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 ...
Heck, I used to do this after hours at a local coffee shop that left their Wi-Fi connection on 24 hours. I couldn’t go in and buy anything as they were closed. But if it’s free and the signal goes beyond the walls of the establishment, then this guy has been hosed big time.
...which is not illegal.
Get a grip...please.
How can he be charged if the owner of the coffee shop doesn’t press charges?
“The case has surprised locals, including the owner of the barbershop that initially called police, as well as Donna May, owner of the coffee shop.
“He could have just come in the cafe, even if he had any money, I would let him get on it,” May said.”
Not bad /grin
All of Iowa’s resrt stops have free WiFi. Pretty nice for us road warriors. You were probably at the rest stop up North where there is also a hotel and casino.
How can it be theft, when the service is free of charge?
This is the equivalent of taking some napkins from an outdoor cafe's dispenser when you're not a customer, or using the restroom at a convenience store without buying anything.
It's bad manners, but not the sort of thing that should get someone arrested!
I do it all the time too. If I have a doctors appt or something similar I piggyback onto an unsecured line ... usually a residence ... to surf while I wait. Contrary to opinion ... it doesn’t take up much bandwidth. Maybe some day the doctors office will provide free WiFi for patients waiting for up to and even over an hour to see them. And it’s not really stealing cause most lines are the same service that I subscribe to.
Not true. The wireless access point (WAP) granted the permission. To hook up to a WAP your computer sends out a request, this request is either denied via MAC filtering or other types of access controls, or it it granted. In this case, permission was granted via the WAP and he logged on.
I certainly sympathize with the accused here, but I can also see it as akin to a hypothetical bank that leaves its vault and cash drawers open and accessible to the public. It’s certainly stupid, but stupidity in itself doesn’t grant permission to take a good or service.
“But if they left their system wide open, they should have no case.”
“If they project their signal beyond their enclosure how can they complain?”
“Personally, if you don’t secure your system in the most basic way...it is free access.”
I don’t agree at all. If I don’t lock the doors on my house or car does that mean a thief had a right to steal my private property that I bought and paid for with my blood sweat and tears?
No it doesn’t.
People need to learn to respect private property.
in public?
Hey, this is a family website!
The article doesn’t say if he was playing his bagpipe while he was surfing..
How far does your ‘private property ‘extend?
Kinoxi,
If you leave your your door open and someone can see a stack of money on the table through your windows it does not give them the right to use it.
They can complain because thes guy was leeching their bandwidth which is something they pay for.
People need to take security measures on their systems, whether it’s legal or not. They are BEGGING for problems if they leave it wide open. Especially in this day and time when many cities and business DO OFFER ACCESS FOR FREE!
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