Free Broadband Makes Good Neighbors

Reason contributor Tim Lee goes slumming in The New York Times to fight the piggybacking panic:

Millions of homes now have wireless Internet networks, and many of them are not protected by passwords. "Piggybacking" occurs when someone—a next-door neighbor or a stranger parked across the street—finds an open network and logs on.

News reports tend to paint the practice as a growing problem. Reporters use words like "stealing," "hacking" and "intrusion." But despite the alarmist talk, the articles rarely explain what the problem is.

Maybe that's because there is none. To the contrary, the increasing ubiquity of free wireless Internet access is something to celebrate.

Read the rest here.