Is It Illegal To Plug Your Laptop In?
from the stealing-electricity dept
We've already heard stories of people being accused of "stealing" telecom services for hopping on to an open WiFi network, but what about stealing electricity for plugging your laptop in? Found over at WiFiNetNews is the story of a student who was arrested for using less than a penny's worth of electricity at a train station when he plugged his laptop in to an open outlet. It apparently took the time of 3 police officers to go after the kid in this case. Nice to see they're spending their time keeping the world safe from such hardened criminals.
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why arrested?
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Re: why arrested?
If the electric current is not controlled to that outlet I think he has a good case for a suit.
I mean they did leave an open unregulated highly dangerous utility available for him to stumble blindly upon.
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There's more to the story
There's actually a bit more to the story: When the police initially arrested him they had suspected him of having stolen the backpack and the laptop. Possibly because he was looking out over his shoulder while he was charging his laptop as he didn't want to miss his tram. When it turned out that he hadn't stolen either the backpack or the laptop (which he was able to prove because he knew all the passwords etc) they were so annoyed that they tried to find something to charge him with.
At least that's how the story went through the German blogs and German press.
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police do not prevent crime... theyre money grabbe
power comes from the earth free!! give it free ... is it not just another gift from earth?? The real criminals are the police and governments..steeling from earth and "charging " its inhabitants.. my .02 cents worth...
People need to speek out more against the REAL crimes!!! POlice harasment and government blackmail...
The money spent on WAR alone can "pay" for the free use of power world wide....what do i know.. im certifiably insane.. and got papers to prove it...
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