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Should citizens be made responsible for their Wi-Fi security?
Tuesday 18th May 2010, by Daniel King
One of the hot talking points recently has been the issue of the security of wireless broadband connections.
Networking solutions firm Brocade recently explained it's important for mobile web users to make sure their networks are secure by "controlling known threats and unknown threats to your environment and deal with them appropriately".
But this already sounds pretty complicated - the average internet consumer knows how to set up Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) or Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) passwords, but that's about it, in my opinion.
With that being said, how would Britain react if its citizens were charged with the task of securing their own networks themselves?
This has happened in Germany, according to the BBC, with a court ruling individuals in the country are responsible for the security of their private Wi-Fi set-ups.
The move came after a musician sued the owner of a network connection that had been used to illegally download and file-share music, event though the householder was on holiday at the time.
Commenting on the news, Mark Jackson, editor-in-chief of ISPreview, said it's unlikely the legislation could work in Britain.
"In theory you could make individuals responsible for Wi-Fi security but surely that is extremely unrealistic. How many people or even pensioners could be expected to know about the encryption settings on a router?" he stated.
He added: "How would you educate those people? How would you enforce it without taking police time away from more important tasks? It's simply unworkable."
What do you think about the news?
Categories: Wireless Broadband
