increduloushulk

He didn't lay it himself; he found that AT&T had nearby fiber and paid them to run it to his garage. Then he connects to his customers via antenna.

"Kuykendall now buys Internet service at a bulk rate from AT&T, then beams the connection wirelessly to other homes. Some customers get service free in exchange for hosting Mimosa equipment that relays the signal around corners and over hills to reach more homes."

I suspect the "this is not legal advice" disclaimer has more to do with the unauthorized practice of law. Depending on the state, it may be a crime, although I don't know that I've ever heard of anybody being convicted of it.

Civil matters don't usually end with either probation or jail time. If you can't afford counsel, I suppose you might be able to find an attorney who would trade you representation for some development or technical services. Other options might be legal clinics at nearby law schools, or pro bono programs. You can also call the local bar association and see whether they have a referral program.

I know you weren't really asking for information, as such, but you might get some useful tidbits if you include the city (and possibly the ordinance you ran into). Maybe there some advocacy groups in your city that can help you out.

The pans you linked to do have a Teflon coating. Look at the fourth bullet point under "Features," where it says it uses DuPont Autograph. Autograph is a product within the Teflon line.

I had the same reaction, but it seems to dovetail with her needs. She said "this is literally just 'I am moving on in my professional life.' MetaFilter remains my online home."

http://metatalk.metafilter.com/23245/State-of-MetaFilter#114...

It's less that US decided to try him in New Jersey, and more that the prosecutors who wanted to try him were in New Jersey. If the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas had wanted a crack at this case, it would not have ended up in NJ.

[Edit] To be clear, there is nothing unique about the New Jersey statute that was used as a sentencing enhancement. As many states do, Arkansas has a similar statute - A.C.A. § 5-41-104 - so the sentencing enhancement could have been applied with Arkansas as the venue. The E. Arkansas US Attorney's Office exercised prosecutorial discretion by not seeking indictment. The New Jersey USAO decided they wanted to prosecute and thought they could make a colorable claim on the issue of venue.

The prosecution tells us much more about the New Jersey USAO than it does about the overall desire of the US Government to prosecute this particular act.