Britons could face legal action for unsecured Wi-Fi

Posted on 19 May 2010 at 12:10

A Sheffield University professor of internet law has warned that Brits could find themselves facing the prospect of legal action if they leave their Wi-Fi connections unsecured.

Last week, a German court fined a broadband subscriber £85 after his unsecured Wi-Fi network was used to illegally download music. The subscriber was able to prove that he was on holiday at the time when the song was downloaded, but the court ruled that he was responsible for failing to protect his wireless connection from third-party abuse.

“The German case is an illustration of what could happen here, so it’s a bit of a salutary warning,” said Lilian Edwards, professor of internet law at University of Sheffield. “At the moment, there’s no legal requirement to lock down your network – it’s not a crime to leave it open, but it may break the terms and conditions of your ISP, and it could take legal action.”

The Digital Economy Act gives the courts a range of new powers that could spell the end of free public Wi-Fi and could lead to users being fined for ‘allowing’ someone else to download copyrighted material using their connection. The trouble is that ‘allow’ is something of a grey area.

“There’s no real definition of what ‘allow’ means,” said Edwards in an interview with PC Pro. “It could be that not setting a password could be taking as ‘allowing’ someone to use your network.”

Edwards said that such sanctions would have to wait for the “technical measures” part of the Digital Economy Act to be legalised, which will depend on Ofcom’s recommendations in a year’s time. The measures would also require a new vote in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Author: Tim Smalley

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