Brewed Awakenings, a WiFi equipped coffee shop, near Vancouver, Washington, is in a pickle over someone using their net connection from a nearby parking lot.
Not buying a single tall latte before accessing the Internet may not be a crime. But cafe owners don’t see it that way. The man was arrested for freeloading on the coffee shop’s free WiFi. The county sheriff’s office and prosecutors are now reviewing the case.
Ars Technica reports he was not charged with unauthorized use of a computer network. Instead, the premise for his arrest is that he used Brewed Awakenings’ free WiFi network without buying anything from them.
In related news, Wired reports a 53-year-old homeless man charges a power generator from a utility shed and uses Wi-Fi from a nearby access point. “Happy Ivy” doesn’t have a bathroom or a kitchen in the bus he calls home. From this humble camp, he’s managed to run a ’round-the-clock internet television studio, organize grassroots political efforts, record a full-length album and write his autobiography, all while subsisting on oranges and avocados.
Any deadbeat can wrangle Avid’s Newscutter, of course. Many do. Here’s Mary Hart with the latest.
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