Reality Bytes: Bobbies Bust Wi-Fi Squatter

Web surfer jailed for freeloading on network
By Heather McPherson
Posted Aug 23, 2007 3:51 AM CDT
Reality Bytes: Bobbies Bust Wi-Fi Squatter
A customer uses his laptop to activate his new Apple iPhone inside the Apple Store Friday, June 29, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)   (Associated Press)

London bobbies took a byte out of an internet surfer's liberty yesterday when they tossed him in jail for freeloading on someone else's wireless network. "This arrest should act as a warning to anyone who thinks it is acceptable to illegally use other people's broadband connections," admonished a detective.

Officers questioned the man, 39, when they spotted him using his laptop near a West London home. He admitted he had logged onto someone else's network, apparently not secured with a password, and they arrested him under a 2003 act that makes it illegal for Britons to steal internet access. He's out on bail pending an investigation.

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