The Failure of Common Courtesy (Followed by the Failure of Common Sense)

Gallivanting about on the intarwebs in my 2007 Google Reader, I came upon the Ars Technica RSS feed and something caught my eye. A story about Michigan man Sam Peterson leeching free wi-fi from the local coffee shop from the comfort of his car. (The local TV station story can be found here.) The problem here is this. The guy would use the free wi-fi access daily to check his mail without ever buying a cup of joe. If the story stopped here, then I would side with the coffee company. The guy is essentially stealing. Hes using something that someone else is paying for, that is given freely on good faith that he'd at least use the free wi-fi while drinking a cup of coffee. Sam Peterson was wrong here. He could have gotten out of his car, gone inside and for a 2 dollar cup of coffee, checked as much email as he wanted to.

Here is where I get a little disturbed. He was arrested then tried under a Michigan law that prohibits Fraudulent access to computers, computer systems, and computer networks and carries some pretty stiff penalties for the offense, but the judge was lenient and only sentences Peterson to pay a fine and do some community service. The Ars Technica article states that the arresting officer did so for basically because he wasn't sure what Peterson was doing, but knew it was wrong. This is what makes me furrow my brow. While Peterson was being rude and inconsiderate, I don't feel he was breaking a law. The coffee shop could have, at any time, restricted their wi-fi to prevent people not in the building from leeching bandwidth. But because its probably too much hassle for the company and the customer to figure WPA shared key security, they left their wireless network open to attack and frankly, illicit use.

I'm sure this person learned his life lesson that his convince costs the price of a cup of coffee, but in my opinion wasn't worth the price he paid.