I hope this isnt considered a cross-post, as I posted this as a comment to the news article on the homepage, and I dont think everyone allways reads the comments.
Anyway--
In regards to the FBI agent who supposedly wrote the email concerning the legalities of netstumbling--
I sent him the following email:
I have attached a recent posting to
http://www.netstumbler.com which claims to be from you. As there is much speculation as to what you read on the internet, my first question is if this is truly a legitimate post made by an FBI official.
If it is, this raises some questions for me. Are there any laws/cases which more clearly define the "line" to not be crossed when looking for the presence of wireless networks? When you say "Identifying the presence of a wireless network may not be a criminal violation, however, there may be criminal violations if the network is actually accessed" what exactly defines "accessed"? For instance some operating systems (Windows XP) by default, scan and try to connect to available wireless networks as soon as you insert a wireless card. If someone is broadcasting a wireless signal that is using DHCP (effectively handing out IP addresses to ANYONE that asks), then it is entirely possible for someone to connect (even accidentally) to a wireless network (and therefore be in violation) without even knowing.
Other software such as boingo
http://www.boingo.com does essentially the same thing, but must knowingly be installed first. Other software such as netstumbler
http://www.netstumbler.com and kismet
http://www.kismetwireless.net simply search for the signal, with no means of connecting. Would this make Windows XP and Boingo illegal in the laws' eyes?
As I do installations of wireless networks, in and around the Pittsburgh area, I am very curious as to the law, because I often use combinations of these and other software.
Thank you for your time.
If anyone has any other questions or vague issues to ask about, post them here and I will try to present them to him if he replies.