Impounded laptop puts surfer back at library

Anchorage Daily News ^ | 01 MAR 07 | ANDREW WELLNER

[GATOR NAVY]

WASILLA – Brian Tanner said he has significantly curtailed his Internet use since police impounded his laptop computer after spotting him using an unsecured wireless network outside the Palmer Library last week.

He shares a home computer with his parents, but when he needs lots of time online these days he often checks his e-mail and surfs the Web on public computers – at the Palmer Public Library.

“I couldn’t log on this weekend because they’re closed,” Tanner said Tuesday.

Police talked to Tanner, 21, Feb. 18, after spotting him in the library parking lot after hours. They’d chased him away the day before and advised him that what he was doing could constitute theft of services.

When they spotted him a second time, they impounded his laptop to search and see what he’d been downloading.

Palmer Library director Pat Kilmain said Tanner broke no library rules that day. During the day, anyone in the library can use the wireless service for free. At night, the wireless signal is usually turned off.

[GATOR NAVY]

Follow up to this thread:

Using free wireless at library described as theft

[gridlock]

Isn't there a dangerous donut somewhere in Anchorage that requires immediate police attention? If the Library leaves the WiFi on, what's the problem?

I think the cops just wanted to see what was on this kid's computer.

[sionnsar]

Note to self: Move to Wasilla. The crime rate there is evidently subzero.

(OTOH... maybe not such a good idea if the police are that desperate to come up with something, anything...)

[Mr. Brightside]

What's next?

A stakeout at the copy machine to prevent photocopying pages from copyrighted books?

[KoRn]

If I lived in that town I would load up a cheap wireless laptop running XP(un-updated) with virtually every worm, virus, and piece of malware I could get my hands on and just leave it hidden and running near the library lol. They need some real problems to deal with.

[GATOR NAVY]

If the Library leaves the WiFi on, what's the problem?

That seemed to be the library's feeling, as long as he wasn't using excessive bandwidth. It was the cops that decided to take his computer.

[GATOR NAVY]

If I lived in that town I would load up a cheap wireless laptop running XP(un-updated) with virtually every worm, virus, and piece of malware I could get my hands on and just leave it hidden and running near the library lol. They need some real problems to deal with.

Why punish the library for jerk cops?

[babygene]

I've been thinking about getting one of those Skype 802.11 phones, to see if I could use it in place of a cell phone. Anyone had any experience with them?

[OCCASparky]

Note to self: Move to Wasilla. The crime rate there is evidently subzero.

Doesn't look like it...quite the opposite...

Crime in Wasilla (2001):
1 murder (18.1 per 100,000)
2 rapes (36.1 per 100,000)
6 robberies (108.3 per 100,000)
71 assaults (1282.1 per 100,000)
47 burglaries (848.7 per 100,000)
411 thefts (7421.5 per 100,000)
29 auto thefts (523.7 per 100,000)
City-data.com crime index = 728.7 (higher means more crime, US average = 330.8)

Crime in Wasilla (2002):
0 murders (0.0 per 100,000)
2 rapes (35.6 per 100,000)
7 robberies (124.6 per 100,000)
74 assaults (1317.7 per 100,000)
98 burglaries (1745.0 per 100,000)
443 thefts (7888.2 per 100,000)
33 auto thefts (587.6 per 100,000)
City-data.com crime index = 821.4 (higher means more crime, US average = 328.4)

Granted, it's a small town, but it ain't exactly Mayberry.

Then again, you'd think the cops could be fighting REAL crime instead of hassling this guy.

[KoRn]

"Why punish the library for jerk cops?"

Was really just wanting to give the jerk cops something more to do. You are right though. I'll think of something else lol.

[tubebender]

Who is checking the renters in the apartments across the street...

[elkfersupper]

This furthers my theory that everyone these days is either a cop or a suspect, and sometimes both.

