On 4/26/2011 7:20 AM, Daniel C. wrote: > On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 4:10 PM, Aaron Toponce<[email protected]> > wrote: >> To each their own, but I have better things to do with my life than wait >> for apologies from the police, because they didn't do their homework. I'll >> lock down my wifi. > Isn't the real issue here that wifi encryption doesn't actually > prevent people from using your connection to get online? If it > offered real security it would be a different matter, but if you > encrypt/lock down/whatever your wifi and someone uses it anyway, you > end up in the same boat only without the defense that it was unlocked > so someone else could have been using it. > > I believe the real issue is having reasonable liability for intent. What I mean is, if you leave your wireless open, it is easily interpreted as intent to have it used by anyone as easily as possible. If you secure it, you are making the claim of "this wireless network is for people I deem worthy." Thus anyone using it for illegal activity would be breaking an entering to use your phone, as opposed to using the phone you have on an end-table in the middle of your lawn.
There are legal precedences for this viewpoint, and I should note that I don't agree with this viewpoint at all. However, the law seems to have specific understanding, or lack thereof, of computer systems in general. If you are doing something to someone else's computer system that they have put reasonable safeguards to prevent, you are a bad man. If you did something stupid on someone's server that had no root password, shame on you, but that server maintainer is going to get a rundown of "why are you facilitating crimes?" I suppose one could look at it as a measure of how much exploitation is going on is proportional to how much trouble the system maintainer is in. I'm with Aaron. At a certain point, I drop the ideal of what "should be" and just deal with "what is." The law is always going to be ridiculous regarding computers. Just secure your wifi and play their game that way. Play the political game if that's your fancy. Just don't expect a lot of sympathy for not securing your wifi if the police break down your door at 2 am, or when your congressmen don't know what you're talking about. -Tod Hansmann /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
