How is changing your UserAgent string fraud?
Is it fraud to use a battery charger or electrical plug with an adapter? After all, the particular plug is a way of "identification", even when easily circumvented. How about using aftermarket parts for your car or camera. They are implying by their similarly spaced and shaped connections that they are genuine parts after all... What about console cartridge identification chips?
These are somewhat interesting questions, if the HN crowd could have other opinions between "fraud" and "not fraud".
It's interesting to think when a hack becomes a fraud or stealing.
The only immoral thing here is the wifi provider increasing the complexity of the transaction to extract as much money as possible. Should one be required to tell the supermarket their net worth so they can be charged "appropriately" for their food? Anonymity is the basis for a shared existence.
Two parties whose sole interaction consists of sending signals back and forth certainly don't need the outside law to mediate between them - if one party finds the relationship unfavorable, simply stop talking. It's a shame that people have been so brainwashed into thinking it's their responsibility to enforce someone else's desired business rules.
No, it's common for highly technical web developers to do this. For 99.99% of the internet population, they do not even know what "user agent string" is or how to change it, or what to put in.