Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: Using your neibors Wifi

If you have the neighbors' permission, all that would happen is they would be violating their ISP's terms of service. If you don't, you might (or might not) be civilly and criminally liable as a trespasser. I've searched California law and I can't find a specific prohbition on "wardriving." But YMMV. If you get into legal trouble, and you possibly could, your lawyer, if you can afford one, could argue that the fact the neighbors didn't secure their WLAN is tantamount to an invitation.

Unless the company is the same company that is the neighbor's ISP, and assuming you are not doing something weird on the neighbors' WLAN like porn, hacking, spam, or using lots of bandwidth to the point that it interferes with the neighbors' use of the network, I doubt anything will come of it.

You could limit your use of the network to avoid possible detection. Don't speak at all to any cops or investigators, and don't consent to searches.