The other day, the young woman who just moved into the studio apartment across the sidewalk from us came bursting out of the door, quite exasperated.

"I can't get a signal. I just can't get it to work. ?

"Whatever do you mean, you young waif? ?

"I can't get the wireless Internet signal to work. ?

I had told this young girl that my wife and I were writers and had DSL Internet. She assumed it not only meant that we had wireless DSL, but also that it was perfectly ok to use our Internet service for her personal needs. We do not have wireless, thank God!

Then her boyfriend appeared. I told them that we do not have wireless. He informed me that was ok; he could run a wire from her apartment to our phone connection and get all set up for the Internet.

Now excuse me, but is there something wrong with this picture?

After informing these two potential internet and phone hijackers that I was not keen on their presumption of using the service I was paying for, they told me that it was ok since they could simply run a wire into someone else's apartment.

I would love to report that this was an isolated incident and that, in Mexico, this sort of thing doesn't often happen. But I would by lying.

We know a young, married couple that is here in Guanajuato studying Spanish. A month into their new living situation, their electricity suddenly went off. They went outside and could plainly see that someone had cut the wire that brought power into their apartment and rerouted it to another apartment. The couple called the electric company, only to be told that it wasn't possible for someone to hijack their electricity.

These poor kids had to wait until their landlord returned from a European vacation, a month later, to get their power restored. Someone had indeed hijacked the couple's electricity.

I am beginning to see that Mexico is different than life in the USA in more ways than one. Life here definitely functions on a different wavelength.

The couple that wanted to share my Internet connection acted as though they saw nothing wrong with this sort of behavior, behavior we in the U.S.A. would call criminal. As I have begun to ask around, I have found that there is a flood of people trying to find apartments near cafes that provide wireless Internet service so that they can hijack the signal. This is going on in a neighborhood near us.

So, what's with this? I am not so nave as to assume that this does not go on in other countries. However, why am I so shocked at the brazenness of the couple that expressed exasperation that they could not catch my wireless signal?

Are ethics sometimes culturally determined? Probably. Am I being too simpleminded because I want to believe that a normative, prescriptive ethic of honesty should reign cross-culturally? Probably.

The end of the story with the Internet hijackers went something like this:

"Oh, wait! I heard the lawyer in the next building has wireless. ?

Happening to know that this was true, I stupidly said, "Yes, I believe so. ?

"Oh good. I can run an antenna up the side of this apartment and catch that signal! Thanks for your help. ?

I did what I always do when I encounter cultural affectations in this county.

I went inside my apartment, lay down on the bed, and uttered a few well-chosen profanities under my breath.