[IP] A.K.M. Adam: Ordained Priest, Academic...and Potential Felon?
Begin forwarded message:
From: Liz Ditz <ponytrax@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 23, 2004 3:01:12 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: A.K.M. Adam: Ordained Priest, Academic...and Potential Felon?
(for IP if you wish)
A. K. M. Adam is on vacation in Nantucket. While there, he is accosted
by a policeman who does not wish him to use WiFi.
http://akma.disseminary.org/archives/001518.html
So Weirdly Wrong
A few minutes ago, a police officer passed the bench where I was
sitting outside the [edit: Nantucket] Athenaeum, enjoying the mild
temperature and the wifi signal, and he said, “Sir, you can’t use the
Internet outside the library.”
I said, “What?” (I’m pretty clever under pressure.)
The officer in question (whose conduct was entirely professional, firm,
and calm behind those mirrored shades) solemnly assured me that in
order to use the library’s open wireless signal, I had to be seated
within the library. The officer then wandered on back to the nearby
police station.
I dutifully, if reluctantly, turned off the power to my Airport card
and, since I had only been on the bench a few minutes, began working —
offline — on what turns out to be this post. I had noticed two other
weak but open signals in the area, and I figured that I could post this
perplexing moment via one of the other open signals, then scuttle back
to the studio. As I was writing, the officer returned and — as the
officer walked straight for me — I held up my TiBook, pointing to the
zero lines in the Airport icon, and showed the officer that my card was
off.
“Why don’t you just close that up, sir, or use your computer
elsewhere?’
I closed the computer in order not to constitute a threat to
established order, but engaged this peace officer in a discussion of
the complexities of the topic. “I did notice several other open signals
in the area — am I allowed to connect to them?”
“Maybe if you had permission it would be all right, but it’s a new law,
sir; ‘theft of signal.’ It would be like if you stole someone’s cable
TV connection.”
I responded, “But this is a radio signal thing — it’s not like a cable
connection, it’s like someone has a porch light on and I’m sitting on
the bench, reading a book by their light. I’m not stealing their
light.”
“It’s a law, sir; if someone comes along and downloads child
photography (that wasn’t the exact word the officer used) and it goes
through their [sc., the access point owner’s] connection, that’s a
violation and we’ve had cases of that. That’s a felony.”
(I skip the question of whether it’s less a problem if someone
downloads such photos while sitting in the library. Since I’ve already
been categorized, however politely, with felons, I thought discretion
should prevail at this point.) “Is this a state law?” I asked.
“It’s a federal law, sir; a Secret Service agent came and explained it
to us.”
“Look, I don’t want to give you a hard time, and I’m very thankful that
you alerted me to this, and I’ve done what you asked, but I’d be very
surprised if there turned out to be a federal law forbidding my using
an open wireless signal in a public place.”
“Well, you can look it up, sir, and explain it to the chief. . . .”
At this point, it became clear that my uniformed interlocutor had to
head in a different direction from me, so we shook hands and parted.
And I walked back to the studio, dumbfounded that someone just rousted
me for picking an open wireless signal in public — indeed (as it turns
out) for using a laptop within a wireless signal’s range of the
library. Weird.
posted from a secure hiding place near an open access point. . .
**********
Liz Ditz
650-303-5967
blog: http://lizditz.typepad.com
Success: fall down seven times, stand up eight.
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