Wi-Fi Security: Home Nets Are Wide Open, Pub Gets £8000 Fine

A survey has found that a worrying percentage of people in the UK do not password-protect their wireless networks, while a pub landlord is facing an £8000 fine after one of his customers was caught downloading copyright content using the pub’s Wi-Fi hotspot.

The pub is apparently a customer of hotspot provider The Cloud, and it is reported that the pub owner has been stung for £8,000 following a successful prosecution by the rights holder. No details of the civil case have emerged, and it appears that the government’s Digital Economy Bill might prevent any similar case after it becomes law.

Under the terms of the the Digital Economy Bill, announced last week, all Wi-Fi hotspots have been declared “public communications services”, which means the user of the Wi-Fi hotspot is held responsible for the misuse of the connection, not the connection provider. To this end, the public connection provider is required to maintain records, going back 12 months, of the communication taken place on the network.

Internet service providers (ISPs) are opposing the bill, but last week one of the UK’s leading ISPs broke ranks with the news that Virgin Media is testing new technology from Detica that will allow it to monitor file sharing over the internet.

Legal advisor Out-Law.com has warned that the Digital Economy Bill could be in breach of EU laws. Indeed, internet law expert Professor Lilian Edwards said that the Bill could make it impossible to operate a free wireless network legally and would likely kill off open Wi-Fi hotspots.

Meanwhile a new survey has pointed to some alarming naivety among UK users. The comparison website, Moneysupermarket.com, has found that over four million web users have had their Wi-Fi connection hijacked in the last year, and that 19 percent of Brits don’t password-protect their internet access at home.

Even more alarming is that 24 percent said they didn’t know Wi-Fi hijacking was possible.

Moneysupermarket.com also found that 15 percent of web users admitted to using someone else’s web connection in order to surf the web, although some have admitted to emailing and downloading large files, as well as streaming content using online services such as the BBC iPlayer.

“The consequences of hijacking can be severe,” said James Parker, moneysupermarket.com’s broadband expert. “It’s bad enough your neighbours can use your internet connection freely, but this becomes far more threatening if someone uses your connection for criminal or improper activity.”

He recommends that users know what their download limits are, use a password to secure their network, and to use a router that uses ‘Wi-Fi protected access’ (WPA) rather than ‘wired equivalent protection’ (WEP) encryption.