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18 Apr 2007
British police are cracking down on the hacking of unprotected Wi-Fi networks, with two people cautioned by police for the practice.
Police in Redditch, Worcestershire cautioned a man last week who was spotted by locals inside a car using a laptop while parked outside a house. Another woman in the town was cautioned last month for the same offence.
PC Tony Humphreys, from West Mercia police, told The Guardian: " Wireless networks don't stop at the walls of your home.
"Without the necessary protection, neighbours or people in the road may be able to connect to your network. This might slow down your service or, more importantly, your connection could be used for unlawful purposes."
Gaining unauthorised access to a computer is an offence covered by the Computer Misuse Act.
In 2005 Gregory Straszkiewicz from Ealing was fined £500 and sentenced to 12 months' conditional discharge for hijacking a wireless broadband connection.
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Do you agree?
Define Hacking into a computer
Surely anybody using someones else's connection does not require any computers switched on in the unsecured network? It should really be classified as router hacking - totally different from hacking into computers. I doubt this would stand up in court.
Posted by: Alan Robertson 19 Apr 2007
Nanny-State Political-Correctness
The police should not waste time [and our money] on policing this phenomenon. Owners of Wi-Fi networks should take their own responsibility of protecting their network. It costs absolutely nothing to turn on a firewall in the software that runs their network, ~ and those that don't do this are simply completely dumb, too bloody lazy or couldn't care less. The police should stick to REAL crime detection not waste their time acting as surrogate parents to unruly children.
Posted by: Howard Bayley 19 Apr 2007