German man fined for poor Wi-Fi security - Not using a network password costs $164.

[The Straight Story]

German man fined for poor Wi-Fi security

Not using a network password costs $164.

The German courts have ruled that internet users are responsible for the security of their connections.

In an unusual case - a musician took a home owner to court because his Wi-Fi signal was used to illegally download music.

The home owner demonstrated that he was on holiday at the time the download occurred, and the court cleared him of copyright infringement- but said the access point should have been password protected.

"Private users are obligated to check whether their wireless connection is adequately secured to the danger of unauthorised third parties abusing it to commit copyright violation," the court in Karlsruhe said, according to the BBC.


http://www.itnews.com.au/News/174895,german-man-fined-for-poor-wi-fi-security.aspx

[NYC Liberal]

1. Insane. Just like a lot of things with

copyright and the legal system these days.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Consider it a weenie tax

Of a whiner tax.

Whichever.

[hlthe2b]

3. I guess he must be among the billions that Google captured

among those stupid enough to use an unsecured wifi.

[MattBaggins]

4. He should sue the manufacturer

Should be made so that it demands a non factory default username and password.

[blogslut]

5. My home wi-fi has WEP security

...whether I want it or not. That fact came in handy when my neighbor asked me if he could piggy back offa my wi-fi. I might have given him the password had he not then asked me:

"Do you play World of Warcraft?"

Sorry dude. I don't need my bandwidth maxed out.

I told him I wasn't comfortable giving out my password.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. We can't figure out how to make the password work on ours

Spent most of a weekend trying to set it up. Finally gave up. So I guess we can look forward to lawsuits now. Swell.

[DevonRex]

12. When I hit a snag I called the router manufacturer's help line. We got it

done in 2 minutes. I was on hold for a while but once I actually spoke to a customer service person she fixed it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. It was a weekend and no one answered the phone

[DevonRex]

15. I hope you get it resolved soon. And good grief, don't most people

install stuff on the weekends? You'd think the manufacturer would staff their phones on the weekends, when people have the time to install the router.

[Egnever]

19. Warcraft uses very little bandwith

[blogslut]

23. You're probably right

But regardless, I'm sticking with my decision. I barely know the guy.

[Egnever]

30. Nothing wrong with that

Just saying warcraft wouldn't be the thing that sucked up your bandwidth.

[hunter]

6. So what next? Do we sue coffee shops? Libraries? Motels?

Anyone who leaves an internet connection open?

Does everyone have to show their papers at the door?

Must every internet connection be logged and associated with someone?

Is it a "privilege," something like driving a car, something you need a license for?

Or is it free speech?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Most of those places change their passwords regularly and give them to guests

Not sure if preservation of access logs is required. Most places that I go don't have the facilities for that. Also note that the log has the MAC address and that is about it in terms of identifying the user. If where they go is logged, that would help as well.

[hunter]

13. Well, they already got video cameras.

Maybe they should put microphones under each table too and record everything.

You never know when someone might be up to no good at a coffee shop.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

32. No all of them do. Once you get the password of the day/week/month

use a USB to Wireless dongle you bought for cash at a garage sale. Then it will get harder to identify you.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Lessee now-- first of all, this happened in GERMANY so...

comments about US law are irrelevant and make the commenter look stupid.

Although such a ruling might not be seen elsewhere, it does make some sense...

Downloading copyrighted material is illegal

If downloading copyrighted material is illegal, abetting said downloading is also illegal

Leaving an unsecured WiFi network on when you go away on vacation is stupid and
inadvertantly aided in the theft of copyrighted material

Therefore, you get fined a hundred Euros for being dumb enough to let it happen.

[The Straight Story]

8. By that logic

The real problem is with the company that provides the internet service.

Think about it for a few.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. No it's not...

if you manage a store and you go home leaving it unlocked, whose fault is it? Not the landlord, the lock manufacturer, or the store owner (unless you own the store).

There may not necessarily be criminal penalties, outside of one court in Karlsruhe, but everyone knows whose fault it is.

[havocmom]

20. But since the issue is copyright, it is not a bad idea to find out about US laws re wireless

Ya know, since the US observes copyright and all.

[cbdo2007]

16. Cool....so if I lose my cell phone and the person who finds it charges a bunch

of stuff to it, is that my fault also for not better protecting my phone from loss?

