I am wondering if the shoe was on the other foot and it was Microsoft that was being sued if your comments would be the same. I wonder if everyone's comments about patent rights would be the same as those they express on this thread. The argument is universal - two sides with differing opinions, with the right to debate them in an open forum. When it comes to patents, copyrights, and trademarks we all have to deal with the way the rules are - if one holds the rights, then they have the right to protect that intellectual property. It is not always the first one who files that gets the patent; fortunately this may change in the near future, as proposed rule changes get accepted. There are many patents that have been filed by numerous people all for one thing – money. These filers had no intention on doing anything with the idea they patented, except to sit and wait for those to infringe upon it – and then sue them, for something they themselves have nothing invested. Lest we think this is only with patents, copyrights, and trademarks it is not. When the Internet was becoming popular, there were people and companies that did nothing but purchase 100’s, if not 1,000’s of domain names simply to tie them up and hold the companies that, by extension would logically use them, hostage. Why – money. It became the easy way to make your fortune, rather than work for it. If we are unhappy with the laws and rules, then change them. Don’t berate those who use them.

What the court has failed to recognize is that once the hacker has gained access to the router, the hacker now has access to all data being transmitted through that device. It is not difficult, for even a "student" to establish an interception point for all data flowing through the router and then take action against it. While the court and the laws, by definition do not consider the router a part of the broader "computer" world, perhaps the prosecution should have been on a different front. Perhaps the charge should have been hacking into corporate and personal data instead.