Money does not equal liability. Just because someone is making a buck or two by mitigating some of the risk we as individuals take with our lives daily doesn't mean they should be punished for it. It doesn't matter if the perpetrator is broke or not; that's not the point. The point is deterring naive people from making stupid decisions without any forethought or planning, causing the rest of us to bail them out of a situation they got themselves into, and have only themselves to blame for it. I am not inclined to go punish a company that provides me with a hedge against some of the mistakes I might make simply because some idiot decided to use their device inappropriately. I would much rather bring down the wrath of God on the fool that pushed the button because he ran out of water on a dayhike and didn't feel like walking the 5 miles back to his car.

Again, it sounds like some of us would rather kink the system that was put in place to help us all out than to punish those who choose to abuse that system for their own selfish gain at the expense of the rest of us. That just don't make no sense. If SPOT can find a way to make a buck or two by helping us all be a little safer out in the wilderness, then kudos to them, and I wish them the best of luck and hope they will continue to provide their services at a decent price. There would be no hope of doing that if we somehow made them pay the price for the abuse a few dummies perpetuate.

Now, if someone out there is providing rescue insurance, then I would certainly expect them to foot the bill for the cost of rescuing their customers, even the stupid ones. If an insurance company is going to insure people for doing stupid things, then they deserve what they get, unless they manage to get judgement proof exclusions in their policies. In that case, caveat emptor, and you'd best only push that button if you are in a real crisis situation. If I read it correctly, GEOS is a company that is providing that sort of coverage (up to $100,000 per rescue), for something like $8 a year. That seems pretty fair, and certainly quite doable.

Knowing that, anyone stupid enough to trek off into the woods without first acquiring both a means of being located and some insurance to cover the costs of resuce gets what they deserve, up to and including a grieving widow(er).