A new kind of cyber crime: stealing wireless access

Invisible wireless signals course through a growing number of Utah County businesses, campuses, public buildings and neighborhoods.

In areas like Barnes and Noble bookstore in Orem and the Provo City Library, visitors are invited to access wireless "hot spots" free of charge.
But the arrest of a Florida man earlier this month raises the question of whether a Utahn who uses a neighbor's wireless signal without permission is breaking the law.

In Florida, Benjamin Smith III was charged with one third-degree felony count for unauthorized access of a computer network, The Associated Press reported. Smith was reportedly parked in his SUV outside the home of St. Petersburg resident Richard Dinon, who called police after watching Smith hunched over his laptop computer for more than two hours.

Under Utah law, accessing a computer or a computer network without permission is a class B misdemeanor.

In their last general session, Utah lawmakers passed a bill that amended the state's Computer Crimes Act to include wireless
networks under the definition of "computer network."

Brad Daw, R-Orem, who sponsored the bill, said the amendment was necessary because more and more people are going wireless.

"A 'network' as defined previous to that amendment was a wired network -- computers had to be wired together to be considered a network," he said. "At the time the law was written, that was totally valid. Now it's obsolete."