Sam Peterson, a Michigan man, was sitting in his car outside a coffee shop using their free Wi-Fi. Since he never actually went inside the shop so he was essentially piggybacking off of the open network without authorization. A police officer grew suspicious of him and eventually questioned him as to what he was doing. He told a reporter, "I knew that the Union Street had WiFi. I just went down and checked my e-mail and didn't see a problem with that."
Under Michigan's "Fraudulent access to computers, computer systems, and computer network" law, Peterson's actions could result in a five-year felony and a $10,000 fine. However, prosecutors do not plan to throw the book at him, as they don't believe that Peterson was aware he was even breaking the law. Instead, he will pay a $400 fine and do 40 hours of community service, and the arrest will not go on his record.
Coincidentally, the cafe owner that Peterson was leeching WiFi off of didn't even realize that what Peterson was doing was a crime at the time. Neither did the police officer. "I had a feeling a law was being broken, but I didn't know exactly what
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