Steven Frank tried “warwalking for the first time today”:http://stevenf.com/mt/archives/000262.php#000262, noting his experience and thoughts about the “free” aspect of wireless internet.
I happen to be a big fan of the “sport”:http://www.warchalking.org/, sometimes cruising around the streets with my iBook open running “iStumbler”:http://homepage.mac.com/alfwatt/istumbler/ looking for wireless routers. On occasion I actually find an open network so I surf to google, perform a random search and walk away. It’s more of my test to see if in fact the network is open. I’m not really into “stealing” someone else’s bandwidth, but if someone isn’t protecting their wireless router, do you think they’re actually gonna know I was there?
Other times I don’t find any networks but people look at me funny like, “What in the hell is that freak guy doing with some open white laptop walking around?”. People are interesting, anything abnormal and they’re all curious about it.
So, if you ever see some “Star Wars”:http://www.starwars.com/ universe named computer on your network, be sure and say “Hi”.