Surfers beware!

We've all done it. Need to get online, want to check your email, the latest weather report or sports results, and there is a wifi network in the area that is not password protected. Doesn't matter you think, they won't mind, I'll be quick. Well think again! As reported in today's Guardian, it is possible to be arrested for doing just that.

As the paper reports, a man has been arrested for using a broadband internet connection in the street without the owner's permission. The 39-year-old was using his laptop while sitting on a wall outside a house in Chiswick, west London, when two community support officers challenged him. He was detained after admitting using the wireless internet connection without permission.

Detective Constable Mark Roberts, of the Metropolitan police computer crime unit delivered a stern message:

"This arrest should act as a warning to anyone who thinks it is acceptable to illegally use other people's broadband connections."

Now while I am sure there is more to this story, just think about how this practically works. Last times I was in New York for work paying several hundred dollars a night for a hotel room, when I asked the hotel about internet connection, they said 'oh, only the rooms at the front have wifi, but if you are out back [which I was], just surf on whatever network you can find'. Are the police going to take me in, or the hotel manager?

Or my friend is house-hunting in Amsterdam right now. Most apartments here come 'all inclusive' of bills, cable TV, and increasingly internet. When she asked about internet being available at one prospective abode, the landlord said 'oh no, but there is a wifi network next door that you can access'. Is the landlord facing some time in the cooler?

Somehow, I suspect not. Clearly our friend in London was just in the wrong place at the wrong time...