Man arrested for leeching wireless...

After my article about using Pocket WiFi Rader Ewan forwarded me Steve's article from the Guardian about a guy in the UK getting arrested for dishonestly using an unsecured wireless connection while sitting on a wall outside a house in Chiswick, West London.

He was detained and the police officer said - "This arrest should act as a warning to anyone who thinks it is acceptable to illegally use other people's broadband connections," he said.

In April this year, a man was cautioned by police after neighbours saw him using a laptop in a car parked outside a house in Redditch, Worcestershire.

In 2005, a man was fined £500 for illegally using someone else's wireless broadband connection in London.

The man arrested yesterday was released on bail until October pending further inquiries.

Scary stuff!

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 23, 2007
  It's not scary, it's silly. I borrow WiFi connections all the time. If the owner didn't want to share their WiFi, then they should simply enable security. Otherwise, it's a public radio channel, just like any other.

• Anonymous
  August 27, 2007
  I agree with Tom, this is totally ridiculous. I will continue to use them. Unsecured wireless network = owner either doesn't care that other people connect to it. How is someone supposed to know whether or not a WiFi hotspot is intentionally open? I cannot imagine that this would hold up in court.