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Fascinating discussion.
I agree that taking access to someone's wifi without permission is wrong, and probably some level of crime. (I'm in the US; it's unclear whether it's my responsibility to get permission or the owner's responsibility to restrict access.) OTOH, when I am surrounded by 8 valid wifi signals, how do I tell which ones belong to individuals, and which ones belong to coffee shops offering free wifi to the public? They don't all demand "customers only"--they're happy to have students hang out on their benches during off-peak hours. And the public libraries have wifi that extends past their doors.
I work in downtown San Francisco. The area is *blanketed* by wifi, some free, some requiring access codes. Some are neatly named to indicate free public use; some aren't.
I think it's unreasonable to demand that people identify whether wifi is freely offered, if there's a reasonable expectation that it could be free. If a dozen storefronts have free sample foods on display, a person who wants her private picnic display to remain private will need to somehow mark it as off limits.
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