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This is a positive externality something long discussed and understood by economists. https://mises.org/library/what-externality https://mises.org/library/what
by daniel-s 5y ago
This is a positive externality something long discussed and understood by economists.
https://mises.org/library/what-externality https://mises.org/library/what-externality
The author compares the lamp's light to using your neighbour's WiFi. It's not the same thing.
When you use your neighbour's WiFi you're consuming a proportion of the limited bandwidth available on that connection. The neighbour is negatively impacted. You are also interacting with his hardware. It's different to collecting a type of energy that your neighbour is voluntarily releasing out into the world and abandoning.
- megablast 5y agoSo if they have unlimited data, and you only read websites not affecting their use, you say it’s ok??
- littlestymaar 5y ago> When you use your neighbour's WiFi you're consuming a proportion of the limited bandwidth available on that connection. The neighbour is negatively impacted. Only if your do so when your neighbour is also using the said bandwidth. So by this argument, it would be fine to use your neighbour's WiFi at night or when they aren't home, right? And by the way, if you are on a DSL link in a somewhat rural area, chances are high that using your internet connection is going to negatively impact your neighbourhood, so it can't really be an argument.
- drivingmenuts 5y agoYou’re still stealing, as the neighbor is paying for the availability of bandwidth, whether they are using it or not.
- megablast 5y agoThey are paying for the light too.
- drivingmenuts 5y agoBut using the overspill light doesn’t reduce the availability of light.
- littlestymaar 5y agoNor does using unused bandwidth though.
- drivingmenuts 5y agoBut the point is that someone is paying for that bandwidth to be available, regardless of it being used or not, at the moment. Light is not consumed, it is produced. Someone else put it that spillover light is gleaned. Bandwidth cannot be gleaned in the same way. You don’t have excess bandwidth like you would have light.
- AshamedCaptain 5y agoYou are also consuming electric power from the neighbor by keeping their wifi non-idle, which means more heat and thus load for their climatization when he comes back. Also the lifetime of the electrical components involved is therefore reduced.
- littlestymaar 5y agoWell, if you want to consider such a small amount of energy,then each time a light you own illuminate you're neighbour's property, you're heating it too…
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y agoYou're assuming no data caps; lots of people are on uplinks that bill by the byte or after some limit
- megablast 5y agoSo no data caps and it’s ok?
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y agoI never said data caps were the only problem, just pointing out that they are one practical problem.