First charge in Canada for WiFi "theft of telecommunications"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 16:28:46 -0500
Subject: First ever charge in Canada of "Theft of Telecommunications"
From: David Akin <david () davidakin com>
To: "Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list" <Declan () well com>

Hey Declan --

Toronto police arrested a man this week and laid what is believed to be the
first-ever charge of "Theft of Telecommunications". The case involves
accusations of child porn and unauthorized Wi-Fi use.

This charge is a bit murky from a legal standpoint. The police cannot say
who the victim of the theft was. At the press conference announcing the
charge, they could not say if the telecommunications services that were
stolen were owned by a residence or a business. (The individual charged was
in a residential area, however, so it seems to a decent assumption that it
was a home.)
It raises some questions for Wi-Fi users in Canada: If you find an open
Wi-Fi network and jack in, can you be charged with theft in the absence of a
complaint from the owner of those services or even knowledge by the police
that your access was unauthorized?

One lawyer we interviewed believes that individuals who knowingly leave
their networks open for any to use could, in some circumstances, find
themselves legally liable if the network is used for an illegal purpose!

Links to my CTV report on this; other media reports; and the press release
from the Toronto Police Services is at:
http://davidakin.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2003/11/23/6793.html


--
David Akin
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