[HillWilliam]

17. Securing your own access point is just a matter of hygiene

It doesn't just keep people from using your Internet bandwidth; it also keeps wardrivers out of your own LAN. You wouldn't walk off and leave all your doors unlocked, so why would you leave your LAN and PC's wide-open, either? IMHO, dude got charged a dumbass-fee for being net unclean.

[hunter]

18. Doug eats war drivers, car thieves, and burglars.

Beware of Doug.

This is more of a free speech issue than a "hygiene" issue.

Is it the legal obligation of an internet service provider, most especially an individual, to police the internet, to demand "Papers Please?"

Locking cars doesn't keep cars from being stolen. At best it keeps people out who might be tempted to pilfer something they happen to see inside. But I've had more things stolen from my locked cars than my unlocked cars. I think an unlocked car implies there's nothing in there worth stealing, which is always the case with my unlocked cars. It's too easy for a thief to break a lock or a window if they really want something, and it's always the case with my cars that replacing a broken lock or window costs me more than any crap I might have lost.

Go ahead, if you are that desperate, take the film container full of parking meter quarters, just don't break the window or lock.

In any case, how secure is my home wireless network? My friends, my kids, and all their friends know the password. And just how secure are other sorts of networks? Go up to any motel desk clerk and nine times out of ten they'll assume you are a guest and give you the internet password without asking what room you are in.

The major issue here is not personal security, it's about our authoritarian, capitalist culture. The major internet providers, Comcast, AT&T, all those expensive internet cell service providers, don't like it when people share connections. It violates some religious tenant of capitalism that everything must have a price. This culture wants you to believe that everything you own is some kind of treasure, and that you must protect your treasure, and go out and buy even more treasure.

Most of all this authoritarian capitalist culture wants you to live fearful and alone, to be constantly worried that someone is watching you, good guys or bad guys. Authoritarian oppression is much easier to manage when the people agree to oppress themselves.

[Egnever]

21. Well said

I Never lock my car doors but then I dont buy fancy stereos. The only time I have had stuff stolen from my car is when I have had a car with something other than a stock stereo.

[havocmom]

22. LAN security is one of my concerns regarding this technology

What if some dirty neighbor uses my connection to download kiddie pron? No thanks. I am just not interesting in being someone's patsy by paying for internet they can piggy back on because they are cheap or doing something illegal.

[hunter]

26. If some pervert is using your LAN they are probably in your house and related to you.

The wireless signal diminishes exponentially with distance.

Your neighbors are most likely decent people who wouldn't abuse your internet connection.

And most people would call the police if they saw a perverted stranger sitting in his car drooling over an iPad.

[havocmom]

27. The house next door is VERY close to where my computer stuff is.

You have no idea about anybody's neighbors LOL

[hunter]

29. I've lived in neighborhoods like that too...

;)

[Xithras]

25. Some of us have Open AP's for a reason.

My home network is segmented. A private wLAN (protected with WPA-TKIP) connected directly to my broadband, and an open wLan (port limited and throttled on a completely seperate bridged B AP) wide open for anyone who wants to use it.

It's called the Free Wireless Movement, and some of us have been doing this for a decade. I opened up my first 802.11 AP (just 802.11...no A or B at that time) in 1999. I've had one running, in some form or another and with varying bandwidth availability, almost continuously since then.

I'm a firm believer that the Internet should be free, open, and anonymous. Because I have it throttled, it also uses a lot less bandwidth than you'd think.

The FWM has lost a lot of its momentum over the past half decade or so, especially as many taxpayer funded urban "free wireless" projects have closed up shop, but there are still hundreds of thousands of us who believe in the ideal, and do our bit to share some of our bandwidth with others.

[brendan120678]

24. We try to keep our signal protected the best we can...

but I know that some people with the right tricks can probably find a way to get around it.

Our signal is password protected, and in addition to that I have to manually allow each individual component's MAC address access to the router.

[hunter]

28. I don't want anyone waking me up at night for a password...

... or to allow the MAC address of whatever gizmo they are using.

I don't want my guests to feel shut out either, even if they are my adult kids' most annoying friends.

No, you do not need my permission to talk with your friend in Taiwan.

[Egnever]

31. if you filter by mac address

the pass word is pretty redundant.

[Festivito]

33. People started it, it was free, now we lock it up for corporate interests.

Now we have to lock it up to protect corporations using our internet.