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Has anyone pirated their internet? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by hdnclr@beehaw.org to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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And no, I'm not talking about pirating on the internet, I'm talking about getting your internet connection to the outside world without paying or having a subscription or license. Something like a mesh network with your neighbors with the exit node being one person's high-speed fiber line, or even an exit node through a free public wifi network that you've hidden a little repeater device within range of... something like that could be interesting. I've been thinking lately of a world where decentralized networks become more common, and where people can freely use the internet without paying an ISP. What are your thoughts?

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[-] Tiberus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 year ago

In the U.S. during the 90's, there were free ISP dial-up trial CD's everywhere, especially in retail checkout lanes. You were free to take as many as you wanted which was great because each CD had a unique code for the trial period offered.

After installing the providers software and creating a free email address, you'd signup for a new account and get anywhere from 30 minutes to "thousands of hours" of dial-up internet access per CD, for free (not counting paying for a landline phone service). If you ran out, delete the account and start with a new one under a new code.

Nothing was required outside of generic info (name, address etc) which could be made up because there were no real verification checks.

this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025

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