[Ham-80211] Re: ham-80211 Digest, Vol 3, Issue 3

[Jeff King]

Totally agree with you Richard. Just because I am outraged at something, 
don't agree with it, and just plain think it is wrong, I clearly recognize 
the man in the corner with the gun. 

Still, I do agree with Darry in that a decent attorney could save you here as 
long as your intent was not to cause harm. 

But the problem with that, at least in the U.S., is that for all intensive 
purposes, the government is both judgement proof, and has a unlimited budget 
to spend in prosecuting you. Clearly, while Stephen Puffer "won"  his war 
driving case in Houston Texas USA, he still had to spend his money to defend 
himself. 

His "free" access I imagine cost in excess of $10,000 in attornies fees. And 
the government in the U.S. is still busy trying to make wardriving a crime 
with a a recent pleas agreement in a Oakland County Michigan case (Lowes) 
giving them some case law.

Scary times we live in.

On Fri, 03 Sep 2004 12:17:04 -0700, VA7AA wrote:
>
>Darryl...Jeff
>
>I only answered the question as is was presented in it's simplest
>form... "it legal to..."  The question really has many grey shades
>to it... but if your not careful the situation could easily spin out
>of control... Take the following scenario....
>
>On the way to a weekend convention, you blow into town with your
>laptop... you wanna check your email get some last minute
>instructions and log into what you *think* is the published local
>"hotspot" downtown.... the hotspot is down but unknowingly you
>accidentally log into a private corporate system where the admin has
>forgotten to enable security. The companies well placed grand-pooh-
>bah who knows just enough about computers to be dangerous happens to
>be in the office and sees the activity...and you out the window on
>your laptop... he freaks and 5 min later the cops descend on you
>with guns drawn. Two hours later, you spinning with disbelief, are
>appearing before a magistrate, not in your fancy $500 suit but
>handcuffed and in orange prison coveralls. Your computer is seized
>as "evidence"  ...and your million dollar presentation, planned for
>that very afternoon, is blown.
>
>An extreme example... you bet... but could it happen? ... yes I
>believe it could... very easily.  Law enforcement tends to arrest
>(sometimes even shoot) first and ask questions later...usually much
>later...  so be very careful with what you think is "free".
>
>73 Richard VA7AA
>
>
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