File under stupid
This guy sat in his car and used a coffee shop's wifi. Sure the polite thing is to go in and buy a coffee, but there's the bubble and he used it outside. Cool, right? Wrong.
Felony. 5 years. $10,000 fine. He got "lucky" because he didn't have a prior record and only received a $400 fine, 40 hours community service, and a "diversion" program.
Michigan man dodges prison in theft of Wi-Fi
posted by jasonaut @ 10:42 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Hey There Jasonaut,
Thanks for writing nice things about my stories. I take it you live in Atlanta. Well, so do I. Now that's funny.
Jesus, this is scary, I had no idea it was a crime. Is it a crime to drink out of a stream if you don't want bottled watered? Secure your network if you want to insure making a profit on it, asshole owners of coffee shop. Hacking is one thing, plucking unsecured signal out of the ether another.
Another example of elietist bullshit in our culture: only those who can afford to pay can enjoy cultural advantage - which implies the salvery of all.
Chilly
Why not just buy some damn coffee now and then?
Yes, the wifi was just out there but so was the park I ran through before it opened but I still left my $1 just the same.
True, but I'll bet there was a sign that said "please pay $1 to use the park."
Also, check into the actual rates to use wifi in Starbucks...
True, this wasn't a Starbucks, but I would argue that they set an economic standard by which other coffee shop will justify their wifi rates.
Then again I'm a 'leftist utopian' type who would be pleased to see a situation where homeless and poor (college students), anyone can tap into all the net has to offer, once they have obtained a machine. The buisness is paying for the service anyway, why not pass it along...
"Because traffic effects everyone's connectivity", OK but even on this small scale.
The fact that you have to specifically ask for ketchup now in fast food drive-throughs is another example of what annoys me about this.
Whenever you hear use of the term 'bottom line', try and imagine exactly who is taking it in the ass-
Chilly
I think the thing here is that the guy could have been charged with a felony for the technological equivalent of tuning in a radio station.
And how is the consumer supposed to know whose signal he's getting? In many cities there are efforts to provide free wireless bubbles over the city. So say someone tunes in to the wrong network, gets a purportedly "private" one instead of the municipal one. Does that person go to jail, lose the right to vote or buy a gun, pay a huge fine, and become a "convicted felon" for the rest of his or her life?
There was a sign at my park (but the $ taking station was closed and locked) and there was probably also a sign on the coffee shop that said "wifi hotspot" which generally means that it is meant for customers, which this guy wasn't. He just used their parking and their wifi without bothering to pay. Did he know it was a crime? Clearly not. But, I'll bet he knew that he was taking advantage.
I don't think this is an elitist conspiracy by "the man" to keep this guy down. There is free internet in every library in my town - I'm betting his town too. I'd be interested to hear the rest of the story - like what brought him to the attention of the police, how long he was there each day, whether there was sufficient other parking, etc.
I've probably already beaten this horse to death, but can't help it.
Steph are you saying that the punishment for "stealing" a wifi signal is appropriate? That the crime is equivalent to other felonies such as treason, racketeering, robbery, murder, rape, etc.? That this is a legitimate use of police time, tax dollars, and government regulation?
I'm boggled by the concept of criminalizing pulling a signal out of the air. And making it a felony, no less. With prison time (you'd better come up with a really good lie to tell the other inmates when you go up for stealing wifi.)
His parking near the coffee shop wasn't the crime.
No, I was actually just thinking that the punishment was awfully harsh when I reread your post again now (I glossed over the felony part). That is a lot of punishment for "wifi theft" - which makes me think that maybe there is more to the story - like Al Capone getting busted only for tax fraud. If all he was doing was getting internet, seems like a fine and restitution would be appropriate.
My point was, yes - this guy got the shaft from the law, but that (1) he was in the wrong by piggybacking on someone else's internet (you don't watch cable through your neighbor's window, right?), and (2)the "have-not" argument doesn't wash on the internet access.
Could be that the law was written to keep folks from hacking or identity theft and this case is an unintended consequence of a stupidly written law. Or, the guy was up to something else and this was all they could charge him on.
whew! you were scaring me there!
My attitude is that these are free public airwaves and the business owner's neglect does not amount to a crime on the user's part.
There's an extensive conversation about this going on at digg...
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