The charge was that they blocked his MAC address, so he changed it with intent to continue accessing a system.
Even if he had changed his MAC address by buying a new laptop / NIC and connecting it, they probably would have still tried to charge him with the same thing.
The wording of what is alleged from the indictment is: "He sought to defraud MIT and JSTOR of rights and property by: ... b. Repeatedly taking steps to change his and his computer's apparent identities and conceal his and his computers' true identities".
For that same argument to be applied to someone else, there would have to be several aspects:
* The change of MAC would have to be repeated (although obviously they could construct a similar argument if you just did it once to clone a white-listed MAC).
* The 'intent' behind changing the MAC address would have to be to obtain something that could not be obtained otherwise. This could be by spoofing a white-listed MAC address, or changing away from your black-listed MAC address that was blacklisted to stop you doing something the network owner doesn't want you to do with their network.
I don't think they are saying the technical means by which the MAC is changed matters, or that changing MAC addresses without the intention to circumvent a technical measure to restrict access are wire fraud.
Even if he had changed his MAC address by buying a new laptop / NIC and connecting it, they probably would have still tried to charge him with the same thing.
The wording of what is alleged from the indictment is: "He sought to defraud MIT and JSTOR of rights and property by: ... b. Repeatedly taking steps to change his and his computer's apparent identities and conceal his and his computers' true identities".
For that same argument to be applied to someone else, there would have to be several aspects:
I don't think they are saying the technical means by which the MAC is changed matters, or that changing MAC addresses without the intention to circumvent a technical measure to restrict access are wire fraud.