Sir, you can’t use the Internet outside the library
- This is an unhappy conversation on many many levels:
AKMA:
The officer in question (whose conduct was entirely professional, firm, and calm behind those mirrored shades) solemnly assured me that in order to use the library’s open wireless signal, I had to be seated within the library. The officer then wandered on back to the nearby police station.
…
‘Maybe if you had permission it would be all right, but it’s a new law, sir; ‘theft of signal.’ It would be like if you stole someone’s cable TV connection.�
…
‘It’s a federal law, sir; a Secret Service agent came and explained it to us.’
[via Blogos] - The comments on the article above include the useful link EFF: Best Practices for Online Service Providers that advocates minimizing legal problems by minimizing information collection.
- Having had to dig hard to track down aggressive intruders, I also worry about lacking the ability to investigate attacks on infrastructure (mine or everybody’s). While this application of “theft of services” looks bogus, it is a tool that I’d like to have when somebody is really attacking my network or systems. Meanwhile, there is a permanent tension between knowing what’s happening on your network (say, if you’re an ISP tracking botnets) and maintaining ignorance as a legal defense.