EGeezer
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edit:
March 22nd, @07:42PM
| Seems defendable in many cases
said by »mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/billfile/hb1377.htm :Synopsis: Prohibiting a person from intentionally, willfully, and without authorization accessing, attempting to access, causing to be accessed, or exceeding the person's authorized access to wireless Internet service with knowledge that the access is unauthorized and prohibited by law; etc. and
(c) (1) A person may not intentionally, willfully, and without authorization access, attempt to access, cause to be accessed, or exceed the person’s authorized access to all or part of a computer network, computer control language, computer, computer software, computer system, computer services, or computer database.
Kinda seems like "intentionally, willfully" is a key phrase. There seem to be lots of people who think it's OK to leave their access open, or that they believe in sharing connections.
According to the law as cited, the plaintiff would have to show
1) the network owner didn't want the network used by any other than certain people.
2) The person accessing the network knew or reasonably believed that the network was restricted and not a gesture of "free access" by the owner.
If the wireless is, for example, a Linksys WRT54G(or GS), the manual's installation instructions and the install/configure CD clearly and explicitly step the user through securing the wireless and router admin access. It would be reasonable to expect that if a WRT54GS is "open", the user intends for it to be open.
On a side note, it's interesting that a guy who beats up his wife usually gets a few days to a few months in the pokey and someone who drives drunk and injures someone usually gets a few months in jail. I'm not necessarily saying to lower the wifi stealing penalty, but maybe they should raise the effective penalties for other actions.
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