4000 Free WiFi Accounts!

As of 1pm today, 4000 free WiFi accounts have been registered-- it's good to see people using the neighbour-to-neighbour network Wireless Nomad members have built over the last two years!


Status page

Boston bans BoingBoing blog from its public WiFi network

"Jake tried to access Boing Boing from Boston's free WiFi network and got this notice -- topped by the seal of the Mayor of Boston no less!"

Just goes to show that a "public" network is not the same thing as a "user's" network... It's case of top-down control against co-operative interaction, and we at Wireless Nomad would rather work together than have the mayor of the city tell us what we can't see or do on the internet.


LINK

Man and Woman in UK Arrested for Using WiFi

Two cautioned over wi-fi 'theft'
BBC News, Tuesday, 17 April 2007, 16:22 GMT 17:22 UK

"Neighbours in Redditch, Worcestershire, contacted police on Saturday after seeing a man inside a car using a laptop while parked outside a house. He was arrested and cautioned. A woman was arrested in similar circumstances in the town earlier this month.

BBC Midlands Today correspondent Dr David Gregory said the cases are among the first of their kind. He added that if people were using someone else's network to enter illegal porn sites, for example, it would be very difficult to trace them. The man arrested at the weekend was cautioned for dishonestly obtaining electronic communications services with intent to avoid payment."

Arresting someone for using open WiFi when they are not using it to break any other law or abuse the network makes about as much sense as arresting my neighbours for listening to my radio playing through my open windows in the summer. In the end, though, it looks like they were "cautioned" aand not actually charged with any crime.


LINK