Man fined $400 for using cafe’s free Wi-Fi without being a customer
From woodtv.com:
It’s a lunch hour ritual at the Re-Union Street Cafe’. Customers regularly log onto the internet using the cafe’s wireless network to check their e-mail and surf the web while they enjoy the coffee and ambience.
Sam Peterson II did the same thing. “I knew that the Union Street had WiFi,” he told 24 Hour News 8. “I just went down and checked my e-mail and didn’t see a problem with that.”
But Peterson did it everyday, and from his car. He drove up, parked, and piggybacked onto the Union Street network. Piggybacking – using someone else’s WiFi without their permission – isn’t legal.Sparta Police Chief Andrew Milanowski was suspicious of what Peterson was doing in his car every day and talked with him. He didn’t issue a ticket, but he did hit the books. “I had a feeling a law was being broken,” the chief said, “but I didn’t know exactly what.” He found a relatively new and rarely used law. “Unauthorized use of computer access,” he said.
This is just ridiculous. If you set up free unprotected Wi-Fi, you have to expect people to use it, inside your store or out.
Dare I tell you that while I was on vacation in New York City, I used one of the many Wi-Fi signals my laptop picked up?
I suppose anyone living around the place is doing the exact same thing. Another proof that, as my boss says, “only the meteor may redeem us at this point.” hehehe
And Thats why the US’s larges ISP is linksys. All of those unprotected hot spots, Thats the way of the future. Now I do have my wifi protected but if I ever got fios I would set it up so anyone could have free wifi.
The law is new and fairly unknown. The cafe has received way more than $400 in advertsing. They should drop the charges, give him a gift card and let him come in to buy their stuff and use the wifi. Maybe he can do the probation but the cafe should take the high road here. When I travel I always check to see if I can get on with what is floating around the airways whether in airports or what. I never thought that it is illegal in some places.
That’s a good idea for the cafe to do. They didn’t actually call the police on the guy, a cop just happened by and asked what he was doing. But the cafe should capitalize on it anyway.
Right now I’m in a hotel room in San Francisco and my wireless is picking up 26 different wireless connection choices.