Rick Tait, a New Yorker who has been providing free wireless Internet access via his Time Warner cable modem connection, has received a cease-and-desist order from the provider. While I feel bad for him — as I do anyone who has to deal with Time Warner in any more than the normal perfunctory ways — I don’t feel too bad for him, nor do I feel like he’s in the right on this one. He has Internet service with an agreement (that he should have read) that specifically forbids redistribution of the connection to others, and if he didn’t like that, then he should have found another connection (like EarthLink service over Time Warner cable, which doesn’t seem to have the restriction in their use policy). As it is, he’s been caught, and he should just admit to it and move on. (Oh, and Rick: have you heard of non-broadcast SSIDs and WEP? Lead shielding may be taking the dramatic flair a bit too far.)