Voltage Rustlers

Does the term, above, invoke images of guys in bucket trucks, with huge spools of wire and cable, furtively lassoing high tension power lines?  It didn’t for me.  But it also didn’t invoke an image of some poor chap needing power for his laptop, sitting in a bus station, by an electrical outlet, typing on his laptop, which is plugged into said electrical outlet, being arrested for "voltage rustling."

Via Michael Jennings, at Samizdata, in a post titled “The new wild west of voltage rustling." Jennings’ post also offers some suggestions to private enterprises in regards to the need for juice for your electronic devices.

Posted by on 04/02 at 06:29 AM

  1. I don’t understand, John. Are they saying that stealing just a little bit isn’t stealing? That entrepreneurs or stockholders or taxpayers aren’t going to have to pay for that power? Are they making the claim that stealing a million pennies is morally distinct from stealing ten thousand dollars? Surely libertarians can find a way to oppose theft, even tiny theft, even as they oppose police stupidity.

    Posted by Greg Swann  on  04/02  at  08:32 AM

  2. Greg, the way the article is written, it could be interpreted that they don’t consider this “little” bit of voltage rustling as stealing, when in actuality it is stealing.

    One other possible solution to this need for juice for personal electronic devices, that Jennings didn’t mention, could be private enterprises, or entrepenuers, setting up meters associated with electric outlets, where individuals in need of juice deposit $0.25 for one hours worth of juice, or something along those lines.

    Posted by  on  04/02  at  08:54 AM

  3. I loved the bit about making wi-fi “free”...

    Just lately the Arizona Association of Realtors made ZipForms (a Michigan company) “free” for its members. What that means is that the old geezers, who don’t even have pagers, get to buy really cool forms software for me. (FWIW, I was an early adopter of ZipForms, so I’m a cash customer even though it’s now “free”.) That way, I can write contracts on-the-fly from my laptop while sitting at Starbucks. (Why Starbucks? T-Mobile 802.11b wi-fi, so I can access the MLS and the tax assesor on-line, priinting everything to my little batter-powered HP printer. I have an entire real estate office in a backpack.)

    Now if only those old geezers would get me that “free” wi-fi conection and buy me some “free” power. Oh, and they could reimburse me for the hardware, too. And I have a little wish list…

    Truly, sometimes I can’t see a difference between so-called libertarians and communists…

    Posted by Greg Swann  on  04/02  at  09:36 AM

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