The guy in the article was actively seeking out open access points to use. That probably had a lot to do with him being charged.
It's a bit different to innocently accidentally connecting to one. Free hotspots are usually located in coffee shops, airports, and main streets in cities. There are usually signs up to indicate such. There aren't so many private businesses and homes that would offer them, so you can be pretty sure that when you're in my apartment building, and you connect to Linksys or Netgear, it's not a free AP. (FYI it's not mine :P)
I'm not sure of the exact verbage of my access contract with Bell Canada, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing in there stipulating how secure my wireless access point or any other part of the network after the ADSL modem needs to be. Maybe you do have something, but I doubt it's the norm. They never sold me a WAP, and I doubt they even know I have one.
It's a bit different to innocently accidentally connecting to one. Free hotspots are usually located in coffee shops, airports, and main streets in cities. There are usually signs up to indicate such. There aren't so many private businesses and homes that would offer them, so you can be pretty sure that when you're in my apartment building, and you connect to Linksys or Netgear, it's not a free AP. (FYI it's not mine :P)
I'm not sure of the exact verbage of my access contract with Bell Canada, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing in there stipulating how secure my wireless access point or any other part of the network after the ADSL modem needs to be. Maybe you do have something, but I doubt it's the norm. They never sold me a WAP, and I doubt they even know I have one.