[ga] Impact to .MOBI?: German Court Says WiFi Owners Must Secure Networks

["Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

  After reviewing this report, it struck me that perhaps .MOBI
registrants may be significantly effected.  Any thoughts here?
Execellent observations and comments by Stephen as well! >:)
BTW and FWIW, IMPO this German court made a fairly good decision,
and it would not surprise me to see similar decisions in the
near furture for US based WIFI networks.  I would much rather see
that encrypted based mechnisim be required however.
See:
(May 12 & 13, 2010)
Germany's top criminal court has ruled that people who have wireless
networks must secure them with passwords or face a fine of 100 euros (US
$126) if other people use their networks to download content illegally.
"Private users are obligated to check whether their wireless connection
is adequately secured to the danger of unauthorized third parties
abusing it to commit copyright violation." The decision stems from a
case in which a copyright holder sued a network owner because his music
was downloaded and was later made available for filesharing. The network
owner had proof that he was away from his home at the time the music was
downloaded.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37107291/ns/technology_and_science-security/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/13/open_wifi_fines_germany/
http://www.scmagazineuk.com/german-wifi-owners-are-now-liable-for-what-third-party-users-download-while-connected-to-their-network/article/170061/
[Editor's Note (Northcutt): We all need to keep our eyes open, because
if the access point itself has vulnerabilities that lead to filesharing
then who is to blame. Joshua Wright, InGuardians researcher and author
of the SANS Wireless security class, discovered that the Verizon MiFi
access point has a predictable WPA key based on the SSID which has a
predictable ID so you know it is Verizon. So if you meet the letter of
the law, and "protect" your network and someone computes the WPA key and
downloads files over your network, who gets sued and why?]


Regards,

Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 294k members/stakeholders and growing, 
strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
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P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
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