[familyop]

"They’d chased him away the day before and advised him that what he was doing could constitute theft of services.

When they spotted him a second time, they impounded his laptop to search and see what he’d been downloading.

Palmer Library director Pat Kilmain said Tanner broke no library rules that day. During the day, anyone in the library can use the wireless service for free..."

Well, there you have it, folks: theft of laptop computer. But it's okay if done under color of law.

[steve-b]

What a bunch of donut-munching morons. The whole point of the library having a wi-fi network is for the use of the general public. Why not allow use of that service when the library is closed? Does the library computer belong to a union and get double overtime?

[Zeppo]

When they spotted him a second time, they impounded his laptop to search and see what he’d been downloading.

“Your papers, please!”

[conservative in nyc]

According the librarian, "it’s a city ordinance that you’re not supposed to be in the parking lot after hours." Why they just didn't book or ticket Tanner on that charge is unclear. But would that be enough to impound his laptop (or even more extreme, his car)? I'd be surprised if it would.

From the previous article, it appears the Palmer police were trying to get a warrant to search the laptop. This new article doesn't mention if they got their search warrant yet.

[familyop]

Hmmm. I'm not a lawyer, but that looks like a "fruit of the poisonous tree" violation of evidence doctrine.

[LukeL]

Are school had a limit of only 10 pages of copyrigted work per student.

[ASOC]

LOL

The Valley is the dope capital of Alaska. And they sell Tshirts - Proud to be Valley Trash.....

Sorry, inside Alaskan joke.

[conservative in nyc]

There's now a follow-up article to the follow-up article here:

Man who had his laptop confiscated uses library's (Anchorage Daily News; 3/2/07)

It summarizes a lot of what was in this and the previous article, but answers a few questions we've had. In particular, the article adds:

Police first found Tanner, 21, of Palmer parked Feb. 17 in the library parking lot, surfing the Web after hours, and asked him to leave. The next day, police spotted him there again after hours and this time warned him he could be charged with theft of services. The officer confiscated Tanner's computer and chased him off again.

Palmer Police Lt. Tom Remaley said officers are waiting on a search warrant based on the suspicion that Tanner committed theft.

"There may be things on this computer that prove or disprove the crime, but in order for us to look at them you either need to get consent or you need to get a search warrant," Remaley said.

He said Tanner could be charged, at minimum, with criminal mischief for defying a police order to refrain from Web surfing in the library parking lot.

An expert on Internet law, Jennifer Granick of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School in California, said she feared police may be on a fishing expedition.

They may "use something that's not really illegal as a stalking horse to go looking for something else illegal," Granick said Thursday by phone.

What little case law there is holds that hopping on unsecured wireless networks is not a crime, she said.

Granick said the Internet center could help Tanner should he face criminal charges.

Palmer library director Pat Kilmain said Tanner broke no library rules that night. During the day, anyone in the library can use the wireless service for free. At night, the wireless signal is usually turned off.

However, Tanner happened across the wireless signal during a few days when it was left on for maintenance purposes. Since then, it's been turned off at night.

--Snip--

So the Palmer police still haven't obtained a search warrant for the computer, almost two weeks after it was confiscated. And the library director said no library rules were broken (but parking in the library's lot after hours is technically not allowed but rarely enforced).

The likely criminal law the Palmer police are looking to prosecute Tanner under is criminal mischief in the fourth degree, which is a class A misdemeanor in Alaska. Under section 11.46.484(a)(3) of Alaska law:

A person commits the crime of criminal mischief in the fourth degree if, having no right to do so or any reasonable ground to believe the person has such a right . . . the person knowingly accesses a computer, computer system, computer program, computer network, or part of a computer system or network

I guess the cops are arguing that because they said so the day before, Tanner had no right or reasonable ground to believe he had a right to access the library's WiFi system on February 18. But do the police have authority to control access to the library's computer system - especially when the library director told the newspaper Tanner broke no library rules?