Why does this group have so much spam?

[Terry Reedy]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:

>> I have read more that one person advocating
>> leaving one's wi-fi base open for anyone to use as the 'neighborly'
>> thing to do.
> 
> That's a different kettle of fish. You don't do anybody any harm by 
> paying for Internet access for your neighbours (and anyone driving down 
> the street with a laptop and wi-fi).

Unless the 'neighbor' is your friendly local spam or malware merchant ;-)

The rationale I have seen is this: if one leaves the wi-fi router open 
and illegal activity is conducted thru it, and there is no residual 
evidence on the hard drives of on-premises machines, then one may claim 
that it must have been someone else. On the other hand, if the router is 
properly closed, then it will be hard to argue that someone hacked 
trough it.

There are, of course, flaws in this argument, and I take it as evidence 
of intention to conduct illegal activity, whether properly so or not.

tjr