AfterDawn: News

German court clears WiFi theft victims of responsibility for copyright infringment of others

According to a decision by the Frankfurt Court of Appeal the victims of WiFi theft can't be held responsible for the thieves' copyright infringement. The same court that previously ruled parents can't be held responsible for the flle sharing activities of their children overturned a lower court's decision, and potentially dealt a blow to the campaign being waged by a UK lawfirm against several hundred people for alleged copyright infringement.

Lawyers at Davenport Lyons have been sending out letters to alleged UK file sharers pointing out the German court ruling making individuals whose WiFi connection is used by others without authorization responsible for any infringement. They went on to point out that it was likely that decision would be echoed by UK courts. Don't expect to see a similar claim about this new decision.



With the possible implications of the ruling don't be surprised to see yet another round of arguments before things are decided for sure. Christian Solmecke, a lawyer currently defending around 500 file-sharers said “The future will show us what the highest court in Germany - the Bundesgerichtshof - says to this difficult question.”

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 10 Jul 2008 9:37

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• 19 comments

• c1c

  I've always wondered about this. I guess you b etter make sure you have your wifi password protected. Then again your neighbor can hack it, download illegal stuff, then you get busted.

  10.7.2008 11:47 #1

• nobrains2

  What are the implications using the FON network, what you do is share a portion of your bandwidth so everyone can enjoy FREE wi-fi.
  
  http://www.fon.com/en/
  
  Quote:FON is the largest WiFi community in the world. FON is a Community of people making WiFi universal and free. Our vision is WiFi everywhere made possible by the members of the Community, Foneros. We share some of our home Internet connection and get free access to the Community’s FON Spots worldwide!

  10.7.2008 12:27 #2

• varnull

  Common sense prevails in Germany at least.
  
  To accuse somebody of piracy when they have been the victims of theft is stupid and immoral.. It's like holding me responsible for an armed robbery in which my car which had been stolen was used as the getaway vehicle.
  
  Davenport Lyons are surely using threatening and intimidating behaviour with these letters. There is no such UK ruling that somebody who is the victim of the illegal activities of others is liable.. never has been and probably never will. I think it is time to bring their activities to a wider audience. The law lords would probably have an opinion on this threatening behaviour.. They are using threats of malicious legal action probably in some attempt to establish a framework to extort money from the said victims.
  
  Here we go peeps.. Stealing wifi is the way to download whatever you want with impunity ;) Welcome to the darknet XD

  10.7.2008 12:35 #3

• 7thsinger

  At least it makes sense not to attempt and implicate those who've been pilfered.
  

  
  
  Learn To Backup DVDs Here
  And Here.

  10.7.2008 12:45 #4

• ZippyDSM

  So what if someone has 2 wfi fi sets one open and one to leech from it, can they figure out where all that data is going?

  10.7.2008 13:13 #5

• ddp

  nobrains2 aka nobrainer, remember no flamewars.

  10.7.2008 13:40 #6

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by ddp: nobrains2 aka nobrainer, remember no flamewars.
  temp ban was temp I see :P
  (sorry zippy being a bad kitty ><)
  
  nobrains2
  is it avablie in Germany?
  
  I would think that the network acts like a normal ISP setup so you are only accountable for your own bandwidth and because its all mixed they should not be able to tell whats what unless they can scan where ever bit of bandwith is going. 0-o

  10.7.2008 13:47 #7

• nobrains2

  Originally posted by zippy:
  nobrains2
  is it avablie in Germany?
  
  I would think that the network acts like a normal ISP setup so you are only accountable for your own bandwidth and because its all mixed they should not be able to tell whats what unless they can scan where ever bit of bandwith is going. 0-oas far as i'm aware if you agree to share your bandwidth you can connect anywhere in the world to any FON free wireless point, you just need their router on your connection that sections a portion of bandwidth off for other fon users to be able to use the service.
  
  i'm certain they have a map of connections around the globe via their website.

  10.7.2008 14:20 #8

• JRude

  As far as I'm concerned the only flamewars have been from some newbies and fanboys, including some mods, jumping no brainer's case. It is disgusting to see such behavior in a tech site! As I expect to be nuked for this post, I can continue to get my tech news from arstechnica, CNet, ZDnet, PCWorld, NYT Tech and computerworld without the insane actions of the pack. Grow up.

  10.7.2008 15:26 #9

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by JRude: As far as I'm concerned the only flamewars have been from some newbies and fanboys, including some mods, jumping no brainer's case. It is disgusting to see such behavior in a tech site! As I expect to be nuked for this post, I can continue to get my tech news from arstechnica, CNet, ZDnet, PCWorld, NYT Tech and computerworld without the insane actions of the pack. Grow up.CNet/ZDnet.... eewwww :P
  
  I'll agree but at he same time members need to remember than they also have to moderate them selfs and not always try and push things so far.
  
  I'l support Nobrwains as much as anyone else but sometimes he dose take it to the next level, and props to the staff for letting him come back as a newb! ^^

  10.7.2008 15:31 #10

• Dela

  Only relevant news comments here please...

  10.7.2008 15:32 #11

• johnflash

  Quote:
  I'll agree but at he same time members need to remember than they also have to moderate them selfs and not always try and push things so far.
  
  I'l support Nobrwains as much as anyone else but sometimes he dose take it to the next level, and props to the staff for letting him come back as a newb! ^^Yea, you're right. Let's just let it be, everybody get off nobrainer's case, give him a chance to redeem his renounced Newbie status and leave him alone.

  10.7.2008 16:16 #12

• ZippyDSM

  So how easy dose this make it for a person with open wifi to get way from the MP3 police?

  10.7.2008 16:18 #13

• bdoggie08

  Easily. I do it, how can they track? They use the IP addy.

  10.7.2008 16:24 #14

• varnull

  If you look closely at the BT Homehubs you will find that when you are not using them.. PC off etc then they can be used as an open access wifi point by persons unknown. This may be something to do with the shady bbc p2p plans for their Iplayer technology. I need to look more at that, and have sourced a homehub on the cheap to investigate.
  
  http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3221-...-community.html
  
  edit::: link added
  

  
  
  Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work. Get off my beach before I burn down your village!

  10.7.2008 16:31 #15

• bdoggie08

  ^Good work

  10.7.2008 17:52 #16

• susieqbbb

  Now i agree the wifi connection should be secured with a wep encryption.
  
  That isn't the problem though.
  
  If you have a video game console that doesn't support your wep settings for instant the nintendo wii here in the u.s.a only supports 32bit and 64 bit encryption it doesn't support however 128 bit encryption.
  
  Which sucks..
  
  Because all three have been hacked using applications that crack wireless signals so even if you protect yourself and your consoles you are still a target of direct hacking.

  11.7.2008 05:29 #17

• Craftybox

  Just like to say no one should be using WEP .. they should be on WPA.
  WEP is out dated.

  11.7.2008 12:48 #18

• varnull

  WPA-PSK can be broken too. It just takes the right tools and enough time and patience (plus a list of router default keys which can be had very easily) I use cracked wifi secured with it from sources unknown for all my p2p activities here.
  
  Strangely running a sniffer against a detected network (and here is where windows security falls flat on it's arse) will expose the packets from the router to the other machines on the network.. if you are lucky enough to catch the handshake packets it's easy to compare the encrypted data against a table of possible keys, then brute force a connection by masquerading as the machine you have detected.. it's mac number is contained in the 2 way handshake headers, which are often running default keys or not encrypted at all... Is that telling too much?
  

  
  
  Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work. Get off my beach before I burn down your village!

  11.7.2008 12:54 #19