Peter - you are being an angel, but some sorry lawyer can easily make
you look like the devil and get you into lots of trouble.

Please be careful!



On May 31, 4:03 am, Philip <m...@xanadu.net> wrote:
> dejola wrote:
> > On May 24, 11:56 am, John Navas <spamfilt...@navasgroup.com> wrote:
> >> <http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132218-c,internetlegalissues/articl....>
>
> >> A Michigan man has been fined US$400 and must work 40 hours of
> >> community service for using a local café's Wi-Fi connection from his
> >> parked car to check his e-mail and surf the Web.
>
> >> He got off easy, according to the local TV station that reported the
> >> case: under Michigan computer access law, using a Wi-Fi connection
> >> without authorization is a felony, punishable by as much a US$10,000
> >> fine and five years in prison.
>
> >> But the story raises more questions than it answers, including
> >> whether the café's Wi-Fi connection was a fee-based service, which
> >> would imply authorization was required, or a free service that,
> >> without any security restrictions, could be accessed by anyone within
> >> range, including someone outside the restaurant. The story also
> >> doesn't say whether the defendant, Sam Peterson II, of Sparta, Ill.,
> >> was convicted of the crime or pled to the charge.
>
> >> Peterson routinely drove to Sparta's Re-Union Street Caf, to check
> >> his e-mail but never went into the coffee shop. His regular routine
> >> drew the attention of Sparta Police Chief Andrew Milanowski, who
> >> asked Peterson what he was doing. Peterson told him. After checking
> >> the Michigan statutes, the chief swore out a complaint of fraudulent
> >> computer access.
>
> > I'm sorry, but my take on wireless poaching is that it is up to the
> > network owner to secure his network. Otherwise he is polluting the air
> > with his wireless signals and inviting all to breathe in that polluted
> > air.
>
> That's my take too, but that is not what the legislator feel about it.
> Sounds like someone with time and money needs to challenge the
> constitutionality of the law.
>
> For those folks that set up wide-open WiFi networks and do not bother to
> change the router factory defaults, I usually access their router admin
> page, add some security and of course a password. If they happen to also
> have a network printer with no share password, I also try to print out a
> list of the changes I made for them :)