Hummmm...This explains why our paladin dropped right in the middle of a raid the other night...

I'm with untrustworthy. What does this hurt? It isn't costing them extra money, and it's pretty easy to turn it off at night. If he lived next to the library and leeched, would that be illegal? It's pretty wasteful of taxpayer's money for the library to leave access open 24/7 but only let people use it during certain hours.

All they have to do is set up the router to stop access after hours. If they don't want people to use it, why are they providing it?

Wow, three wastes of tax payer money at once. It's a TRIFECTA

My city, Sherman Oaks, provides free wireless. It's faster then any other service in the area.

How is "stealing" something that's free a crime?

This is asinine.

untrustworthy had it right.

We are so protected and served. Thanks Alaska for saving us from that madman.

I hope he goes to jail, gnomes suck.

Another brilliant piece of journalistic research here. Has to be more to the story so why aren't they asking/printing it? A grade-schooler would have obvious questions unanswered after reading this.

/Journalism majors rank even below education majors

Time to warm up old sparky!!!

Police=revenue collectors.

Not everyone that plays an MMORPG loses his/her house or life :P It's actually very relaxing.. and a nice world away from some of the troubles this one threatens to bombard us with from time to time. Not that i dont want to help fix the problems.. sometimes you just arent the one to fix them so you sit and play and relax :)
Don't tax payers fund the library.. internet and such.. i'd say the guy is just getting his money's worth :)

"had been chased out of a number of locations around Palmer where he had been latching on to wireless service."

People clearly didn't like him borrowing their bandwith. Wifi is only free when the owner of said transmitter expresses otherwise. Apparently, some people did not want him connecting. He's a wardriver, folks. While I philosophically support him, I'm not surprised that he was arrested once caught.

If the library doesn't want people to access their wireless signal while they are closed, block the damned signal. That's not difficult to do.

Wardriving is not a crime.

"A Palmer man has been waiting to see if he'll be charged with criminal wrongdoing after a patrolling police officer seized the laptop he was using to play online video games in the parking lot.


Organized crime wins again.

/"You'll get this back after it has cleared through the system."
//See you in 2009...

Man it's just some dude playing a f-ing video game. Doesn't the local prosecutor / cops have something better to do ?

UberDave [TotalFark]

Hummmm...This explains why our paladin dropped right in the middle of a raid the other night...

FTW!

Everything else aside, since when is logging onto a hot spot an arrestable offense? I'd imagine it to be more of a ticket sort of thing.

Wardriving is a crime, if the signal is locked down. Digital tresspasssing; they can book you with computer hacking charges depending upon whetehr you cracked WEP or whatnot. Again, teh article makes clear that he pissed NUMEROUS people off before he went to said library. Refer to that quote.

FTA: here are library rules governing its use and Tanner wasn't following them

Maybe his Library card had expired and he forgot to renew it? Or he had $0.25 owing on an overdue book? You can't let these menaces to society just run rampant you know!

/dated a librarian
//Nazis were more forgiving
///no... really

We, the POLICE, don't like what, fill in the blank, you are doing. We, the POLICE, are going to stop you. Even if we, the POLICE, aren't sure what it is you are doing. Hopefully we, the POLICE will get to shoot you dead. BWAAHAAAHAA

manimal347

Yes but it doesnt say he cracked the networks. Thats a real crime, and he would have been arrested long before since he apparently pissed so many people off.

dd-wrt ftw. kismac ftl!

Needed:

National public wireless internet access.

Serious question: If my friend happens to pull up in the parking lot of the La Quinta ("Spanish for Free Wi-Fi"), and her laptop is accidentally turned on, and she happens to check e-mail, then she can wind up kicking a nickel in Chino?

manimal347:

People clearly didn't like him borrowing their bandwith. Wifi is only free when the owner of said transmitter expresses otherwise. Apparently, some people did not want him connecting. He's a wardriver, folks. While I philosophically support him, I'm not surprised that he was arrested once caught.

Current etiquette is that if the router is not secured or password protected, then anyone can use the bandwidth.

I imagine the justification for this is that anyone who wishes to protect his or her internet connection will invariably turn on the WPA capability on their router.

Not to mention, wasn't this a PUBLIC library? If the library did not otherwise employ restrictive measures on wireless internet access, the authorities have no case against this guy.

whats a liebarry?

