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Related to this, where would this stand legally if your device automatically connected to your neighbour's network? In the UK, you can be arrested for unauthor

Related to this, where would this stand legally if your device automatically connected to your neighbour's network? In the UK, you can be arrested for unauthorised use of a Wi-Fi network, under our Computer Misuse Act law. [0] I think this would be unlikely if the network was wide open, but I believe it could still happen in principle. edit I missed this from the linked article. Looks like you can't be arrested for accidentally using an unsecured Wi-Fi network. > If the network was hacked then a crime has been committed, but our friends over at Out-Law.com confirm that connecting to the wrong network by mistake is not a crime [0] https://www.theregister.com/2008/10/30/wi_fi_arrest/ https://www.theregister.com/2008/10/30/wi_fi_arrest/

gnfargbl 6y ago
> Looks like you can't be arrested for accidentally using an unsecured Wi-Fi network. You probably haven't committed a crime if you accidentially use an unsecured Wi-Fi network, but if you deliberately use one then the situation is less clear. Section 1 of the CMA (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/1 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/1) requires only that you "[cause] a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer, or to enable any such access to be secured," that "the access [you intend] to secure, or to enable to be secured, is unauthorised" and that you "[know] at the time [you cause] the computer to perform the function that that is the case." How does a law so broadly worded translate to technical reality? Many of us in the industry don't really know, and as a result feel that the UK's computer misuse laws really are crying out for reform. See https://www.cyberupcampaign.com/ https://www.cyberupcampaign.com/ for more.
- exdsq 6y ago
  Yeah, the Computer Misuse Act requires mens rea of intending to access a computer you know you shouldn't.

gnfargbl 6y ago

> Looks like you can't be arrested for accidentally using an unsecured Wi-Fi network. You probably haven't committed a crime if you accidentially use an unsecured Wi-Fi network, but if you deliberately use one then the situation is less clear. Section 1 of the CMA (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/1 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/1) requires only that you "[cause] a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer, or to enable any such access to be secured," that "the access [you intend] to secure, or to enable to be secured, is unauthorised" and that you "[know] at the time [you cause] the computer to perform the function that that is the case." How does a law so broadly worded translate to technical reality? Many of us in the industry don't really know, and as a result feel that the UK's computer misuse laws really are crying out for reform. See https://www.cyberupcampaign.com/ https://www.cyberupcampaign.com/ for more.

exdsq 6y ago
Yeah, the Computer Misuse Act requires mens rea of intending to access a computer you know you shouldn't.