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 ...
At the most, his infringment on this asinine law should cost him a sentence of one cup of coffee for each day he used the shop's wi-fi.
Our police are great at giving out traffic tickets and harassing people like this guy.
I wish they cared as much about rounding up illegals as they do about generating fines.
Maybe the Feds should pay a bounty of say $1000 bucks per Illegal to the cops.
John
top.
There's your problem right there.
Why would the coffee shop encrypt the service? It’s supposed to be open for free use for their customers. Their r.f. signal bleeds out all over the neighborhood (it doesn’t stay inside their four walls)
I think some of you need to review the definition for the word steal.
some are;
to take secretly without permission
to accomplish in an unobserved or concealed manner
to sieze gain or win by trickery, skill or daring
They all have to do with you claiming a right to something that you did not pay for or earn with your own blood sweat and tears, in other words something not your property, the property of earned or payed for by another.
Now look at this post;
“You’re absolutely right! My grand daughter found a place in her house that receives a wi fi signal from next door. Is this theft? It is just leftover bandwidth that will never be used. For that matter, theft is taking something away from another and denying them the use of it. How can that apply here?”
Remember an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.
The lies are;
That there is “left over” bandwidth; The truth is that the owner paid for 100% of his bandwidth and thus there is none “left over”.
That taking that bandwith does not deny the owner the use of it; The truth is the owner owns his paid for private property even if he isn’t using it.
See how easy it is to get on the slippery slope socialism/communism where “all things are owned in common”, that one has a right to something not produced or bought as the result of one’s own blood sweat and tears?
That is exactly where the disrespect of private property leads.
I look out at society and see less and less reaspect for private property and all sorts of intellectual contortions to try and justify it and am not too happy about it.
Read Atlas Shrugged.
What I said;
“I’ll put it this way, I could not do what this guy did without feeling like I was stealing because I have a respect for what others have bought and paid for as their private property, which I have no inherent right to.
This basic law of private property governs my actions regarding even what is considered to be “free”.”
What you said;
“Re; Your first paragraph. Your personal neurosis does not change the facts. Have a nice day.”
That is so stinkin’ lame it hardly deserves a reply but since when and by whom is an honorable and healthy respect for private property considered a “neurosis”?
Have fun with your imaginary strawmen!
I had appoint for test and I waited 2 hours before I walked. I wrote the Doc a letter and he called me back telling me he was sorry. I told him thanks for the call but I have another doctor. He was miffed why I reacted the way I did.
Do you ask permission before roaming on another cellular telephone network?
It’s a criminal case, the government against an individual. The case would be styled “State of Michigan v. Sam Peterson,” not “Donna May v. Sam Peterson.” In this country in most if not all states, individuals cannot file criminal cases, only the government can. Often in things like domestic battery cases I’ll hear that the victim tried to drop the case but the “State picked up the charges.” The state or city or whatever files the charges in the first place. The government does not have to get permission from the victim to file charges, nor do they have to drop charges if the victim begs them to drop them. I’m a public defender and I’m always having cases where victims of various crimes want charges dropped but the prosecutors will rarely do it. They may not hammer my client if the victim wants the case dropped, they might agree to amend a felony into a misdemeanor, but usually they’ll want him to plead to something.
That’s just the way this game works. Prosecutors are used to winning. The deck is almost always stacked in their favor. They hate to lose, and they tend to feel like they’ve lost if they have to drop a case. So rather than drop a case, even one that really should be dropped in the interest if justice, fairness, etc., they’ll often give the guy what they consider to be a really good deal and walk away feeling like they’ve done the guy a favor. We defense attorneys have to present these offers to our clients and in most cases will have to advise our clients to take the offers because the risk of going to trial is just too great. This fellow would most likely have been convicted of a felony if he hadn’t pled and could possibly have gotten some prison time. Probably he would have just gotten a fine, but the felony on his record would have hurt him the rest of his life. The deal he got sucked, but he probably didn’t have much choice in the matter. He had to take the crappy deal or risk a felony conviction, higher fines, and maybe even prison time if the judge was a jerk or if they have some sort of mandatory sentences for felonies there.
What??
I own my cell phone broadcast.
Does any and everyone have a right to intercept and use my cell phone broadcast in what ever way they wish?
I've been in one that printed the authorization code on the receipt so that you could only use the wifi after making a purchase and another one that had the code taped to the counter by the cash register, again for the same reason.
“Do you ask permission before roaming on another cellular telephone network?”
Can you roam on another cellular telephone network without paying for it?
Except he never entered the store.
Good for you! I encourage everyone to do that. Your time is not less valuable than his simply because you’re not a doctor.
And if enough patients react as you did, he’ll learn his lesson . . . and if he doesn’t, he deserves to have no patients.
“Dang I do that quite often when I am on the raod. Usually outside a starbucks - I don’t always buy a coffee when I am doing it. I wonder how many states have that type of law?”
How long until the likes of Orin Hatch will give Starbucks the right to destroy your computer for utilizing an open network?
It’s against the law to eavesdrop
Your presumption that she is using leftover bandwidth just is not true. There is no such thing as left-over bandwidth. As an avid online gamer, I can tell you with absolutely certainty that anyone piggybacking onto my line can cause me problems and will raise my overall ping rate. Thus, no matter how little of my bandwith you are taking, if you are doing this while I am gaming, you are effecting my signal performance and communication speed. In other words you are raising my ping rate and affecting my game play.
I know this because I run a home network. Furthermore, after a full rebuild of my main home computer, I deliberately left my network open to see if a neighbor was trying to steal my line. Within a few days it was obvious to me that some one was. I then waited until I noticed heavy traffic and pulled the plug on my neighbor. I never determined who it was, but I'm sure they were not happy when their download died mid-stream.
Note, I do not think your daughter is a thief. If your neighbor doesn't protect their wireless signal, that's their problem. I'm in the "don't project it into my airspace" crowd if you don't want me to use it.
You are a fool.
When they put up a sign advertising that their “property” was free for the taking.
Don’t be stupid man.
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