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Unsecured Wi-Fi to Become Illegal?

echucker writes "News.com is carrying a story for a draft proposal for law in Westchester County in New York state that would outlaw unsecured wi-fi connections. Public internet access would require a network gateway server with a firewall and also require home/business office users to install firewalls to protect personal info, even if their connection is encrypted. Violations would carry fines of $250-$500."

6 of 418 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Luckily it is just a proposal. by l3prador · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, from the article it seems to only apply to businesses, or home offices, not just any homeowner. Their intention seems to be to prevent theft of credit card information from customers of the business.

  2. Re:This is absurd by shish · · Score: 2, Informative
    The word is "burgled", burglarized would mean "to be turned into a burglar"...

    (...or am I missing a Simpsons reference?)

    --
    I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
  3. Re:stupid stupid stupid by FluffyWithTeeth · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, it's fine. It doesn't have to be encrypted, just firewalled. It's a crap summary, I'm afraid.

  4. Re:Is this because of the telco's? by rkcallaghan · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you were up to no good is an open AP the way to do it?

    The short answer, YES.

    The long answer, if its not a honeypot and you can evade physical detection, YES. The former may be harder to detect on the fly, but the latter is as simple as hiding in plain sight in the parking lot of an apartment complex or frat house.

    ~Rebecca

  5. Re:Great idea! by Bryansix · · Score: 2, Informative

    The law of negligent entrustment is another area in which courts have specifically defined negligence under very limited circumstances. A dive shop operator who lends a vehicle or a spear gun, or a boat owner who lends a boat, may be found guilty of negligent entrustment if the borrower is incompetent, unfit, or reckless and the owner knew or had reason to know that the borrower was unfit. The law of negligent entrustment is fairly broad and covers nearly any dangerous instrumentality. The injured person may allege that the operator or user of the equipment was negligent; or the plaintiff may allege that the owner of the equipment was negligent and that the user of the equipment was simply unfit. For example, a person injured in an accident may allege that an automobile owner knew about the driver's tendency to black out, but loaned the car to the driver anyway. The injured person may not claim that the driver was negligent, but can still claim that the owner should not have lent the car.
    http://www.pernet.net/~danat/negloview.htm

  6. Re:This is absurd [OT] by signifying+nothing · · Score: 2, Informative

    The original English word in this group is the noun "burglary", quickly followed by "burglar", both of which are first attested in the early 1500s, and ultimately derive from the Indo-European root *bherg, which means "high". The verb "burglarize" is a regular verb form, dating from the late 1800s, formed from "burglary" by the same process that gives us "scrutinize", "sympathize", etc. The British form "burgle" is an (apparently originally humorous) back-formation, also dating from the late 1800s, but not widely considered acceptable (in Britain) until somewhat later.