Michigan man fined for not buying coffee
Well, that's sort of what it boils down to (link , via):
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.
The interesting part of the story, to me at least, is the alleged age of the law in question:
The law, introduced in 1979 to protect Internet and private-network users from hackers, and amended in 2000 to include wireless systems, makes piggybacking off of Wi-Fi networks, even those without a password, illegal
Emphasis mine there. I'll let you figure out why that seems a little odd for yourselves.
This doesn't actually surprise me and to an extent I can understand why he's been prosecuted: as far as the prosecutors and police are concerned that access point was for paying customers of the cafe, not for any old Joe on the street. I suppose in their eyes it's like using one of the tables in the cafe itself - you'd expect to have to pay for the right to sit there, though once you'd bought your latte or whatever you could stay for as long as you like. On the other hand you can still go into a cafe and use the bathroom without paying for a drink first, can't you?
Morally it's a grey area. I'd love to be able to say "it was open, so therefore he should just be allowed to use it," but on the other hand I can see the argument that says that someone's door being open doesn't give you the right to go inside and watch their TV for half an hour.
