For anyone wondering what I need for my upcoming birthday, here’s a hint.

I know that wishlist isn’t as nice as Amazon’s. You won’t be able to tell if someone’s already decided to get me one. Don’t worry. If I get more than one, I promise to love them all equally.

In an effort to provide my readers tomorrow’s news today, I’m going to take this story and use it to extrapolate a future news headline:

RIAA sues man for music piracy for listening neighbor’s stereo
Pirate caught after reporting loud music to police

It is the job of the network owner to secure his or her network. I know the justification that people use for complaining about these typse of “hijackings” — “You’re using my bandwidth, so you have to pay” — but if my neighbor uses his sprinkler system and sprays water onto my grass, I’m not obligated to pay him for the use of his water. The same principle should apply to using a wireless network.

If the network in question was secured, then I’ve no issue at all with prosecuting the “wireless hijacker.” The crime in that case would be the same (in my mind) as if I’d spliced into my neighbor’s water line to use my water on his bill.

To be fair, this is a British decision, and therefore has little effect on the American court system. Still, as our society becomes progressively more global, these kinds of decisions should worry all of us in the “Western” world.