Toolkit
Story: Police: Wi-Fi arrest not part of a crackdown
Open Wireless
A year or so ago there was a drive by several European organisations to open broadband wireless, by selling cheap wireless routers on the understanding that the person buying the router made available thier connection to others.
Admitably this does have ramifications in that if you are the one hosting the "wireless hotspot" then you are responsible for the material which is downloaded across this connection. Trying to explain to a police constible why your internet connection has been used to download illegal material or why a hacking attack was initiated via your connection may be a sticky topic, especially if you're not totally IT literate.
However, if no complaint was made by the person who owned the connection then why did the PCSO's need to investigate the issue, when evidently a "softly softly" approach would have potentially been a better approach.
Sadly this "arrest" has now opened a can of worms that will have significant ramifications for everyone who has "open wireless networks"
Arthur
Full Talkback thread
