German User Fined For Having an Open Wi-Fi

Kilrah_il writes "A German citizen was sued for copyright infringement because copyrighted material was downloaded through his network while he was on vacation. Although the court did not find him guilty of copyright infringement, he was fined for not having password-protected his network: 'Private users are obligated to check whether their wireless connection is adequately secured to the danger of unauthorized third parties abusing it to commit copyright violation,' the court said."

Comments

Re:I see.

[Arcady13]

Since the prison sentence for copyright infringement exceeds that of many violent crimes, I would say it is a fair comparison.

Re:I see.

[pikine]

Your country or state's firearm regulation law may make it illegal if you simply show a non-concealed firearm in the public. If your premise is not reasonably secured, it could be considered a public place. You may also be more directly charged with irresponsible handling of firearms. It's about the firearm, not the door. It's not about what you do with your doors. You are not even required to have a door. You may drop your firearms in a very deep well, sealed with a grill instead of a door, or surrounded by a fence. You may put your firearm in a block of solid concrete so nobody may use it ever again.

In this case, I think the ruling is reasonable. It only requires you to password protect your WiFi, but it doesn't require you to keep applying security updates. If the password protection requirement is met, it waives the subscriber's liability for the illegal content that a third-party transfers. This means if you can show your WiFi is password protected and the illegal access is done by a third-party, then you are not liable.

Back to firearm analogy, it's like saying if you keep your firearm inside four walls with a locked door, then you are not liable for criminals who steal your guns. However, if the law stops being more specific here, then it means your walls could be made with cardboard if you want. Since WEP has about the same security as cardboard, the law may want to specify at least WPA2 protection. It is reasonable to assume that if you want to secure firearms in a premise, then your walls and the door should be made of a certain kind of material that is relatively durable. If you practice due diligence, and your premise is still broken into and firearms stolen, then I think it's great that the law protects you from criminal liability.