No Flight, No Internet

Factual Questions
41

atomicbadgerrace’s link says

If there are signs that say that in the terminal, I think Will Repair does have a leg to stand on. The question I have is whether the “representatives of this regional authority” is someone with the actual authority to determine who can use the wireless, or just a rent-a-cop making it up as he goes along.

This is assuming Will Repair is actually at the airport, not living in a nearby house.

I was hoping Will Repair would come back to clarify things, but he hasn’t. We can only assume the “regional authority” is keeping him incommunicado…

42

Yes, there is at least one computer company that creates built-in cards for a specific wireless (both cell phones and internet) provider.

43

If you’re not flying, why are you spending so much time at the airport? AFAIK these days, if you’re not a passenger you can’t get any farther than the ticket counters or the baggage claim area. I don’t see the reason you want to be at the airport; it’s not like it used to be when anybody could wander around the concourses, stop in one of the bars or restaurants, or what have you.

I’m sort of a plane nut myself; while I never went to the airport just to look at planes, I would still wander around the concourses if I had time before my own flight, if I thought there would be something worth seeing, like a new type of aircraft.

44

Wow! What a response. I thank you all for your answers.

I’ll not address each response individually but instead attempt to further explain the circumstances.

The public library offers free, albeit, registered Internet access. But it blocks Sendmail. I asked about getting around this but, rightfully, encountered Moderator restrictions. The airport offers unrestricted Internet access. I can answer email directly.

The airport is a nexus for public bus transportation. I can claim, in fact am right now, between the 12:01AM bus and the 5:00AM bus. But come 6:00AM, inevitably, someone will tell me that unless I have a ticket to fly that I must leave.

I’d like to go on and on about regional authorities, their own police forces, and their autonomy to the electorate. But I digress.

I simply feel that, for instance, enjoying the downtown park, with it’s wireless Internet connection, does not require me to admire the swans. I should be free to use the public provided wireless without having to ogle the swans. Same for the airport. I should be free to use the public provided Internet connection of a tax supported public service, even if that public service is for the rich, airline traveling so and so’s.

Now for the next question, (wait for it…)
I will, after prepaying my tool storage fee for the next two months, be arrested. Someone will say, “You are not allowed to access the Internet without a plane ticket.” Or words to that effect.
I will say, “I beg to differ.”
I will be arrested.
I will sit in jail for three months until the local DA decides to dismiss charges.

The question is:
How many times must I be arrested before I can play founding father?

45

Are you asserting a legal right to the service or a moral right to it?

-FrL-

46

One effective, though expensive, way of getting around restrictive wi-fi facilities is to sign up for one of the cellular technology based mobile access services, e.g. Verizon National Access or the similar service offered by AT&T, and others. For fifty or sixty bucks a month you can have Internet access anywhere your cellphone has a signal. Mine’s just about as good as using my router wirelessly at home.

47

I faced a similar situation at UCLA, where I sometimes need to study. I’m currently in an online degree program at another institution miles away, although I’m also taking an extension class at UCLA. Nevertheless, I’m not allowed to use their wi-fi when I’m on campus, which is the main reason I signed up for Verizon’s mobile internet service.

I understand that they need to protect their bandwidth, and since I’m presumably not paying for it, I have no right to expect to be accommodated. On the other hand, given recent events, universities generally are implementing emergency cellphone notification systems for their students, faculty, and staff. The problem with these systems is that one usually needs a University ID to be able to register for them. This excludes many people, such as Extension students, who have legitimate business on campus, but won’t be notified in case of a campus emergency.

Ironically, CSU Fullerton, through which I’m completing my online program, recently implemented its campus safety system. I was sitting at home studying when I got an automated voicemail from University Police. I was informed that a test drill was being conducted and I should stay where I was until further notice.

Right, I could do that. :slight_smile:

48

You have provided no evidence that there is “public provided” or “tax supported public service” WiFi in the airport in question (at least as to the general public or as to taxes you have participated in), and I suspect the odds are decent that your own general sales taxes, property taxes, if any, are not what is funding this service.

You do know that almost every airport operates as a special-purpose authority or quasi-corporation, right? You do know that they charge take-off and landing fees or “facility charges” to the airlines, right? It’s easy to see, because the airlines pass these right on through to the flying public. It’s only fair – why should, say, the taxpayers of Dallas or Fort Worth pay the sewage bill every day for 75,000 Chicagoans or Washingtonians who flush the airport toilet while changing planes on the way to Cucamonga or Timbuktu? The airport authorities then, in their quasi-corporate role, use those funds to (among other things) provide a spiffy facility that the airlines and traveling public will want to patronize (thereby driving up employment, sales tax revenues, etc. for the region). I would be quite surprised if the WiFi is not one of those perks paid for out of landing-facility fees, and not out of general City of Orlando tax receipts.

Well then, if you did not contribute to the pot of revenue out of which this boon was funded (or did not contribute as much as someone who bought a ticket and paid the landing fee), why can’t the authority say you shouldn’t enjoy the benefit? If everyone emulated you, the authority would have to increase bandwidth and buy new routers, etc. Who would pay for this? Either the authority out of its general fund, or the passengers, on a pass-through basis. But definitely not you and any other leechers. Is that fair? I can’t fault the airport for thinking it is not.

