July 19, 2008
“Wi-Fi Squatting” can be a federal offence
It’s a federal offense in the U.S. to use someone else’s unsecured wireless network for illicit purposes. It’s a crime in Germany, too – committed by the network owner. The Wall Street Journal reports.
"According to the FBI, it isn’t a federal offense to squat, as long as the squatter doesn’t use the connection to do anything illegal. Wi-Fi squatting is against the law in some states.
A court in Germany ruled that the owner of an unsecured Wi-Fi network that a squatter used to illegally download rap songs is responsible for the crime – even though he proved that he wasn’t the one who stole the files, TechDirt reports.
The German court said that network owners are responsible for securing their networks — and can be held liable if they don’t."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/07/020795.htm
