Can Packet Sniffing be Legal?
Just got back from vacation in a remote area. While we were out, we drove into town for supplies and I made the mistake of using the "Free Wireless" at the Schlotzkey's to connect online to my bank to check the balance. Knew what I was doing at the time was dumb, but was more worried about whether we would have enough money to pay for the return trip home. I've changed the bank password over a secure connection when we got back.
But here's the thing.
Checking my email, I found an email from Ralph Lauren online "Thanking me" for my "recent purchase" online. It was sent the same afternoon I went online on an unsecured network. I made no purchase, there was no activity on my account, no evidence of anything wrong at all, only this "thank-you" email from Ralph Lauren. On the chance it was some sort of phishing scam, I didn't try to see if there was an online account under my email address at Ralph Lauren. (I've never purchased anything from them.)
So now I'm wondering if offering "free wireless" might have some marketing advantages to the business that offers it. Could Schlotzsky's (or someone they hire) be doing Packet Sniffing, looking for email address in the unsecured traffic, then sending some kind of email marketing attempt (in my case a "thank you" that might provoke me into opening an account at Ralph Lauren, just to see if they are trying to bill my account)?
This all feels so wrong that there is a part of me that believes it cannot possibly be illegal, BUT.
Our culture has evolved so far away from any form of individual rights and privacy that I must consider that, in addition to all of the other government and corporate intrusions and indignities that we must suffer or risk being labeled a "terrorist" that it might be perfectly legal for one corporation (Schlotzsky's) to offer free wireless internet (the "bait") in order to record my unsecured traffic, pull my email address from that traffic (and maybe my bank account number, user name, password and whatever else they might want), and then use that information in any way they choose, so long as the end result is not illegal.
It's legal to attempt to manipulate me into opening an account by creating concern that my bank account has been hacked into. Scaring people into doing what government and corporations want is how they stay in business and in power. Is this Blackhat? Greyhat? White?
And, just now after re-reading this work, I'm half-tempted to simply delete and forget it. Why bother complaining? No one else feels this way. Everyone else sort of "leans in" and informs me that it's actually all my fault. I shouldn't have been accessing my bank account on an unsecured network. I shouldn't have even been using my email. No, what I should have been doing is something safe, like reading "People Magazine" online, and reading ads for corporations like Schlotzsky's and Ralph Lauren. All I have to do is change my personal behavior and everything will be okay. I have no right to privacy, nor to have my information made available to anyone and everyone, and for any purpose that is "not illegal".
But I cannot continue to do that. It's like a splinter in my mind, and it will not let me alone. I have the sense that something very, very bad has to happen before things can be made right again.
But here's the thing.
Checking my email, I found an email from Ralph Lauren online "Thanking me" for my "recent purchase" online. It was sent the same afternoon I went online on an unsecured network. I made no purchase, there was no activity on my account, no evidence of anything wrong at all, only this "thank-you" email from Ralph Lauren. On the chance it was some sort of phishing scam, I didn't try to see if there was an online account under my email address at Ralph Lauren. (I've never purchased anything from them.)
So now I'm wondering if offering "free wireless" might have some marketing advantages to the business that offers it. Could Schlotzsky's (or someone they hire) be doing Packet Sniffing, looking for email address in the unsecured traffic, then sending some kind of email marketing attempt (in my case a "thank you" that might provoke me into opening an account at Ralph Lauren, just to see if they are trying to bill my account)?
This all feels so wrong that there is a part of me that believes it cannot possibly be illegal, BUT.
Our culture has evolved so far away from any form of individual rights and privacy that I must consider that, in addition to all of the other government and corporate intrusions and indignities that we must suffer or risk being labeled a "terrorist" that it might be perfectly legal for one corporation (Schlotzsky's) to offer free wireless internet (the "bait") in order to record my unsecured traffic, pull my email address from that traffic (and maybe my bank account number, user name, password and whatever else they might want), and then use that information in any way they choose, so long as the end result is not illegal.
It's legal to attempt to manipulate me into opening an account by creating concern that my bank account has been hacked into. Scaring people into doing what government and corporations want is how they stay in business and in power. Is this Blackhat? Greyhat? White?
And, just now after re-reading this work, I'm half-tempted to simply delete and forget it. Why bother complaining? No one else feels this way. Everyone else sort of "leans in" and informs me that it's actually all my fault. I shouldn't have been accessing my bank account on an unsecured network. I shouldn't have even been using my email. No, what I should have been doing is something safe, like reading "People Magazine" online, and reading ads for corporations like Schlotzsky's and Ralph Lauren. All I have to do is change my personal behavior and everything will be okay. I have no right to privacy, nor to have my information made available to anyone and everyone, and for any purpose that is "not illegal".
But I cannot continue to do that. It's like a splinter in my mind, and it will not let me alone. I have the sense that something very, very bad has to happen before things can be made right again.
