In Singapore, “borrowing” your neighbor’s Wi-Fi is considered hacking under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act of 1998. That, however, isn’t the surprising part. The punishment for “piggybacking” is particularly strict. If found guilty of the offense, you could be fined a maximum of $10,000, jailed for up to three years, or both. The first person to be convicted of this offense was a teenager named Garyl Tan Jia Luo, who was arrested for tapping into his neighbor’s wireless network. He got off relatively easy by being sentenced to 18 months probation, half of which was to be served at a boys’ home. He was required to stay indoors from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the next nine months. He also had to carry out 80 hours of community service and was banned from using the Internet for 18 months. Given the penalties, it might be worth a trip to Starbucks to get free Wi-Fi.
