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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."
In soviet Germany, WiFi unsecures you!
Or your wallet, anyways.
Yes, this actually happens. Same for not locking your car, which carries a fine of 90 euro's.
FINALLY, someone posts a car analogy! I was getting worried for a little while there.
While some of you slashdoters cannot even grasp what this means:
You can leave your wifi open, you can download anything you want, and the maximal fine will be 100 EUR!
I call that a big win where users would be sued up to 10.000 EUR for downloading/sharing music - this will put a dramatic lid on those things.
Cheers.
What exactly do they mean by adequately secured?
Your wireless router or access point must be secured by a either bicycle lock, a knotted jumble of bungie cords, an aggressive dog or cat, or a large glob of superglue.
Someone go find the RIAA/MPAA or whatever the equivalent in Germany is, use their wifi (would WEP or WPA-TSK count as "adequately secured to the danger of unauthorized third parties abusing it to commit copyright violation,'?) And start downloading everything you can think of. Lets see if they sue themselves.
"It's ok, I'm completely secure as long as my iron is off"
Reading comprehension is a beautiful thing. Get some.
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
"This is the best post on /. I've read in years. Do you offer security consulting services?"
Or bricks?
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
Ever wonder if legal jargon is really just magic spells being spoken aloud? Lawyers and judges could actually be modern-day warlocks and witches locked in an eternal battle for good and evil on the battlefield of the court!
Pretty sure the majority of both sides are just fighting for profit.