Suppose I have a sprinkler and it’s watering my lawn but it’s also spraying water out onto the street. So you park your car in front of my house and start soaping it up. Should I call the police and complain that you’re “stealing” my water? I was spraying it out into the street, how important can it be to me? It’s ridiculous to expect people who are spraying Wi-Fi internet access out onto the street to somehow be the victims if someone uses it.

And how the hell are the police alleging that accessing people’s unsecured Wi-Fi is “unauthorized?” The authorization takes place when the Wi-Fi router/adapter sends out the signal saying “Hello, I’m here, no password required.”

Ian who you probably know from the UCD parish has just finished extensive work on the issue of CP in Ireland and the problems with proofs for the DPP. I believe similarly that an Act would not resolve the CP proof issue.

Does property law not come into this matter in Ireland, in re. airspace above ones house and ownership of same up to a certain point? Perhaps Paul Coughlan might be able to comment. Apart from the criminal aspects of accessing over wireless where ownership or a right to use is not in existence I feel that its hardly a crime to access something that is openly available on ones own property? Lets call that a devils advocate position on the matter in Ireland.

So a charge under criminal statute CJ (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001 SS. 4(1),(2) or 9 maximum penalty 10 years in prison or S.12 under burglary (max sentence 14 years) if the property right can be proven and indeed issues with the 1989 Child Pornography and Trafficking Act for various matters.

Wifi and WiMax are unlicensed spectrum in Ireland (and most other places) which makes matters worse. Couple that with a pile of dodgy Wifi routers and flaky WEP settings and we have a pile of work for some lawyers given time.

I apologise for the the typo above, I meant ‘an Act’ rather than ‘and Act’.

Ronan

Link to article: http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=INSIDE+STORY-qqqs=agenda-qqqid=27665-qqqx=1.asp