WPA, the smart choice

If your mother uses wifi at home to send you e-mail, and your home network is not protected by WEP or WPA, what reasons would you suggest to her for enabling one of these two protocols at home if the liability of reading those e-mails still exists once her message leaves your home, on it’s way to school?

Having some form of privacy system on your wireless internet is important for anyone. Especially for my mom whose lack of a secure network could lead to problems for me! Having a secure WEP or WPA (WPA is better) network protects not only your own computer from being attacked but also those whom you correspond with via the internet. If a hacker or thief broke into your information a simple email can lead them to you or send a nasty virus in your direction.
If my mother can protect her own computer she protects aspects of her own life not just the information she included in the email to me. My mother uses online banking and without a secure network this would not be a smart choice! Anyone siting in their car in front of my house can then be a part of my network and can gain access to that privy information. Password and other such items are for my mother only not to be share with even the most trusted neighbor.
Another reason it is important to have a secure network is because you are paying for the internet. If you have an open wifi connection then your neighbors and anyone else close to your house does as well. It may sound a bit selfish but your internet is not something to be shared. This is true from both an economical and safety standpoint.
My mother wants to protect the aspects of her life and is smart enough not to put any of that information into an email and if she did I would suggest to her to not do I again. There is no information in emails from my mother that is worth stealing, unless they cares that my brother got a girlfriend or that she had to suspend a kid from her class. The WPA secured network is more to protect her own computer. If nothing can hurt her computer then nothing can hurt my computer through an email I received from her.
I believe it is important to secure your network. It allows for safer internet surfing. The system is not fool proof so everyone should still be mindful of what they click on or what internet form they fill out but overall the system seems to work.