Remember the good old days when no one knew how to secure their wireless network? You didn't need internet because you could jump on your neighbors' connection. No one cared; really, it cost your neighbor nothing to let you share.
These days my network list is filled with those little lock icons. I'm paying monopolistic Comcast a ridiculous $60 a month for high-speed internet access. Nobody wants to share their connection. I've seen the rise of vindictive WEP'ing. For example, one of my neighbors' network is called "Don't Even Try it Jess." A friend of mine had a roommate who didn't pay for wireless because she "never uses it." When my friend caught her on it, he changed his WEP and renamed the network, "You Never Use It."