same $30, something's gotta give.

4> The 'stealing' of bandwith, unlike sattelite radio, affects the experience of the consumer that is actually purchasing the service since you are taking some of their bandwith and slowing the very high-speed service that they purchased. If done to a large enough extent this may affect their decision to keep the service, not only costing the provider with the incremental cost of the bandwith that you were 'stealing' but also the revenue from a paying customer.

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