Intent comes into it.
There are "green bikes" that some cities place unlocked around the place. The intent is clearly to let anyone choose to take one and ride across the city on it.
Leaving a car unlocked may be stupid, but that isn't an invitation to take it.
(Analogies only go so far, as different situations are, well, different. How about another: two boxers are not arrested for fighting in the ring, but if one were to punch some person on the street, s/he'd be arrested. Is the difference the intent or agreement between the boxers that they may punch each other?)
BAUT is clearly intended to be publically acessible.
Hoping on someone elses (home wireless access point) server, when they don't intend you to, because they were silly/uneducated/... enough to leave it accessible ... is still wrong; and I'd call it theft.
I think the only valid defence would be if you could prove you were not aware you were doing it - i.e. as clueless as the person who left the router open.
(Whether is it is "illegal", but not specifically "theft", seems to miss the point.)
I think it's similar in some ways to illegal downloading of music:
1: The technology makes it so easy, it's easy to overlook that it's theft.
2: It appears to be a victimless crime, so it's easy to rationalise as not theft.
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