Broadband News
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From Wi-Fi to Why-Fine for pub owner
30 Nov 2009 | 21.38 Europe/London
The owner of a pub that doubles as a Wi-Fi hotspot has paid out £8,000 after someone illegally downloaded material subject to copyright laws on their premises. Meanwhile, a new survey shows that as many as one in five wireless users could be vulnerable to Wi-Fi hijacking across Britain - and that even more don't even know it's possible.
The case of the pub owner being fined is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK - at least by the Managing Director of The Cloud, Graham Cove. (Of course, while "The Cloud" might sound like a decent name for a pub, we're talking here about the hotspot operator, which offers wireless broadband to anyone in range of its transmitters on a subscription basis.) Mr Cove, who originally let the story spill in an interview with ZDNet UK, hasn't yet given away the actual moniker of the establishment concerned as it's apparently refused to be named. What we do know is that the case was brought by the rights holder, and heard "sometime over the summer."
What's perhaps surprising is that it appears it was the owner of the pub who ended up with the fine rather than the individual who committed the crime or even The Cloud itself, as the firm that provides the Internet service. Web law professor Lillian Edwards from University of Sheffield Law School, for instance, argues that under "existing substantive copyright law" the business where the open wireless point was located would "not be responsible in theory" for any incidents of copyright theft that took place therein. Even in America, with its infamous DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), it appears the owner of the establishment would have had "safe harbor" (sic.) in such an instance. All this suggests the possibility that the £8,000 that was stumped up by the pub may have been in the form of an out-of-court settlement - especially given the owner's apparent adversity to publicity on this matter.
This reportedly happened before dark Lord Mandelson started sharpening the axe in the Government's arsenal against online copyright thieves and the measures to be included in the Digital Economy Bill were announced in the Queen's Speech. So could we one day see businesses harbouring hotspots disconnected if online pirates get their wicked ways via services like The Cloud? Well, the IP address the rights holders would be seeking to act against in the case of online piracy would be that of the premises where the hotspot was based - and they might not even realise they were dealing with an open wireless connection. Professor Edwards goes on to say that it would then be down to the business involved to show they were unwitting accomplices to the crime and not the criminals. "But when would they get to say that?" she continues. "Maybe straight away, maybe not until after disconnection — it's not currently clear."
And it's not only the physical hosts of open wireless hotspots that are in danger of being unwitting accomplices to copyright theft: a new survey from price comparison site moneysupermarket.com has revealed that as many as nineteen per cent of residential Wi-Fi users could be open to hijacking. And that's with almost half (i.e. forty-seven per cent) of home broadband users now relying on wireless connectivity, according to the research. Moneysupermarket.com's even extrapolated - from a survey-base of two thousand - that four million people admit to hijacking someone else's Wi-Fi network over the past year. Here's what they say these "broadband pirates" are up to:-
Apparently, almost one in four people aren't aware that unsecured networks can be accessed without the owner's knowledge - and one in fourteen think it's not even possible. "Piggybacking has been around as long as wireless networks and one in six people say they don't feel guilty about using people's Wi-Fi without them knowing because it is up to them to protect it," says moneysupermarket.com's James Parker. "It's bad enough your neighbours can use your internet connection freely, but this becomes far more threatening if someone uses your connection for criminal or improper activity."
As the case of the pub owner illustrates, there seems to be a "grey area" in current online copyright law - and it's one that appears not to have been resolved by the proposed Digital Economy Bill. If moneysupermarket.com's claims are accurate, it's something thousands of people could fall victim to. With all the focus on dealing with ISPs and the pirates themselves, the middleman - who physically hosts either an open or unsecure network - could get caught in the crossfire. And, again going from this particular instance, it looks like there could be a high price to pay.
The case of the pub owner being fined is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK - at least by the Managing Director of The Cloud, Graham Cove. (Of course, while "The Cloud" might sound like a decent name for a pub, we're talking here about the hotspot operator, which offers wireless broadband to anyone in range of its transmitters on a subscription basis.) Mr Cove, who originally let the story spill in an interview with ZDNet UK, hasn't yet given away the actual moniker of the establishment concerned as it's apparently refused to be named. What we do know is that the case was brought by the rights holder, and heard "sometime over the summer."
What's perhaps surprising is that it appears it was the owner of the pub who ended up with the fine rather than the individual who committed the crime or even The Cloud itself, as the firm that provides the Internet service. Web law professor Lillian Edwards from University of Sheffield Law School, for instance, argues that under "existing substantive copyright law" the business where the open wireless point was located would "not be responsible in theory" for any incidents of copyright theft that took place therein. Even in America, with its infamous DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), it appears the owner of the establishment would have had "safe harbor" (sic.) in such an instance. All this suggests the possibility that the £8,000 that was stumped up by the pub may have been in the form of an out-of-court settlement - especially given the owner's apparent adversity to publicity on this matter.
This reportedly happened before dark Lord Mandelson started sharpening the axe in the Government's arsenal against online copyright thieves and the measures to be included in the Digital Economy Bill were announced in the Queen's Speech. So could we one day see businesses harbouring hotspots disconnected if online pirates get their wicked ways via services like The Cloud? Well, the IP address the rights holders would be seeking to act against in the case of online piracy would be that of the premises where the hotspot was based - and they might not even realise they were dealing with an open wireless connection. Professor Edwards goes on to say that it would then be down to the business involved to show they were unwitting accomplices to the crime and not the criminals. "But when would they get to say that?" she continues. "Maybe straight away, maybe not until after disconnection — it's not currently clear."
And it's not only the physical hosts of open wireless hotspots that are in danger of being unwitting accomplices to copyright theft: a new survey from price comparison site moneysupermarket.com has revealed that as many as nineteen per cent of residential Wi-Fi users could be open to hijacking. And that's with almost half (i.e. forty-seven per cent) of home broadband users now relying on wireless connectivity, according to the research. Moneysupermarket.com's even extrapolated - from a survey-base of two thousand - that four million people admit to hijacking someone else's Wi-Fi network over the past year. Here's what they say these "broadband pirates" are up to:-
- General browsing - seventy-seven per cent
- Emailing - sixty-eight per cent
- Download large files - thirteen per cent
- Streaming content e.g. Spotify/BBC iPlayer - twelve per cent
- Downloading adult content - four per cent
Apparently, almost one in four people aren't aware that unsecured networks can be accessed without the owner's knowledge - and one in fourteen think it's not even possible. "Piggybacking has been around as long as wireless networks and one in six people say they don't feel guilty about using people's Wi-Fi without them knowing because it is up to them to protect it," says moneysupermarket.com's James Parker. "It's bad enough your neighbours can use your internet connection freely, but this becomes far more threatening if someone uses your connection for criminal or improper activity."
As the case of the pub owner illustrates, there seems to be a "grey area" in current online copyright law - and it's one that appears not to have been resolved by the proposed Digital Economy Bill. If moneysupermarket.com's claims are accurate, it's something thousands of people could fall victim to. With all the focus on dealing with ISPs and the pirates themselves, the middleman - who physically hosts either an open or unsecure network - could get caught in the crossfire. And, again going from this particular instance, it looks like there could be a high price to pay.