Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Case Studies on Unsecured Wifi and Law of the Countries

Dear Friends,

I think now definitely a question may arise in you mind that what will happen with unsecured wifi and what are the lime lighted case studies on unsecured wifi. Now I will discuss you all these things.

Here are few case studies in a nutshell:-

1) In UK a copy righted film was downloaded by hacking an unsecured wifi connection of a hotel/restaurant and then the film distributor company filed a suit on the basis of IP address and UK Police traced that hotel and the hotel/restaurant owner was imposed a huge amount of fine by the honourable UK Court.

2) In USA a person was found outside of a building for unsecured wifi connection and he was arrested by USA Police.

3) In India in Ahmadabad blast case the miscreants used unsecured wifi connections of different institutes and hospitals four times for sending mail. The institutes had to face the consequences.

There are so many cases to discuss but I will not discuss all those cases here as those cases here but now I think at the same time you should know what Govt. of different countries are thinking about this. So lets start with India.

In India if anyone's unsecured wifi is used to commit crime initially burden of proof will lie on him and he will be legally liable for commiting crime or a criminal conspiracy of that crime.
TRAI had asked the government to direct all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to instruct their customers to have ‘proper authentication measures’ so that this facility is not misused. “All ISPs may be instructed to ensure that their subscribers using wireless devices must use effective authentication mechanisms and permit access to internet to only authorised persons using wireless devices,” the regulator said in its earlier communication to the DoT. (Source:- The Economic Times)
Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police K Venktesan told Business Standard: “If the Wi-Fi connection in a particular place is not password protected or secured then the policemen accompanying the squad will have the authority to issue a notice to the owner of the connection directing him to secure it.”The police could issue a notice under section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to anyone found not securing their Wi-Fi connection and user may face criminal investigations. (Source:- www.zdnet.com)

In UK I think you have understood from the case studies.

In German Internet users in Germany, whose wireless networks are left password unprotected, can be fined up to 100 euros, according to a recent ruling by Germany’s top criminal court. (zdnet.com)

In Australia The Queensland Police plans to conduct a ‘wardriving’ mission around select Queensland towns in an effort to educate its citizens to secure their wireless networks. When unsecured networks are found, the Queensland Police will pay a friendly visit to the household or small business, informing them of the risks they are exposing themselves to. (zdnet.com)

Now I think some of you thinking to cause casualty to others unsecured wifi but my friends don't think for that as the hackers are keeping the wifi connection unsecured for trapping the persons who uses unsecured wifi.

Now its upto you what you will do.

Thanking you

Urproblemmysolution team

1 comment:

Sitanshu Ray said...

Dear Sujit,

On May 17 2010, Google themselves admitted that they have mistakenly collected Data from Unsecured Networks for the past 3 years.

The company said the error came to light after the German data protection authority audited the Wi-Fi data collected by Street View cars for use in location-based products such as Google Maps for mobile.

The authority revealed that as well as collecting SSID information (the network's name) and MAC addresses (the number given to Wi-Fi devices such as a router), Google had also been collecting payload data such as emails or web page content being viewed.

This incident has put Google to shame, for this company Pontificates about the issue of Data Privacy and Client Trust.

"We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and are currently reaching out to regulators in the relevant countries about how to quickly dispose of it," said Eustace - Head of An Engineering Group at Google. "Maintaining people's trust is crucial to everything we do, and in this case we fell short."

If a company of the Stature of Google can make such mistakes, what can be said of lesser corporations.

Communication on Wi-Fi networks that aren't encrypted -- that is, open wireless networks -- can be easily intercepted. Some of the more popular packet sniffing tools are even free.

But capturing packets on an open Wi-Fi connection doesn't mean it's legally permitted.

A federal law called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act says that anyone who "intentionally intercepts" any electronic communication, including a wireless communication, is guilty of a crime. But accidental or inadvertent interception doesn't count.

Google says the interception was accidental, not intentional.

Even if this is the case, federal and state regulators might still be able to take action. California law prohibits "deceptive" business practices, which closely mirrors the charge of the Federal Trade Commission, which has the power to file a civil lawsuit asking for a fine if it views an infraction to be sufficiently serious.

The FBI made it clear in statements five or six years ago that accessing network data without permission is a violation of federal wiretapping laws.

Therefore, this article of Case Studies where such infractions (Using your wireless networks for illegal Activity) is extremely important for your readers. They must remember that Innocence is not Bliss when it comes to Law and Order. If their Networks are used they will be Prosecuted.

Regards,
Sitanshu Ray