Or Milo, as this article makes apparent, less technically skilled WAP owners may make their wishes known by chasing said man away. I think that kinda counts, too :D

From TFA:
"Police said that although Tanner was using an essentially free service, there are library rules governing its use and Tanner wasn't following them."

So Police enforece library policy with the force of law now? He was stealing a "free" service. What happens if he's late on his book returns? Off to Syria for torture?

If a book store has a rack of free used books outside, is it stealing if you take one after hours?

Seriously - what law was broken?

Wardriving is illegal (and this includes when the network is open) because latching on to other peoples' wireless is frequently used for other illegal activity, since the actions will not be traceable to the perpetrator by IP address. Since it is remarkably easy to look like one is doing something otherwise legal on someone else's network when the cops arrive the act of connecting itself was made illegal to allow the laptop to be searched without probable cause of some other activity.
Actually to CHARGE someone with simply attaching to an open network under the law misses the whole point of the law.

One of the problems is that the legal system hasn't quite caught up with technology. Cops are usually surprised to learn that things like this aren't actually illegal. They are even more surprised to learn that some people intentionally leave their wifi open as a public service.
Another problem is that some people who have an open wifi don't understand the technology either.

I find this rather amusing. The library was closed. Just a guess, but I imagine they locked the doors. Now, if they never bothered locking the doors, would a person be charged for wandering in to read a book?

It just seems to me from the sounds of it that the library did not even take basic steps to 'close' their network after hours.

Saturn5

So Police enforece library policy with the force of law now?
Seriously - what law was broken?


"Who cares?" - The cop who just "confiscated" himself a new laptop.

Police said that although Tanner was using an essentially free service, there are library rules governing its use and Tanner wasn't following them.

Their library website doesn't say anything at all about rules governing use. They should just keep charging him with loitering or something that's already on the books.

Or they could fine him by logging on his character and confiscating all the loot he got while accessing the library network.

When the hell did library rules become laws?
The article states that the wi-fi is free but the library has rules about how it is used. I didn't know that a rule is the same as a law. This world gets more and more fuked up all the time. Better put the guy away before he forgets to return a grocery cart to the proper bin at the local grocery. I think that's a rule too.

fredsnake

In Palmer? No, not really. That's farm country.

If it's a public library then it seems that the person that who was arrested already paid for the wifi service through the taxes that he pays. If the library doesn't want people to access their public wifi point after hours then they have an obligation to shut it down.

What part of "public" don't the cops understand beyond generating revenue and creating job security?

I have been unable to find any legal statues that say "wardriving" is illegal. The only time accessing a WAP is illegal is if you have to crack a password to do it.

If the system was unprotected, as is likely the case with free service at the library, then there's no clear violation of the law. This case, if it goes to trial, has the potential to set precedent.

overlord
They should just keep charging him with loitering or something that's already on the books.

But then they wouldn't be able to justify confiscating his laptop and spending a few hours snooping through his files.

Bet the guy actually gets charged with tresspassing..But it's public property and the lot should be open to the public 24 hours aday.

Three words:
Glass
Parking
Lot

I bet you ten bucks the arresting officer uses the laptop to surf porn up at the station.

Wow. This reporter couldn't outwit a tree stump: Free wireless Internet service at a public library in Palmer, Alaska, doesn't mean its available for use after hours.

If it isn't available, then how could the arrest him for using it?

And if it's against the rules to use it, then why is it available?

Shouldn't they just torture him for unauthorized use of light for reading in the parking lot?

Probably, Javery. I've taken advantage of unlocked doors in "public" places for after hour (like 1:00 AM) purposes, and assumed that doing so would be tresspassing.

Victimless crime ftw

This is why people hate cops. Instead of serving one of thousands of outstanding warrants, that every jurisdiction has, the cops arrest kid who is using a fee service and bothering no one.

MacGabhain
Actually to CHARGE someone with simply attaching to an open network under the law misses the whole point of the law.

That's the problem with letting lawyers write the laws. They write many of them with so few specifics so they don't have to know shiat about what they are passing laws about. 2) So they have some wiggle room when they themselves get caught.

Were the police following the letter of the law? Probably
Were they following the spirit of the law? Probably not.

Unintended consequences.