Re: Legal status of "War Driving"
- From: "McGyver" <Greyprof@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 08:45:27 GMT
<wallywoo@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:olib535phl4dckkr3l5go1gdueig3000bb@xxxxxxxxxx
What the heck is a WiFi?
WiFi is a brand name which has come to mean a wireless internet connection
method. The wireless connection technology permits a person with a wireless
modem to connect to the internet and multiple computers can connect through
the same ISP account. It has become common for people to connect using
someone else's ISP account. It is semi-automatic. If you have a laptop
with a wireless modem, you simply turn it on and click to open Internet
Explorer or Instant Messanger or whatever, and the machine finds a signal
and connects. WiFi signals are so common that it is not easy to find an
urban location in the U.S. that doesn't have at least one signal which
permits a stranger to hitchhike. Many people buy a laptop, connect to the
internet, and don't even realize that they are hitchhiking on someone else's
ISP account.
So if an Internet cafe business has WiFi service for its customers and a
person sits in the car outside the cafe and uses the cafe's signal, the cafe
owners is likely to consider that to be similar to decoding a satalite TV
signal without having an account.
McGyver
On Thu, 24 May 2007 08:44:42 -0400, A Michigan Attorney
<miattorney@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On May 23, 7:48 am, ber...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I just ran across an article on Ars Technica
(<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070522-michigan-man-arrested-f...>)
about a man arrested for: "A Michigan man is being prosecuted for
using a cafe's free WiFi... from his car". the article mentions
several other instances of people arrested for hopping on unsecured
WiFi nets [no mention whether any of them were actually convicted]. I
was under the impression that the state of the law was that if you
neglected to take reasonable steps to secure your WAP it was presumed
that you thought it was OK if "uninvited" folk used it. Apparently
not.
I don't know of a uniform rule on the matter. I have reviewed
Michigan's statute, and I think that most wi-fi coffee shops (though
not necessarily the one in the above Sparta case) would be considered
to have "authorized" public access under MCL 752.795 by posting signs/
stickers that say, without qualification, "free wi-fi" or the like.
The authorization argument is even stronger if the network's SSID is
broadcast.
Reading the Wood TV 8 article, it sounds to me like the police chief
has a vendetta against this particular defendant. The prosecutor
would be smart to nolle pros the case. Judge Servaas will probably
dismiss it at the preliminary exam. Even if he doesn't, I don't
foresee a jury convicting. The shop owner didn't complain, and didn't
even know it was illegal!
.
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