Germany: Court Rules Lax WiFi Security Attracts Fines.

[engine]

Germany: Court Rules Lax WiFi Security Attracts Fines. [news.bbc.co.uk]

German citizens are responsible for the security of their own private wireless connections, a court has ruled.

The ruling comes after a musician sued the owner of a network connection that had been used to illegally download and file-share music.

The owner had proof that the householder was on holiday at the time but the court ruled that the network should have been password-protected.

[graeme_p]

So no wi-fi sharing allowed? The telcos must be delighted as well.

[engine]

I would have thought it was just plain common sense to tighten up on wifi security. Making it a court fine seem a little OTT, but, what are you supposed to do if folks don't comply. I see lots of open networks as I travel about, but, I would not connect to them knowing it may be a wifihisher.

[graeme_p]

@engine: I agree to an extent, but I rather like people deliberately leaving connections open so other can use them.

[jecasc]

I think this are sad times if governements force you to put a fence around your property - virutal or real property just in case someone wants to use this property for illegal purposes and you can't leave your property open for use of the general public in good faith anymore. Do we have to put a fence around our driveway, too? To prepare for the case that someone wants to sell drugs or do any other illegal things on our property?

I can't think of any reason why the music or film industrie should get special treatment regarding law enforcement.

The problem of the music and movie industrie is not piracy but their idiotic distribution system.

Here in Germany we have three or four websites were you can watch movies online. I have payed and watched about eight or nine movies online so far. However for every movie I watched there are ten movies I wanted to watch but could not. Why? Because they were not available.

The problem of the movie and music industry is simple: They are missing the "long tail".

[en.wikipedia.org...]

Can I watch the 1930 classic movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" legally online? No I can't. It's not available, at least not where I live. Can I watch it on an illegal movie plattform? Yes I could. It is available there. Like tens of thousands of other movies that are not legally available. And no I do not buy movies on DVD. I watch movies once or twice and I do not suffer from "Compulsive hoarding" so I have to own and hoard every movie I watch. What should I do with all those DVDs? Use them as beverage coasters?