The legal status of a security mechanism does not depend on its engineering efficacy. For example even though many deadbolts can be easily defeated with a bump key, using a bump key to gain entry to a house you're not legally entitled to enter would still be considered a crime.
Security based on MAC blocking is not remotely like a deadbolt. A deadbolt denies anyone who doesn't have a key, whereas a block list allows anyone who doesn't look like someone on the list. Security based on a MAC whitelist (where only certain people are allowed) is closer, but that isn't what MIT was using.
You're continuing to miss the point. If I leave my door wide open and put up a sign that says "Private Property, Do Not Enter", it is legally the same as a deadbolt, despite the complete engineering uselessness of a sign in preventing physical access.
You can't answer legal questions with engineering. They are different fields with different goals.
If I leave my door wide open and put up a sign that says "Private Property, Do Not Enter", it is legally the same as a deadbolt
Yes, and it's not the same as MAC blocking.
You can't answer legal questions with engineering
Technology changes the subtleties upon which laws are based, so you necessarily have to answer a legal question with certain aspects of engineering.
A network that is protected by MAC identification cannot be directly compared to a room protected by a lock and key. In the case of Aaron, you can point to his modification of the MAC as an awareness that his is skirting network policy. Whether breach of network policy should be a felony is another discussion. However, someone who maintains privacy by randomizing his MAC is in a very different situation that looks strikingly similar to the case at hand. Will the courts understand the difference? We can only hope.
If you must use a door analogy, your sign would actually read "Party inside. Please join us!" with a bowl full of keys sitting beside the door.
Now imagine if each key is valid for only five openings of the door. When someone comes back to your place for a sixth time and their key doesn't work anymore, is it really reasonable to be upset if they choose another key from the bowl?
