Piggybacking (Internet access)

Piggybacking on Internet access is the practice of establishing a wireless Internet connection by using another subscriber's wireless Internet access service without the subscriber's explicit permission or knowledge. It is a legally and ethically controversial practice, with laws that vary by jurisdiction around the world. While completely outlawed or regulated in some places, it is permitted in others.

A customer of a business providing hotspot service, such as a hotel or café, is generally not considered to be piggybacking, though non-customers or those outside the premises who are simply in reach may be. Many such locations provide wireless Internet access as a free or paid-for courtesy to their patrons or simply to draw people to the area. Others near the premises may be able to gain access.

Piggybacking is distinct from wardriving, which involves only the logging or mapping of the existence of access points.

Piggybacking has become a widespread practice in the 21st century due to the advent of wireless Internet connections and Wireless access points. Computer users who either do not have their own connections or who are outside the range of their own might find someone else's by wardriving or luck and use that one.

However, those residing near a hotspot or another residence with the service have been found to have the ability to piggyback off such connections without patronizing these businesses, which has led to more controversy. While some may be in reach from their own home or nearby, others may be able to do so from the parking lot of such an establishment, from another business that generally tolerates the user's presence, or from the public domain. Others, especially those living in apartments or town houses, may find themselves able to use a neighbour's connection.

Wi-Fi hotspots, unsecured and secured, have been recorded to some degree with GPS-coordinates. Sites such as WiGLE.net, Wifimaps, NodeDB.com, and Hotspot-Locations host searchable databases or maps of the locations of user-submitted access points. The activity of finding and mapping locations has also been crowdsourced by many smartphone apps.

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