Posted on 05/31/2007 12:51:13 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
A Michigan man has been fined $400 and given 40 hours of community service for accessing an open wireless Internet connection outside a coffee shop.
Under a little known state law against computer hackers, Sam Peterson II, of Cedar Springs, Mich., faced a felony charge after cops found him on March 27 sitting in front of the Re-Union Street Café in Sparta, Mich., surfing the Web from his brand-new laptop.
Last week, Peterson chose the fine as part of a jail-diversion program.
"I think a lot of people should be shocked, because quite honestly, I still don't understand it myself," Peterson told FOXNews.com "I do not understand how this is illegal."
His troubles began in March, a couple of weeks after he had bought his first laptop computer.
Peterson, a 39-year-old tool maker, volunteer firefighter and secretary of a bagpipe band, wanted to use his 30-minute lunch hour to check e-mails for his bagpipe group.
He got on the Internet by tapping into the local coffee shop's wireless network, but instead of going inside the shop to use the free Wi-Fi offered to paying customers, he chose to remain in his car and piggyback off the network, which he said didn't require a password.
He used the system on his lunch breaks for more than a week, and then the police showed up.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This isn’t like a mere unlocked door. If you put a couch out on the sidewalk with a sign that says “free”, and somebody takes it, they are not stealing. It’s pretty simple, really.
We already know from the article that the owner of the shop had no problem with what this guy was doing. This isn’t about a complaint of theft of property by the property owner.
This is about a law that some prosecutor decided to apply to this guy, absent any complaint.
This case is almost precisely like if he’d taken that couch from the sidewalk, with the permission of the owner, then got arrested for stealing.
The law is being misapplied. That’s what this is about.
If it bothers them that much they can restrict access to paying customers. I think this is petty of them.
No. But you do have rights over who uses your bandwidth.
Bye
Lets be clear as to why this law exist. Its to protect individuals and their private homes from having people leach their bandwidth. I secure my network but when I look around I see a dozen or so ‘linksys’ ids with no security and a couple which I could crack in a few minutes.
The fact this is a private business, thus private property means it should be treated the same way and if the guy did not stop in and ask ‘can I use your service’ he was in the wrong. Should he go to jail? naaa but a fine is in order...
But I thought FR was the new “all anti-illegals, all the time” forum./s
I pay for broadcast rights, that’s part of the package.
Not necessarily some older wireless phones don’t have encryption..
DUH?? Of course it is. And I'm sure they get alot of customers that way. But they've also made it clear that use of the wifi is not contingent on buying anything. But... by offering the service they get customers.
I don't see what's so difficult about this.
But they do rely on some fairly simple mechanisms to ensure that each handset must work with its authorized base station.
Sir, I agree with your first 2 sentences. I mean, they are foundational to my entire life philosophy.
But if a person obtains a property or service through his gainful efforts, he then has the right to share property or service with the general public at his discretion.
YOU seem to believe availing ones self of deliberately shared property or service as theft. That is insane. THAT is why I accused you of having statist, near fascist views.
Of course, like I said in another post...
PS. I could be wrong in my analysis. It may be that y’all are too stupid to understand that taking something given away for free to the public is not stealing. And you may be too stupid to understand that is exactly what is being discussed on this thread. If this is what is going on then I apologize for calling you statists or near fascists. I replace those words with stupid. Either way you are SCARY!
I'd argue that it's even "less of a crime" than that. You ask the network for access, the network responds and grants or denies access to you. It's like seeing a $5 on someone's kitchen table through their wide open doors and windows, walking up to the house and shaking the owners hand and asking for the money and he hands it to you. What is wrong about that?
I think the people on here that want to categorize this as stealing just do not understand technology well enough.
While tacky, this hardly rises to the level of jailtime. There would have to be more to this story.
Big difference if you intend to pass the bill for the calls you are making on to the folks who live at that address.
The coffee shop was giving away the signal. There was no expectation of payment for the service...
How about keeping this in the realm of communications? If you are in the lobby of a company & there is a telephone on the desk with an outside line, it might be good manners to ask if you can make a local call, but I doubt everybody does.
Why since the PC/Mac ratted the guy out and gave up information on where he was surfing. The PC/Mac must have copped a deal first.
Tell that to the scary “jack booted thugs” swarming this thread. Jeepers!
The video I saw showed that they had a sign in the window saying “free wi-fi” - They did nothing to say you had to buy anything for the “free wi-fi”. The owner never asked him not to use the wi-fi.
If it said “free wi-fi for customers I could understand the crime. The guy may have bad manners and be a cheapskate, but under the circumstances was there a felony? I think that is doubtful. This is the product of a run amuck cop and a prosecutor who fails to exercise proper prosecutorial discretion. In the video the cop was giddy about charging this guy and the prosecutor acted like they had to prosecute.
Stupid if you ask me. Sooner or later they will make everything a crime and I will get rich.
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