Okay, that recent story here on FinanceTechNews about how there’s no such thing as free WiFi was kind of a lie. There really was some free WiFi out there, but it doesn’t exist anymore.

And that’s because one person took advantage of the no-cost access and broke the law.

The little burg of Coshocton, Ohio, (population: about 12,000 usually law-abiding citizens) decided five years ago that it would offer free WiFi to anybody willing to park their car or sit on the curb on the block surrounding the Coshocton County Courthouse.

Maybe  a dozen people a day used the access. During really exciting times in Coshocton, maybe 100 would be logging onto the network connection — days like First Fridays and the Coshocton Canal Festival, when things really sizzle. During these “festival times,” vendors like the convenience of checking the credit card status of customers.

It was also used by Coshocton County Sheriff’s deputies who could park in the 300 block and complete a traffic or incident report without leaving their vehicle. Out-of-town business people liked the convenience of using their laptops to make connections.

But all these folks are out of luck because, recently, one user  illegally downloaded a movie.

Alerted by Sony Pictures, the county’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) — OneCommunity — told the county IT department about the illegal download.

And the decision was made to terminate the free WiFi.

Because the access point is a single address used by many people, it’s gonna be tough to tell who made the illegal download, but officials are going to try anyway.

Still, if you want to know why it’s getting so tough to find free WiFi access, here’s the cautionary tale.

One bad apple spoils the whole bunch. The cash-strapped municipality knows there’s software out there it can buy to prevent this sort of user behavior, but the cost in the current economy could be prohibitive.

The better solution, in IT’s mind: Just dump the free service. And who can really blame them?

Commercial operations who offer WiFi access to their customers make the calculation that the draw of the free connection will be worth the investment. Why do you think a latte costs $3 when its ingredients come to about 27 cents and the barrista’s making minimum wage?

Any government entity that provides a free connection is going to at least have to make sure it doesn’t get hit with a lawsuit because some ornery user executed an illegal transaction using the access point.

For businesses that allow users unlimited Web access, this could also serve as a cautionary tale. Using the high-speed connection at the office may be too tempting for folks who want to stream pirated video or audio.

Industry groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and others are getting serious about cracking down on folks who steal copyrighted material.

How are you protecting your organization from this sort of behavior?

Tags: access, connection, Coshocton, free, Motion Picture Association of America, municipal, Ohio, OneCommunity, Sony Pictures, WiFi