49

I have a question:

Is Will Repair being told that he has to move because they don’t want him accessing the internet without having a ticket? Or is Will Repair being asked to move because you are no longer allowed to loiter at airports unless you are a paying passenger?

I highly suspect it is the latter, not the former. I doubt they care one whit about the internet issue; what they do NOT want these days at airports are people without legitimate reason to be there.

So I ask, as others have (and it remains unanswered!): How is it that they a) know you are on the internet and b) have indicated to you you are doing something wrong?

50

They know I am on the Internet because I tell them I am. One person, to whom I said I came here to use the Internet, said, “Oh, okay.” Another person cared only that I wasn’t a ticketed passenger. That same person indicated to me that I was doing something wrong by not being a ticketed passenger.

51

OK, I just want to see if I have this right. I really don’t care if you use their wireless or not, I’m just trying to figure out what happened. So you go to the bus station, which is near enough to the airport that you can get their wireless signal, right? You crack open the laptop and surf away. An employee sees you sitting there for a while and never getting on a bus. The employee comes up to you and says, “Why are you hanging out in the bus station?” You say, “For the internet.” Is that about it? And, you go to the bus station every day or two solely for this purpose?

52

They don’t. The law is clear - in the absence of explicit permission, access is not implied by an open access point. A lack of technical barriers is not an excuse. Nor is automated behaviour. You, however may do what you like with your network. Of course, you need to be prepared to have your IP address associated with any illegal activity someone else may carry out while connected to your wifi (child porn, illegal file sharing, hacking). Or with other people rifling through your personal network. Or using all your paidfor bandwidth and racking up additional bandwidth charges or getting you blacklisted by the ISP.

I like the idea of being able to leave an access point open for people to use, but due to the risks I won’t. I do know that there is a collaborative project to use commodity wifi hardware with custom firmware to allow safe unauthenticated sharing (the visitor connects to the open access point, authenticates a VPN tunnel to his own co-operating access point which then routes his traffic out. His own IP address is attached to all his internet traffic, and the host can limit the amount of traffic available to the visitor). Fon is a similar commercial system. But just leaving an open access point - you will eventually get leeched and/or prosecuted for something someone else did. Oh, and having an open access point does not provide plausible deniability when sued by the RIAA

The commons will be raped - sad but true.

Si

53

Understood all of that, I did.

How can I (or the commons) give the required explicit permission?

54

Sounds to me like the airport couldn’t care less that the OP is using the Wifi access, but cares that he loiters there for long periods of time with no legitimate business. It’s an airport, not a free internet cafe…

55

The last time I used the Starbucks wireless service was in January back in California. Whether I was in the cafe or outside of it, the service was still a pay service. When did they go to free?

56

If you leave your front door unlocked, that does not give implicit permission for anyone off the street to enter your house. If someone does, they can be charged with trespass. If you stick a sign on your front lawn saying Come On In, All Welcome it is a different situation. The law treats an unlocked wifi access point in the same way - just because it is unlocked and open, it does not mean that anyone can use it. People who do so can be charged with illegal use of a computer network (or some such crime - the electronic equivalent of trespass, depending on your local legal system - IANAL, normal disclaimers apply).

A sign on the lawn?
A wireless SSID of “FREEINTERNET” may be sufficient. Home wireless routers don’t have the features to display a web-based click-through to show the terms of use, so you have no technical solution. Someone like Starbucks may use this sort of thing to make it clear that only customers may use the free wifi. Or they will have a sign on the wall.
But the Tragedy of the Commons tells us that a shared public resource will be abused by individuals. And that abuse may lead to criminal or civil charges for the owner if the resource is privately owned. Also, your ISP agreement may require you to secure your network - they may well cut you off if they become aware that you have not done so.

Si

57

The bus transfer point is not just near the airport, it is on the A Side of the airport. The buses enter the lower, UPC entitled, area of the airport.

The difference between the bus transfer area and the airport is a same as the difference between the Disney Magic Express and the local restroom.

Employee is the key word. They see me sitting in the same spot for a more than one day and they call…whoever. I now try to rotate spots. One day A Side; one day B Side. Actually, every other day, so day 1 A, day 3 B, day 5 A, day 7 B …

I don’t go to the bus station, I go to the airport, which just so happens to be a nexus of the Orange County Lynx bus service, to use the Internet wireless.

By the way, one of my latest customers happened to be a new defense lawyer who was lately a county prosecutor. He suggested paying a fast food franchise for Internet access. Amazing how the ideal differs from the affordable full daily reality.

Another ‘By the way’, ever since I posted this OP no one has accosted me.
(Know full well speaking this will negate it.)

58

…So if you were to tell them you’re just sitting there getting some work done and not using the internet, would they make you leave?

59

Once again I bring up Eola Park, swans and Internet access! Eola Park has swans and Internet access. Must I admire the swans whilst using the Internet access.

Need I mention that the airport does not require alligator clips to access 110VAC?

60

Nope. Because Eola Park no longer has free wifi. If you’ve been able to access free wifi in the park, you were probably around the Panera connection.

So, the swans analogy is meaningless.