If anything could make people turn on basic security on their home networks, this story should: A man convicted of cyberextortion hid his traces by driving around and attaching to unprotected networks in Virginia and Maryland. He would lift account information passing in the clear (or possibly through attacks on the computers connected to those networks) and use those accounts to carry out his extortion demands. He's been convicted and is awaiting sentencing.
Sadly, this announcement probably won't help with the security problem. Open networks will be out there for a long time. The manufacturers need to start making WEP/WPA/whatever the default before anything will change.