This article about a person being charged with theft of services for using a public library's free wi-fi outside of library hours is perplexing. Even more perplexing is the number of comments supporting this that I've seen online.
Is there really legal basis for charging him with theft of services? Apparently he was given a warning previously, but that doesn't really answer the question. Given that this wi-fi is intended for free, public usage I have a really hard time getting my head around the idea that this guy did anything wrong in using it after hours.
A related issue is that of using your neighbor's wi-fi without their knowledge. Is there a law against this anywhere? And if so, how could it ever be enforced? Sure, your neighbor could see in logs that a particular MAC address has accessed the network, but then what? Send the police around the neighborhood demanding to inspect everyone's computers? Don't we need search warrants for that sort of thing in this country?
Seems to me the responsibility has to be on the owner of the wi-fi network to make sure it's only being used as intended. That means keep it secured or, in the case of this library, shut down after hours. Charge people with loitering or trespassing if they're hanging around outside a location for wi-fi access or anything else, but let's not criminalize the act of using the wi-fi.
