UK Man Convicted For Wi-Fi Piggybacking

CatrionaMcM tips us to a BBC story reporting that Gregory Straszkiewicz, a UK resident, was fined £500 and sentenced to a conditional discharge for 12 months after being caught using a laptop from a car parked outside somebody else's house. '[H]e was prosecuted under the Communications Act and found guilty of dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service.' A separate BBC story notes that two other people in England were arrested and cautioned for sharing Wi-Fi uninvited.

Comments

First Wi-Fi Piggybacking post!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now mod me down.

Re:Open AP?

[Darktan]

Easy. Simply check: Am I in Britain? Yes? Then the AP is not for public use, or possible intended for use at all.

Re:Crime to use open wifi?

[purpledinoz]

Next time you hear your neighbour's music, the moral thing to do is cover your ears so you can't hear music for free.

Quick Change

[HTH NE1]

It's no different than seeing an unlocked door. You wouldn't just walk in and look around would you?

Do it all the time - I don't actually remember the last time a business had someone out front asking me to come in.

You haven't been walking through the right districts.

"Nude women! Nude women! Clowns welcome! Clowns welcome! Nude women! Clowns welcome!"

Re:Open AP?

[servognome]

Uhh, the utter lack of advertisement that it's for public use?

Linksys = Latin for "Welcome", right?

Unlocked doors

[can56]

I once walked into the local grocery store on a Sunday morning. The door was open, and all the staff were there -- cleaning, stocking, ... -- but for some reason, I was the only custumer present. One of the brighter staff members eventually noticed me, and asked WTF was I doing? It was ~9:30, and the store did not open till 10:00. After some hilarity, the manager decided it was an honest mistake (on their part and mine), and I was not charged with trespassing. However, I did have to leave my half-filled basket inside the store, and wait ~15 minutes to re-enter the store (legally) to complete my trip.

Re:Open AP?

[FLEB]

I don't recall if it was a local story or something from an aggregator like /., but I recall hearing a while back that people were up-in-arms because someone was using the public library's Wifi through the walls after the library was closed.

It ended up rather sanely, no charges IIRC, and the library just turned off their equipment at night. For that matter, though, who really cares if they didn't.