--- andrew kesterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ed Street wrote: > > This would put a monkey wrench into the wireless project > > I don't see how this would hurt anything. The story is based off of > someone who accessed a network for paying customers at a coffee shop, > without buying any coffee. The networks we're setting up are > explicitly free and open to everyone, therefore a law like this would > have no effect. (At least, the networks that CHAOS:706 setup were > explicitly open.)
I think you're over-simplifying, there is legislative action going on nationwide to try to make running an open WiFi network illegal - it just so happens that Michigan remains on the for-front of repressing freedoms in this manner (maintaining the digital divide, strictures against anonymous internet use, etc). Comcast, the cable giant that bought all the ATT cable holdings [in MI and other areas] is almost certainly behind this legal action... > > > Don't suppose anyone has looked up Georgia's computer use laws. > > It wouldn't matter, I'm sure the law is the same everywhere - This is absolutely incorrect, and it is a mistake (imo) to believe it. A number of states now have laws e.g. preventing municipalities from running data networks, and Michigan is one of the first [and I believe only, to date] to prosecute War-driving under a statute they wrote specifically for the purpose of preventing and prosecuting war-driving [and anonymous access in general]. > unauthorized access to a computer network is an intrusion just as if > you'd trespassed in someone's house, if not worse. Although what you say here may be "sane" and "logical", under the Law, this is not actually correct. Unauthorized use of a data network is considered Terrorism in most cases, in the US, until and unless it has been shown to be something else. > But like I said, the whole thing is based off prior permission, > and all the community wifi projects I know of have explicit prior > permission for everyone to use the service. Unless I've missed > something. I think you have - it's not really about permission, it's about what legislation the telcos have mananged to buy from your state legislature. They're playing a multi-billion dollar international game of Monopoly with your imagined "Rights" to information access... > However, I would be interested to know if the coffee shop is all > that concerned about the guy who was using their wireless. As I mentioned, unauthorized access is Terrorism. Coffee shop owners (like ISPs) in some jurisdictions are required to keep records of who is using their access point [tnx DHS] - if this guy was using the network, and they couldn't ID and track his identity, they would have had to report him - probably under MI law - or they then become liable for his access to Al Qaeda websites... I spent a few years living in Michigan up until 2005 - they had the first ever prosecution for war driving in the US there, while I was there. They also sent a tax bill to my hotel room for state taxes on cigarettes I purchased over the Intenet - also a first. They were firing people from their jobs for smoking cigarettes [tobacco] in their own homes, on their own time. The governor wanted to institute a state take on overweight persons.... > That's not really > mentioned, and they probably don't even care. It's pretty obvious > that > the cops didn't want to have wasted their time coming out, so they > literally spent just as much time looking up whatever they could drum > the guy up on. Typical gestapo. Gestapo. Also while in MI, I watched a Rodney King-style beating of a young black man in the parking lot of my hotel - about 14 cops and a K-9 unit [they had a dog] beat the hell out of this kid and then tasered him or good measure once they had beaten him unconcious. Actually, most of them stood around and watched while 3 or 4 of them did the beating. There were a number of people watching this even from the balcony of the hotel [it was mid-afternoon] and when a couple of them tried to say something to the cops about the fact that they were beating an unconscious body [the phrase "un-necessary force" comes to mind], one of the cops turned around and said "All you people go back into your rooms and mind your own business or you will be arrested, too". Furthermore, the hotel denied that they had video surveillance tape of the parking lot while the beating was going on. I should never have called the desk asking about the video tape, since after that, one of these same cops [Kent County] made it his business to make sure he knew where I was staying and would come visit me periodically over the next two years that I was in that area... Anyway - I'll spare you the rest of "[lack of] Civil Rights in Michigan" diatribe - also, I'm not trying to jump on what you posted, here - I just think you should look at the Law situation a bit more closely before dismissing it - the CHAOS:706 group exists explicitly because they are *not* municipally affiliated - this is something I asked about early on, since it has been a concern of mine for some time [communicatinos Law]. If CHAOS were to either operate the network for a fee, or operate it under the aegis of the city of columbus, there would almost certainly be "case law" regarding WiFi internet access in Georgia, since BellSouth is part of the Comcast/Verizon/T-Mobile/SBC cabal - which cabal would have certanly have purchased those cheap whores in Atlanta who pretend to be legislators for the state and have put a stop to any such "freenet" non-sense for the foreseeable future by state legislative edict - like they did in PA. Note that Dirk Koenig - one of the original founders of the Freenet concept, and founder of the Grand Rapids Community Media Center (CMC) died a few years ago (2004) unexpectedly, and without explanation after a round of meetings with City of Cedar Rapids, Comcast, and others in which he was trying to address this [and other related] problems. He was working to "democractize" internet access. I don't know of anyone else that's been able to step up... -pd 0x0000 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CHAOS706.ORG" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/chaos706?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
