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Man Goes to Jail for Stealing "Free" WiFi from Coffee Shop |
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I must admit that I was quite surprised when I found out about the case of a young man in Vancouver Washington who has been charged with "theft of services" (a charge used to prosecute people who steal cable, or commit a similar offense) for using the free WiFi emanating from a local coffee shop and then carted off to jail.This poor kid was actually outside of the store in question sitting in his truck with his laptop, happily and repeatedly using the WiFi that he thought was free; after all it was advertised as such. However, where this guy went wrong was disobeying a direct order from the police.
I am guilty of doing this myself. Admittedly, I did not use the WiFi at the business for three months on and off, but I did use it a lot. Since the WiFi was advertised as a free service, I figured that I or anyone else could use it whenever the establishment was open for business, as long as I didn't do anything illegal with it.
I was aware of people being prosecuted for stealing WiFi from their neighbors without their consent, but I always thought that the "free" WiFi coming from many stores was actually free...apparently it's not! There are limits to free WiFi and it doesn't hurt to buy something from the store that hosts the WiFi service once in a while!
Since the kid was only 20 years old and appeared to be no threat to the business or its customers, it would seem reasonable for the proprietor of the store to go outside and talk to the guy before he called the cops, but nowadays I guess that's asking a lot.
While three months is a long time to sit outside of a store (on and off) and leach off their WiFi, a jail sentence does not seem like the best response to the situation. In the end he was still charged with theft of services even though it seems he should have been charged with something related to his decision to ignore the police officer that told him to stop instead.
After reading this I am sure that many people will think twice the next time they click connect after searching for nearby WiFi signals! After all, free WiFi is not worth getting a record and a jail sentence!
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