When I was growing up, everyone knew some “guy” that was stealing cable TV. He had some weird system rigged up, stolen cable boxes, extra wires, whatever. When it rained it wouldn’t work, that sort of thing. Back then I didn’t pay a cable bill, so I didn’t really understand why someone would subject themselves to wires hanging from lampshades in order to get free TV. Now I seem to pay my entire paycheck monthly to Verizon, so I am starting to see the charms in free TV, and the accompanying internet service.*
Apparently I am not alone. As this article in today’s Boston Globe explains, Ryan Harris is on trial in federal court for stealing internet service through a cable modem. Not only did he steal it for himself, but he helped lots of other people steal it by writing a book entitled, “Hacking the Cable Modem: What Cable Companies Don’t Want You to Know.’’ There is nothing better than someone advertising their crime. He is charged with wire fraud. We will read next week in our Crime chapter of Beatty/Samuelson all about wire fraud, but it is a simple concept: if you use a wire to commit fraud, you have committed a federal crime. The internet is a wire connection, as is the phone or a fax machine. One phone call, one connection to the internet, combined with a deception for financial gain, and you have committed wire fraud.
Harris, and many of his supporters, argue that the internet is a free flow of information, so one cannot steal it. This is really a philosophical debate about the role of the internet, and not one likely to be resolved anytime soon. Your generation never lived without the internet, and views it differently than others. So, I am curious, what do you think about Ryan Harris? Criminal or hero?
*Please note I am a law-abiding citizen, so although I would like to stop paying Verizon, I won’t.
8 Comments
Yuchen Qin posted on March 1, 2012 at 6:03 pm
Everyone likes to get something for nothing, me included. But we cannot risk getting free lunches at the cost of violating the law. Ryan Harris certainly benefits a number of his readers; this is not a good idea for the long term. First of all, the information on the internet, as is mentioned by the supporters of Harris, is not absolutely free, because of the copyright issue, not to say the internet itself. Cable companies need funds and labors to construct the networks, and that’s why people using the internet will pay for it.
This case also reminds me of BU ResNet for on-campus residents. Students living on campus need to pay for a few hundred bucks per year in order to get access to BU wired or wireless networks provided in the residence areas. Anyone using either network without subscription will be a violation of “Computing Ethics Policy.” (It’s not a law though, but a school policy.)
Sophie Park posted on March 1, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Although the information shared on the internet is obviously “free”, the internet service needs to be paid for. It is unfair for those of us who are paying monthly internet fees while others are stealing others’ cable TV or internet system. I think Ryan Harris definitely deserved to be charged with wire fraud.
Julia Poon posted on March 4, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Hero…. to people who have to pay companies like Verizon ridiculous amounts because of hidden fees. It sounds like Ryan Harris knows how to use his resources. However, because he hacked into the modem, and even wrote a book about it, he is benefiting from something that he got unfairly. Essentially, it sounds like stealing to me, so I think he should be charged with wire fraud.
Jinfeng Cai posted on March 5, 2012 at 1:31 pm
I believe most people like to get stuff especially good stuff for free. But in this case, though the information shared on the websites is free, the internet service that company provides needs to be paid. However, in some extent I personally see Ryan as a hero because companies like Comcast, Verizon and so forth charge customer ridiculous amount of money and many hidden fees that they never mention in the contract. For instance, I paid about $30 dollars for just requesting a service change last month. Although I am angry with these companies sometimes, but I believe Ryan’s behavior did violate the rules.
Ting Ting Yang posted on March 5, 2012 at 4:49 pm
I would’ve viewed Ryan Harris more as a hero if he published his knowledge for free on the internet. I don’t know how he would like it if someone ended up posting his copyrighted material from his book on the internet- can he still sue him based on his own argument that “internet is a free flow of information, so one cannot steal it?” I feel like it’s easy to view cases like this as hero v.s. corporate, but he did do something wrong and the worst part is he tried to make a monetary gain off of it.
Katerina Papatheodorou posted on March 12, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Helping or not, he is still committing a crime. I guess this is a questions of whether or not ends justify the means. If we accept Harris’ actions as heroic then who says where this will stop?
Is the person who kills a criminal, hero and should be praised for helping others being safer?
I don’t mean to be a buzz kill but Robin Hood was a thief too!! Yeah he stole from the rich to give to the poor, but what he was doing was still a crime. He was doing to the rich what the rich were doing to the poor. Just like Harris. He hates that Verizon is “stealing” people’s money, so he decided to rob Verizon!
Remember though what Gandhi said “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”
Hope Blalock posted on March 20, 2012 at 1:35 pm
I agree with Yuchen…It would be great if everyone could have Internet for free. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this is possible; there must be a way to compensate those who are providing the Internet service. Otherwise, why would anyone go into the business of providing Internet. I don’t think Ryan Harris is the worst kind of criminal out there, but he still broke the law and I wouldn’t exactly consider him a hero.
As for the man who hacked the MIT database and stole millions of articles on the grounds that everything on the Internet should be available to everyone, that seems ridiculous to me…If that were ever to be enacted, the Internet would be eradicated as a useful resource for any group or organization that wished to keep their information available to only a limited number of people.
Carolyn Le posted on April 7, 2012 at 2:06 pm
I think Harris’s argument is weak. The information on the Internet may be free, but the internet service is not. To benefit financially by something that he has done illegally is unfair.