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Availability varies quite a bit between countries. Take two adjacent European countries, Denmark and Germany. In Denmark, free wifi is ubiquitous, often without

Availability varies quite a bit between countries. Take two adjacent European countries, Denmark and Germany. In Denmark, free wifi is ubiquitous, often without even a login needed. Coffee shops, restaurants, bars, libraries, trains, even city buses provide it. But in neighboring Germany, wifi is usually pay if available at all (and not cheap pay!), and the few places with free wifi will typically require you to get a code from the cashier when you purchase something.

hatu 14y ago
You have to ask for the code from the cashier? My god
- supercoder 14y ago
  The Starbucks I've been to require a code for wifi.
gojomo 14y ago
I wish some ethnographer of technology would study this. What predisposes a region/culture towards open or closed wifi? Still, the answers might be simple. I recently stayed as an AirBnB guest in Berlin, and my host recounted receiving notice of a €1000 fine, due to some p2p TV episode downloading one of his previous guests may have done using his internet connection. He may have options to avoid responsibility, but the local presumptions seem against him... and just a few anecdotes like that could explain why now, in another part of Berlin, my laptop sees 20+ SSIDs, all locked down.
- _delirium 14y ago
  The laws on liability do definitely differ. The situation is murky in many countries, but it's not in Germany, where operators of open wifi networks are clearly considered responsible for illegal activity that takes place on them: http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.10/wifi-case-germany-copyright-infringement http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.10/wifi-case-germany-co... In Denmark I believe there's no bright-line rule either way, but there is no automatic liability. In practice there haven't been high-profile rulings going against open network operators (at least, not yet) to scare people off. In Finland there is clear non-liability: http://boingboing.net/2012/05/14/finnish-court-open-wifi-owner.html http://boingboing.net/2012/05/14/finnish-court-open-wifi-own...

hatu 14y ago

You have to ask for the code from the cashier? My god

supercoder 14y ago
The Starbucks I've been to require a code for wifi.

gojomo 14y ago

I wish some ethnographer of technology would study this. What predisposes a region/culture towards open or closed wifi? Still, the answers might be simple. I recently stayed as an AirBnB guest in Berlin, and my host recounted receiving notice of a €1000 fine, due to some p2p TV episode downloading one of his previous guests may have done using his internet connection. He may have options to avoid responsibility, but the local presumptions seem against him... and just a few anecdotes like that could explain why now, in another part of Berlin, my laptop sees 20+ SSIDs, all locked down.

_delirium 14y ago
The laws on liability do definitely differ. The situation is murky in many countries, but it's not in Germany, where operators of open wifi networks are clearly considered responsible for illegal activity that takes place on them: http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.10/wifi-case-germany-copyright-infringement http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.10/wifi-case-germany-co... In Denmark I believe there's no bright-line rule either way, but there is no automatic liability. In practice there haven't been high-profile rulings going against open network operators (at least, not yet) to scare people off. In Finland there is clear non-liability: http://boingboing.net/2012/05/14/finnish-court-open-wifi-owner.html http://boingboing.net/2012/05/14/finnish-court-open-wifi-own...