Have you ever "borrowed" access to someone else's
Wi-Fi network? Industry estimates are that up to 32% of
people who use computers have tried to get on a wireless network
that was not theirs, at one time or another. In and of
itself, this is a minor infraction, more a commentary on the
general decline of civility and good manners in our society than
anything else.
Yet, in the case of a defendant named Richard Stanley, his
choice to use someone else's Wi-Fi without permission has given
rise to an interesting series of Fourth Amendment legal issues as
his prosecution for possession of child pornography proceeds
forward in federal court in Pittsburgh.
This case is yet another example of a new world of technological
capabilities regularly being utilized by state and federal law
enforcement. How these capabilities will interact with and be
molded by the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against
unreasonable searches remains an evolving and ever more fascinating
story.
