Is Using Someone Else's Wireless Internet Illegal? | It is in Maryland | Find Out What Laws to Watch Out For

In 2007, I was reading an article found over at Fox News about a gentleman that purchased a new wireless enabled laptop in Michigan. This man decided he wanted to use his new laptop on his lunch break daily for a week. During this week, he decided to park his car in front of a local cafe shop that broadcasted wireless Internet (freely and unencrypted.)

By the end of the week, as he was eating his lunch, a police officer tapped on his window and asked what he was doing. Long story short, the ladies across the street assumed he was stalking them, deriving from another previous incident, from another individual. He was arrested, and taken to the barracks, later to be left go, after the cafe shop owner and the barbara shop employees realized that he wasn't after them. The cafe shop owner, didn't care that he was using his Internet.

Time moves on, the police department decided it wasn't enough to not charge him. They found some buried law about hacking and slapped him with it, which almost landed him a $10,000.00 fine and up-to 5 years in prison (this would have been a felony.)

Instead the judge gave him an option of 40 hours community service & $400.00 fine. This is a lot less of a punishment, however still completely unfair and unnecessary for someone who didn't even know they were breaking any such laws.

After reading this article I started to do some research, staring off with Delegate LeRoy Myers, Jr. of District 1c in western Maryland. He helped me locate the current laws regarding access to another computer system(s) or network. It is shocking, as so he agreed.

Before any explanation can be said, the current law needs to be quoted:

Under the current Maryland Criminal Law Section 7-302 (a)(2) it quotes:

"Access" means to instruct, communicate with store data in, retrieve or intercept data from, or otherwise use the resources of a computer program, computer system, or computer network.

The above is a definition of what the current law sees as accessing. Notice that it says to "communicate with" or "otherwise use the resources."

Then the law goes on to point out "computer network." A computer network is where two or more computers share resources. Wireless Internet would categorize under this section.

Under the current law, many of us, if not all of us, have broken this rule, unknowingly being acceptable to the following consequences. Current Criminal Law Section 7-302(7)(ii) says:

If the aggregate amount of the loss is less than $10,000, is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding $5,000 or both.

OUCH!!!!

So, if you have ever used another's Internet access without their expressed written permission, you are guilty of breaking this law, and don't have a snowball's chance in Hell in the court system to win against it.

During the 2008 session in Annapolis Maryland, Delegate Myers brought this to the attention of the House Judiciary Committee. Unfortunately this bill (HB1377) didn't make it out of committee by 1 vote. While the bill would have in a nut-shell protected anybody that accessed an access point that is open without security, it just was not widely understood.

The bill will be revisited in 2009, hopefully by then all the members of the committee will understand a little more of the severity and unjustifiable state of the current laws.

I don't care what state you are in, every state in the United States needs be sure that it is keeping up with technology. If you are in Maryland, please call your local delegate and let them know how you feel about the loss of House Bill 1377 in the 2008 session.

If you are in any other state, find out what you laws are. I can attest to Pennsylvania is safe from this mess. According to e-mails back and forth from Representative Todd Rock of District 90 in Pennsylvania, our laws cover us under: PA Title 18, Chapter 76: Computer Offenses.

Be safe, use an allowed network. Buy your own equipment for your home, not your neighbors. Go into the coffee shops to use their Internet.

Thanks for reading this lens, if you like the information on this page then you will like the information that can be found at the following websites:

http://squidoo-help.ryansccs.com: This site will assist you creating better lens on Squidoo along with other great income ideas.

http://www.ryansccs.com: Visit the free help pages as well as all the other resources.

http://hard-drives.ryansccs.com: Site is dedicated to helping the average "Joe" to understand what a hard drive is and how important it is to backup often. This site will also help with data recovery solutions as well as a large list of common questions relating to hard drives and other storage devices.