From: Rich Gauszka 

a $400 fine and 40 hours community service seems a bit much for a
'crime' that no one knew about

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9722006-7.html

A Michigan man who used a coffee shop's unsecured Wi-Fi to check his e-mail
from his car could have faced up to five years in prison, according to
local TV station WOOD. But it seems few in the village of Sparta, Mich.,
were aware that using an unsecured Wi-Fi connection without the owner's
permission--a practice known as piggybacking--was a felony.

Each day around lunch time, Sam Peterson would drive to the Union Street
Cafe, park his car and--without actually entering the coffee shop--check
his e-mail and surf the Net. His ritual raised the suspicions of Police
Chief Andrew Milanowski, who approached him and asked what he was doing.
Peterson, probably not realizing that his actions constituted a crime,
freely admitted what he was doing.

"I knew that the Union Street had Wi-Fi. I just went down and checked
my e-mail and didn't see a problem with that," Peterson told a WOOD
reporter.

Milanowski didn't immediately cite or arrest Peterson, mostly because he
wasn't certain a crime had been committed. "I had a feeling a law was
being broken," the chief said. Milanowski did some research and found
Michigan's "Fraudulent access to computers, computer systems, and
computer networks" law, a felony punishable by five years in prison
and a $10,000 fine.

Milanowski, who eventually swore out a warrant for Peterson, doesn't
believe Milanowski knew he was breaking the law. "In my opinion,
probably not. Most people probably don't."

Indeed, neither did Donna May, the owner of the Union Street Cafe. "I
didn't know it was really illegal, either," she told the TV station.
"If he would have come in (to the coffee shop), it would have been
fine."

But apparently prosecutors were more than aware of the 1979 law, which was
revised in 2000 to include protections for Wi-Fi networks.

"This is the first time that we've actually charged it," Kent
County Assistant Prosecutor Lynn Hopkins said, adding that "we'd been
hoping to dodge this bullet for a while."

However, Peterson won't be going to prison for piggybacking. Because he has
no prior record, Peterson will have to pay a $400 fine, do 40 hours of
community service and enroll in the county's diversion program.

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